Top 5 stories on SummitDaily.com, week of Nov. 24

Editor’s note: Stories in this list received the most page views on SummitDaily.com for the past week.

1. Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone ski resorts to expand terrain over holiday weekend

Copper Mountain Resort, Breckenridge Ski Resort and Keystone Resort all opened new terrain for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

At Copper Mountain, 154 acres of lift-serviced terrain was added over the holiday weekend. Breckenridge opened more than 500 acres of skiing and riding during the holiday weekend. Keystone Resort opened its A51 terrain park on Saturday. 

— Antonio Olivero

2. Richard Squire, founder of Breckenridge Brewery, dies at 78

Longtime Breckenridge local Richard Squire died of lung cancer Nov. 17 at age 78. Squire founded Breckenridge Brewery in 1990 and ran it for more than 25 years. Richard’s son, Graham Squire, said his father was a mentor to many people personally and professionally throughout his life. 

“He was a true visionary. He had the big ideas,” Graham said. “He took a lot of people under his wing in the sense that he was a mentor to a lot of people in different ways. He kind of had a flock of folks around him because he was very charismatic; he had that kind of personality.”

Richard sold Breckenridge Brewery to Anheuser-Busch in 2016 but remained the property owner under Breckenridge Brewery Real Estate.

— Taylor Sienkiewicz

3. Breckenridge Ski Resort named 9th in the west in latest Ski Magazine rankings

Ski Magazine’s annual resorts rankings are out, and Breckenridge Ski Resort was named the No. 9 best ski resort in the west.

“Breck has a unique combo of a great town, great and challenging mountain, sidecountry/hike-to terrain, beginner, and intermediate runs. And a great bus system that is so much easier than other resorts—15 minutes and you can be anywhere. Plus great food and of course nightlife,” one reader wrote.

Vail came in at No. 11, Copper Mountain Resort ranked 15th, Keystone was No. 27 and Arapahoe Basin Ski Area snuck into the top 30 at No. 28.

— Staff report

4. Winter storm blasts Colorado; fatal accident on Interstate 70 near Vail

A snowstorm barreled across Colorado early last week, hitting the Front Range hard while also impacting travel in the mountains along Interstate 70.

I-70 was closed Tuesday morning in both directions due to a multiple-vehicle crash near EagleVail involving a HAZMAT vehicle. Fatalities were reported.

In the Front Range, more than 1,000 passengers spent the night at Denver International Airport because of the storm.

— Aspen Times staff report

5. Vail Resorts is staffed for winter despite ongoing availability issues with H-2B visas

International work visas for seasonal workers have been a consistent problem since a federal cap was put on H-2B visas, which are temporary visas for nonagricultural workers. But Vail Resorts has found a way to deal with the cap and hire the right amount of seasonal workers. 

Keystone Resort spokeswoman Loryn Roberson reported that Vail Resorts was approved for 100% of its H-2B requests for the winter prior to the national cap being reached. It was able to get the visas and workers it needed by starting early and moving toward less limited visas types. 

“In the last several years, we have shifted our hiring strategy because of the changes to the visa program that have made it more challenging for companies to get H-2B visas. We’ve slowly been moving away from using them, utilizing others visas like J-1 visas,” Roberson wrote in an email. 

— Taylor Sienkiewicz