Despite forecasts of an Arctic blast bringing single-digit high temperatures and dangerous wind-chill conditions to Colorado on Thursday, it’s unlikely that any ski resorts will close.

Ski areas sometimes suspend operations when high winds create dangerous conditions for lift operations, especially on the upper reaches of their mountains, but not for cold.

“I’ve been here for 25 years,” said Jeff Hanle, a spokesman for Aspen Snowmass. “To my knowledge, and our VP of mountain operations, we’ve never shut down anything because of cold. We provide extra hand warmers for employees. We encourage them to take more breaks. We send a lift supervisor around to give people time to go inside and warm up.”

Ski areas in the northern part of the state are likely to be most affected, and high temperatures on Thursday for Aspen, Aspen Highlands and Snowmass are expected to be from 9 to 11 degrees. Twelve northern Colorado ski areas are predicted to have single-digit high temperatures and many can expect high winds as well. At Loveland, Thursday’s high is forecast to be 2 degrees.

“We will do everything we can to keep our guests safe and the lifts turning,” said spokesman John Sellers. “There have been times when we have closed some of our upper lifts because of cold temperatures, but I am not aware of any full ski area closures at Loveland strictly due to low temperatures. We are not planning on any closures at this time, but we will continue to monitor the weather and adjust our operations as necessary.”

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