Ski Season Begins Early
Early snow fall, colder temperatures and perhaps a sprinkle of P.R. have led ski resorts in North America, Europe and elsewhere to open early.
Loveland Ski Area, a small family-oriented resort about 50 miles west of Denver, opened on Oct. 7, about the same time that Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort, about 45 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, welcomed skiers. They were followed closely by Arapahoe Basin in Colorado and Boreal Mountain Resort on Lake Tahoe.
Even the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in California, which wasn’t scheduled to open until mid November, got dumped on last week and opened lifts, according to the L.A. Examiner. (Some of the resorts had to close again and are waiting for new snow.)
Similar snow reports are coming from the Alps, the Indian Himalayas and the Japanese Alps, according to the online ski magazine First Tracks. Saas-Fee and Zermatt got plenty of snow and are already open, firsttracks reported, as are with Cervinia, Val Senales and Passo Stelvio in Italy.
http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/ski-season-begins-early/
