COLORADO, USA — Those who have been schussing down Colorado’s slopes since Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Keystone Resort sprinted to their mid-October openings may know already how much new infrastructure the state’s 28 resorts have unveiled.
But as crowds begin to flock en masse to hills large and small for the Christmas break this week, a lot more people will discover everything from new lifts to new lodging to new transportation alternatives.
Here, then, is a roundup of the major upgrades ski-slope owners have made for the 2019-20 season — which will run through mid-April for most resorts and through late May or early June for a select few if the weather stays snowy — according to information supplied by Colorado Ski Country USA and Broomfield-based Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN).
Lifts
- Ski Cooper has a new Way Back lift that serves 70 acres of advanced terrain, including five new runs, on its east-facing slopes.
- The new three-person Three Bears chairlift at Copper Mountain accesses 273 acres of expert terrain on Tucker Mountain that skier previously could only reach via snowcat or hiking.
- Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s new four-person Teocali Lift replaces a double chair on the front side of the mountain.
- Steamboat Ski Resort replaced its 30-year-old gondola that, after a slight hiccup that required a temporary shutdown, has increased capacity by 40% and cut the ride time from 12 minutes down to 10.
- Winter Park Resort replaced a three-person chair with the new six-person Sunnyside chair, cutting a formerly eight-minute ride time by more than 50% in the process.
- Wolf Creek Ski Area reopened its D. Boyce Poma lift to offer customers a new way to explore the front of the mountain.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS | Local stories from 9NEWS
