Photos: Arapahoe Basin Officially Opens the 2014-2015 Colorado Ski Season

The 2014-2015 Colorado ski season is officially open. Once again, Arapahoe Basin was the first resort to open, and shushing is underway at this writing. Continue for additional pics and more. See also: Photos of the Day: Snowing at Winter Park, Arapahoe Basin Opening Day 2013 Highlights...

By Michael Roberts

October 17, 2014

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The 2014-2015 Colorado ski season is officially open. Once again, Arapahoe Basin was the first resort to open, and shushing is underway at this writing. Continue for additional pics and more.

Today's opening was previewed on Al's Blog, put together by Alan Henceroth, the resort's vice president and chief operating officer. Yesterday, he shared the following under the headline "First Run:"

I went for a run this afternoon just to make sure everything was ready for the opening. It was so good I stayed out and took a few extra laps. Either my boots shrunk or my feet got a little fatter over the summer. Our staff is putting the finishing touches on everything. The lift crew is training and setting up ramps and signs. The Ski Patrol is doing their thing. There is a lot of vacuuming going on around here. I am off to The 6th Alley for a "trial run" on their products and services. Friday will be a very good day. You know, this ski thing is a lot of fun.

Accompanying this post were the following photos: Preparations continued this morning, as you can see in this Colorado Ski Country USA tweet:

Patrol doing final product testing @Arapahoe_Basin. Folks are lining up. Won't be long now! http://t.co/MIfLgDDTqC #SkiColorado
— Colorado Ski Country (@ColoradoSkiUSA) October 17, 2014

Meanwhile, the line to be the first on the slopes started early. Here's an A-Basin tweet:

I can confirm that as of 5:30am, there is a line (of two people) for the 6th Alley Mug Club.
— Arapahoe Basin (@Arapahoe_Basin) October 17, 2014

A short time later came a followup featuring those first two lucky lift ticket holders:

The aforementioned Mug Clubbers 001 & 002 Hilary and Brian - congrats, guys, that takes dedication!!! :D #COisOpen pic.twitter.com/sR9RlR5FaS
— Arapahoe Basin (@Arapahoe_Basin) October 17, 2014

After that, the celebration began in earnest. Here's the uncropped version of the photo at the top of this post....

...followed by three more Twitpics from 9News' Colleen Ferreira:

It's opening day at @Arapahoe_Basin! Hundreds of people already hitting the slopes since they opened at 9am #9news pic.twitter.com/y4PsEGLrz1
— Colleen Ferreira (@ColleenFerreira) October 17, 2014

So...what are you waiting for?

Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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