VAIL, Colorado – With nearly a foot of new snow over the weekend at mid-mountain and snowmaking conditions prime for lower elevations, Vail Mountain operations crews plan to open more lifts and terrain than initially anticipated with approximately 550 acres of skiable terrain on opening day, Friday.”The recent storms have been a huge help to our snowmaking and grooming crews who have been hard at work to provide our guests with the best opening day and early-season terrain offering we’ve seen in the last few years,” said Chris Jarnot, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Vail Mountain. “We’re looking forward to getting the 2010-2011 season started and will provide additional updates over the next few days.”Beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, guests to Vail will be able to access the mountain from both the Vail Village and Lionshead base areas through the Vista Bahn Express Lift (No. 16), the Born Free Express Lift (No. 8) and the Eagle Bahn Gondola (No. 19). Skiers and riders will also have access to the following lifts and portions of terrain in these areas:• Avanti Express Lift (#2)• Wildwood Express Lift (#3)• Mountaintop Express Lift (#4)• Little Eagle Lift (#15)Additional lifts and terrain will open as conditions permit. For more information on Vail Mountain, visit http://www.vail.com or call the Mountain Activities & Information Center at 970-SKI-VAIL.For maps and interactive tours click here: http://bit.ly/dvP3fD