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Wolf Creek hopes to open additional amenities as the season continues, and more COVID-19 protocols will be in place. “The snow was fantastic, and the crowd was mellow,” she says. Photo by Samuel Bricker / courtesy of Wolf Creek Ski AreaĮven without the amenities, Haidorfer-Pitcher says it was a great day to hit the slopes. A skier tackles the powder on the opening day of the 2020–21 season at Wolf Creek Ski Area. It was classic and old-school skiing-bring your own stuff and walk straight from your car to the lift, shred some powder, and head home. There were no food and beverage options, no ski school, no locker rooms, or rental shop. The only amenities offered were restrooms. Of course, we’re still in the midst of a pandemic, so skiing at Wolf Creek felt a little different on opening day.
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“We were the first to open in 2018–19 and also back in 2011–12 when we were also the first ski area in the country to open,” says Rosanne Haidorfer-Pitcher, Wolf Creek’s vice president of marketing and sales. While Front Range favorites Loveland Ski Area and Arapahoe Basin Ski Area are usually in the running in the annual race to open, this is not the first time that Wolf Creek has won that title. Thanks to cold temperatures and two feet of snow from the last storm to barrel through Colorado, Wolf Creek opened its Treasure, Bonanza, and Nova lifts, allowing for 600 acres of mountain to be explored. At that point, the resort will announce a complete and updated schedule to run through the rest of November. It’s been a long, dry summer, but on Wednesday, October 28, the much-awaited ski season was officially underway, as Wolf Creek Ski Area in Pagosa Springs launched a “soft opening” that will last through Sunday, November 1. Too much work to get out of runs, and if you don't hike the ridge it wouldn't be worth it IMHO.The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. Cat tracks should now go uphill, and several here do. Great snow, some great terrain, but overall lacking in a consistent vert and steep pitch to keep you smiling from top to bottom, the smile fades the further down the hill you go (unless you drop into the Waterfall area, but then it fades quickly as you hike/skate out of a hole). The Waterfall area is below the rim and has some great features but again, you will be skating or hiking out. The glades below the rim can be fun if you keep your speed up, but considering they get the killer POW often you really have to work it, and there is no getting around the 'flat-tracks' to get you back to the lift. Not such a big deal for skiers but boarders are constantly skating to make it back to the lift. But after the first 600-800 vertical feet, it becomes quite shallow in pitch and there are tons of holes or "flat-tracks". The top of the entire mountain is a great playground with easy hikes to sick terrain, anything from steep glades to fun cornices to gnarly cliff hucks. Rode Wolfy (Wolf Creek Ski Area) w/ 24"+ and the snow was gorgeous: light, deep, and fun.