Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Every October, Colorado skiers turn into weather obsessives. Not the "should I grab a jacket" kind. The refresh-the-snowmaking-cam-at-6-a.m. kind. Because somewhere up Highway 6, a race is happening, and the whole state has a horse in it.
The question is simple. Who opens first?
As of early October 2026, nobody is saying. Arapahoe Basin and Keystone are both doing the classic thing, promising to open "ASAP" sometime this month, weather and snowmaking permitting, and committing to exactly zero firm dates. Shayna Silverman, A-Basin's senior communications manager, said the opening is TBD and totally weather-dependent, and that Summit County was turning cool and wet. Which, if you ski, is the good kind of news.
OnTheSnow is projecting A-Basin for October 9. That lines up with the resort's own listed earliest-ever opening day, also October 9. So that is the date to circle, loosely, in pencil, with an eraser nearby.
Here is the thing people outside Colorado do not get. This is a sport before the actual sport starts.
Over the last 20 seasons, one of three resorts (Keystone, Loveland, or Arapahoe Basin) has been the first in the entire US to open 11 times. That is more than half. These mountains live for it. Wolf Creek down in the San Juans has crashed the party too, grabbing first-in-North-America honors in 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2024. So it is not a guaranteed Summit County thing. But it usually is.
Last season was a nail-biter. Keystone edged out A-Basin to open first in North America, dropping the ropes October 25, 2025, for a grand total of three hours. Three. Hours. That was Keystone's earliest opening since 1997, so they were not messing around.
A-Basin answered one day later, Sunday October 26, with first chair around 8:15 a.m. on the High Noon run off the Black Mountain Express. And this is my favorite detail in the whole story. A skier named Miller wore bib number 33 to mark a 33-year streak as first chair. Thirty-three years. And a guy named Droge held the matching 33-year streak for second chair. These are the people who make this fun. Somewhere out there is a guy who has planned three decades of his late Octobers around being the second human on a chairlift, and honestly, I respect it more than most career paths.
Keystone is not leaving this to chance anymore. They upgraded to a more automated snowmaking system that the resort says could move opening day up by as much as three weeks under ideal conditions. Three weeks. That is a big swing in a race that was decided by one day and a few hours last year.
So if you are A-Basin, you are feeling the heat. Which brings us to the number that actually matters this season.
Arapahoe Basin was established in 1946. That makes this its 80th season. There is an 80th Anniversary Weekend planned for December 4 through 6, 2026, and I would bet money it turns into a full-on reunion of lifers like Miller and Droge.
But the 80th hits different because of what just happened. The 2025-26 season followed a record snow drought and a hot, dry summer. It was rough. Hesperus Ski Area, down near Durango, did not even open at all that season. Let that sink in. An entire ski area sat out the winter because the snow never came.
So A-Basin limping into year 80 after a drought like that, still gunning to open first in North America, is a genuinely good Colorado story.
And now for the part everyone is quietly getting excited about. Resorts are pointing to a developing "super El Niño" pattern as a sign of a wetter, snowier 2026-27 winter. After last year, that forecast is landing like a cold drink in July. Nobody wants a repeat of the drought. Cool and wet in early October is exactly the opening act you want.
A quick refresher on what you are actually chasing up there. A-Basin sits along US Highway 6 at 28194 US Highway 6, Dillon, about 68 miles west of Denver. Summit of 13,050 feet. 1,428 acres, nine lifts, 147 trails, and one of the longest seasons in North America. They regularly run into June, which means the people skiing on opening day in October could theoretically still be skiing eight months later. That is a long time to be cold on purpose.
Pass-wise, last season Ikon Base Pass holders had unlimited A-Basin access through December 19, and Keystone runs on the Epic Pass. So which race you care about might just come down to which plastic card is in your glovebox.
Nobody is going to tell you the date until the snow guns tell them the date. That is how it always goes, and that is half the fun. But the setup this year is better than it has been in a while. A wetter forecast, Keystone with a new snowmaking machine itching to flex it, and A-Basin trying to open first in its 80th season after a drought that benched an entire ski area.
If you are the type who wants to be in line for first chair on High Noon, start watching the cams now. Miller and Droge already are.