Vail Mountain began running Chairs 5 and 17 on Thursday, offering access to Sun Up and Sun Down Bowls in their earliest opening since the 2018-19 season.

Vail Mountain now offers more than 2,000 acres of skiing and snowboarding, boasting a 35-inch base with 84 inches of cumulative snowfall this season.

Mountain officials said more terrain openings are expected to occur soon as crews are currently assessing terrain across the resort’s five other Back Bowls — Tea Cup, China, Siberia, and Inner and Outer Mongolia Bowls.

Vail Resorts officials also confirmed that access to Beaver Creek’s Birds of Prey race venue will be available for the men’s World Cup races that were set to begin on Friday.

Skiers and snowboarders can take the Red Tail and Dally runs to access the venue and will be able to use Chair 9 to exit. The lift will be running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the Birds of Prey race weekend, which runs through Sunday.

When the women’s World Cup races return to the Birds of Prey weekend the following weekend, a similar schedule will be available, as well.

The men’s downhill was scheduled to start at 11 a.m. on Friday, with the men’s super-G taking place at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and a giant slalom scheduled for 10 a.m. on Sunday.

On Dec. 14, a women’s downhill race is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday, and a women’s super-G is set to take place at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

This story is from VailDaily.com