More ski areas postpone starts

By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 16, 2007 at 11 a.m.
Updated November 16, 2007 at 6:16 p.m.

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Telluride became the latest ski area to acknowledge it doesn't have enough snow to open by Thanksgiving Day.

The southwestern Colorado resort said even its $2 million investment in snowmaking equipment upgrades hasn't been a match for warmer-than-usual overnight temperatures and a lack of natural flakes. A tentative opening date has yet to be scheduled.

For similar reasons, Evergreen-based Echo Mountain, the closest ski area to Denver, now plans to open Nov. 30 instead of next week.

"Even with the state-of-the-art snowmaking system we can't compete with Mother Nature when temperatures here at 10,500 (feet) are 45 degrees," said Doug Donovan, general manager of Echo Mountain.

The ski and snowboard area plans to open with some groomed terrain and a "pocket" park.

Steamboat, Vail and Eldora already announced that warm temperatures have prompted them to postpone their openings. Vail and Eldora still hope to open by Thanksgiving.

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