With opening day for North American ski areas rapidly approaching, the usual competition to see which will be first to actually open is beginning to gather pace.
Mt Rose ski area in the Lake Tahoe region of California (pictured above) is the first to say it plans to open on a specific date in October – the 26th – but several other ski areas may open before then, if conditions prove good as the month progresses, they're just not naming a target day.
Loveland in Colorado – which opened on October 29th last winter – has announced it will start snowmaking on September 28th all being well, although again that is subject to conditions being right for snowmaking. They have a countdown to the start of snowmaking clock on their website homepage.
Arapahoe Basin, also in Colorado, generally opens in October too whilst back in California's Tahoe region Boreal ski area on the infamously snowy Donner Summit may open next month too.
Other contenders include the Timberline Snowfield on Mt Hood in Oregon which is usually open almost year-round but is currently closed "awaiting snow" and several resorts ion the East Coast which can make snow and open fast if temperatures drop, including the biggest, Killington in Vermont.
Ski areas in Northwestern North America received their first snowfalls of 18-19 on high slopes last week and more snow is expected to fall further East in to Alberta over the next few days.