All ski lifts at Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Keystone Resort will be spinning as of Wednesday, Jan. 4, which means the new year will offer new terrain across Summit County.

With a few inches of snow blanketing the area between Christmas Day and New Years, several of Summit County’s ski areas have opened up new terrain to start 2023.

Arapahoe Basin Ski Area 

On Tuesday afternoon, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area announced that Montezuma Bowl will open for the season on Wednesday, Jan. 4, around 9 a.m. thanks to the recent string of snowstorms.

The opening of the bowl will consist of limited intermediate terrain, and it means all nine of A-Basin’s ski lifts will be open for the season.

The additional acreage available at Montezuma Bowl helps increase the percentage of accessible intermediate terrain. As of Tuesday afternoon, A-Basin had 100% of its easy terrain open and 66% of its intermediate terrain open. The ski area still has work to do in order to open up more of its most difficult and extreme terrain. It currently has 65% of the most difficult terrain open and 35% of its extreme ski runs accessible to the public. 

A major patch of terrain yet to open to the public is the East Wall — a double black diamond, hike-to only set of runs that is accessible off the Lenawee Express lift. The terrain is a major draw to skiers and riders across Summit County, the state of Colorado and the rest of the world, known for its narrow and rocky chutes and variable snow conditions. 

The opening of the East Wall typically occurs later in the season around February or late January. 

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Loveland Ski Resort 

Loveland Ski Resort — east of Summit County, just on the other side of the Continental Divide — is also offering new terrain in the new year. On Wednesday, Jan. 4, Loveland Ski Resort will start turning chairs on the ski area’s Lift 8. 

“Tomorrow we will open Lift 8 — and Zip Trail, Zippity Split, Chet’s Run, Tickler Gulch, Zip Basin Street, Awesome, Hook’em Horns, In The Mood and The Face,” Loveland spokesperson John Sellers said. “Our new numbers are nine lifts, 68 Trails, 1060 acres, 100% beginner, 90% more difficult, 35% most difficult, 5% expert and 59% of the total area.” 

The opening of Lift 8, now means every lift except Lift 9 is open for the ski and ride season.

Loveland Ski Area is still awaiting enough snow coverage to open up Lift 9 which will allow guests to ski even more expert terrain.

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Copper Mountain Resort 

Copper Mountain Resort is now fully operating all of its 23 lifts after less than two months of operation.

“It has been an incredibly strong start to the winter season here at Copper, and we’re excited about how much terrain we have available after only 50 days of operation,” Copper spokesperson Loryn Roberson said. “We’ve received 120 inches of snow so far — 6 inches in the last 72 hours — giving us a snow base depth of 42 inches. One-hundred percent of our lifts are open to the public, and we’re offering skiing and riding on 133 trails, across more than 1,927 acres of terrain.”

Copper’s most recent openings include Bradley’s Plunge in the Copper Bowl on Tuesday as well as Curecantia and Western Slope on Tucker Mountain. Curecantia and Western Slope opened on Saturday, Dec. 31 due to an influx of fresh snow.

Copper ski patrol was also able to open a series of trails in Copper Bowl including Denverite, The Springs, Ram’s Run and Buffalo Stampede.

Copper is now awaiting a little bit more natural snowfall before safely opening up some of the remaining trails on Tucker Mountain and Copper Bowl.

“We are cautiously optimistic that the snow we’re seeing (on Tuesday) will continue to help fill in the high-Alpine areas of the mountain, but that is fully up to mother nature,” Roberson said. “Ski patrol is consistently evaluating all areas of the mountain and will open more terrain as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Breckenridge Ski Resort

All five of Breckenridge Ski Resort’s peaks are now open for the season with Peak 6 being the last peak to open on Dec. 26. 

As of Tuesday, Breckenridge Ski Resort’s has 77% of its terrain open with 145 out of 187 trails open. The remaining 42 trails yet to open for the season mainly lie on Peak 6, the Alpine section of Peak 7 and the Imperial section of Peak 8.

Keystone Ski Resort 

Keystone Ski Resort currently has 88 out of 120 of its trails open with all 20 of its lifts up and running. 

Keystone is still waiting to open up a big portion of the moderate to expert terrain located in the Outback. This terrain includes the Puma Bowl, South Bowl Trees, Tele Trees, The Corral, Oh Bob, Elk Run and Lodgepole. 

Three out of four of Keystone’s terrain parks are open for the season with Main Street still closed for the season. 

Keystone will offer night skiing and riding on Fridays, Saturdays and select Sundays on holiday weekends.Night skiing operating hours will last from 4 to 8 p.m. and will conclude for the season on March 26.