In New York State's Catskill Mountains, Windham Mountain will join nearby Hunter Mountain by opening from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, for the first runs of the season. The Whistler, What's Next and Wooly Bear runs have been blanketed with snow all week long by Windham's snowmaking team. Windham has lowered its lift ticket price to $25 for juniors and $35 for adults for this weekend only. The mountain will be closed next Monday and Tuesday to lay down some more snow, but it will reopen for daily operations at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, November 26, for the season.
Not far from Windham, in the central New York town of Cortland, Greek Peak Mountain Resort will be open for skiing and snowboarding this Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
"With the arrival of snow and colder temperatures this week, we will be offering a quality top-to-bottom skiing and riding product this weekend," said Kevin Morrin, Director of Sales and Marketing for Greek Peak Mountain Resort. "We started making snow Tuesday night, November 18, with the hopes of opening the resort on Saturday. We plan to shut the down the following week so that we can focus 100% of our efforts on snowmaking and getting the most amount of terrain open to our customers as early as possible."
Greek Peak will open with three trails: Elysian Fields, Stoic and Alpha. Hours of operations will be 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Lift ticket prices for this weekend will be $25 for all ages.
In Vermont, Mount Snow will also open its slopes to skiers and riders on Saturday. Thanks to a solid week of snowmaking and a little help from natural accumulation, Vermont’s southernmost ski resort will start the season with five top-to-bottom runs on three mountain faces, including two full terrain parks and three high speed lifts.
Mount Snow’s crews blanketed trails on the Main Face including Canyon, Standard, Deer Run and Long John, in addition to The Gulch and Nitro on the Carinthia face. Chute, on the North Face, will receive enough attention late in the week to be ready by opening day, resort officials assure. Learning terrain will also be open near the Discovery Center.
“We’re very excited to have terrain available for everyone on opening day – from the just-learning beginner, to the hardcore freestyle skier or rider, to the expert looking for a black diamond. It’s all here, on day one,” said Mount Snow’s general manager Kelly Pawlak. Mountain operations director Dave Moulton said that six to seven lifts will be spinning all weekend, including three high-speed detachable quads and a “magic carpet” learning lift. The Carinthia Base Lodge and Main Base Lodge, as well as the Summit Lodge, will be open with full food service and amenities.
Opening weekend lift tickets will be set at Mount Snow’s midweek rate of $69 for adults and $56 for young adults. Tickets will be available for purchase at the Clocktower building and Carinthia Base lodge.
Maine's Sunday River ski resort, however, won't wait for the weekend. Thanks to the help of 250 snowguns, Sunday River will re-open at 9 a.m. this morning with nine trails, including top-to-bottom skiing and riding on Cascades, Sunday Punch and Right Stuff. For the weekend, another 11 trails are expected to come online to provide skiing and riding across three or Sunday River’s eight connected peaks.
Sunday River all-day lift ticket prices for an adult are $45 for Thursday and Friday, and $55 over the weekend.
In the Midwest, Michigan’s Boyne Highlands Resort in Harbor Springs, is now open for the 2008-09 winter season. Boyne Highlands opened the Heather slope and high speed four-place Heather Express chairlift for free skiing and riding at noon on Tuesday to celebrate one of the earliest openings Boyne has seen in 17 years. The slope and lift will resume operations today from noon to 4:30 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with discounted lift tickets available. Additional terrain could open for the weekend.
Boyne Mountain in Boyne Falls, will open terrain on Friday. At a minimum, the Hemlock and Boyneland slopes and Hemlock and Boyneland lifts will run Friday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Discounted lift tickets for the weekend range from $24-$35 and are free for children ages 8 and under. Boyne’s lift tickets are interchangeable allowing access to both Boyne Highlands and Boyne Mountain with one lift ticket.
Moving west to Colorado, Vail Mountain is scheduled to open for its 46th season on Friday at 9 a.m. The resort will offer skiing and snowboarding on the Born Free trail, accessible by the Born Free Express Lift (Chair 8) in Vail Square/Lionshead. The Eagle Bahn Gondola will offer access to beginner terrain in the Little Eagle Lift (Chair 15) area as well as Eagle’s Nest for on-mountain dining at The Marketplace restaurant. Lift tickets on opening day are $65 for adults, $55 for seniors and $45 for children 12 and under. Parking in the Town of Vail’s Lionshead and Vail Village parking structures will remain free this weekend. Mountain operations crews anticipate opening the Aviator terrain park on the Bwana trail and additional front-side terrain soon after Friday’s opening.
Sun Peaks Resort in the British Columbia interior, however, will wait until Sunday to open to the general public. The Austrian Ski Team has been training at Sun Peaks all week, but on Sunday the Sunburst Chairlift will open at 9 a.m. for both up- and downloading of guests. Elevation Chair will be operating for skiing and riding on the Cahilty and Upper Five Mile trails only. Lift tickets will be half price with the limited opening, at CDN $35.
