Colorado ski season is officially underway.
Starting at 9 a.m. Friday, skiers and snowboarders hopped on the Black Mountain Express lift at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, were transported to the top of High Noon trail and shredded down slopes packed with 18 inches of powder.
The lines to board the lift, well, they were not short.
Arapahoe Basin began making man-made snow on Sept. 24. That, combined with cold weather and natural snowfall in the mountains, allowed A-Basin to open a little less than three weeks later.
Loveland Ski Area is still at least a couple days away from announcing an opening date. Loveland officials said they would continue to produce man-made snow over the weekend and would "have a better guess" Monday about when their lifts would officially start running.
Here's what Loveland Ski Area looked like as of Friday morning:
Below is a list of expected opening dates for other ski resorts and mountains throughout Colorado:
Mid-October: Loveland
Nov. 3: Wolf Creek
Nov. 10: Breckenridge
Nov. 10: Copper Mountain
Nov. 10: Keystone
Nov. 15: Winter Park
Nov. 17: Eldora
Nov. 18: Purgatory
Nov. 21: Echo Mountain
Nov. 22: Monarch
Nov. 22: Monarch
Nov. 23: Aspen Mountain
Nov. 23: Crested Butte
Nov. 23: Snowmass
Nov. 23: Telluride
Nov. 25: Howelsen Hill
Dec. 8: Sunlight
Dec. 9: Aspen Highlands
Dec. 9: Buttermilk
Dec. 9: Cooper
Dec. 15: Granby Ranch
Dec. 15: Hesperus
Dec. 15: Powederhorn
Dec. 28: Silverton
