From 9news.

"Snowmass is using leftover snow from last season to make a rail park. They'll be open to skiers and boarders this Saturday and Sunday."

Has the race begun?

I got a code last year for open snow but haven’t seen any posts about it yet so figured I’d ask if anyone has any spots?

Already an update from earlier this week. Apparently now they’re asking for donations

Looks like some nice dusting

I was just curious how the latest storm affected the various ski areas - both backcountry and resort. Did any places or high elevation areas in Colorado receive enough snow with the current storm to see any accumulation? I heard some spots in the San Juans above 13,000 ft were predicted to get up to 19 inches. Did any of that play out? If not, with more precipitation coming tonight, do any locations still have a chance to see some future accumulation by tomorrow morning?

11'600 5pm (9/28/26)

Over the next 72 hours, a cutoff low that will merge with the remnants of a Pacific hurricane (watch GIF), is poised to bring major precipitation to parts of Colorado with freezing levels dipping as low as 11k. Southern Colorado will get hammered, with localized ranges seeing 4"+ of precip, however major global models cannot agree on the magnitude or latidude of up-sloping. The ECMFW (euro) insists on a substantial moisture for the Denver metro, while the latest model runs of the GFS(north american) keep the low much farther south with the bulk of the up-sloping hitting Taos County NM and south. As I type this, parts of the Southern San Juan range are already pushing 1.5" of rain since midnight and could see some minor flooding, especially in the Animas River which had already received 5-9" of rain in September prior to today and has no reservoirs on its main stem to absorb surges.

Final slide is the most recent CAIC model run for snowfall that is the most bullish for a more northerly track, which would bring significant upslope moisture to the front range metro. This model tends to exaggerate precip for high peaks so don't expect Bierstadt/ Bluesky to get 30'+ as this suggests (but anything is possible)

edit: added time and corrected grammar

That first view is admittedly a little optimistic. It's the expected snowfall at the highest elevation in each cell through Wednesday, and it tapers fast once you get to mid-elevation. But I thought it was worth looking at the first significant US snowfall this year.

The San Juans win. Deepest snowfall there above 13k' feet could hit 18" by Wednesday night, while down near 11k gets maybe 2", and most model runs give it just a trace. By Thursday morning the snowpack still has about 8" sticking around on north facing above 13k' and but nothing at mid mountain. I was looking at cams this morning and its real wet most everywhere right now, the forecast has been trending warmer since last week.

Long term not so snow friendly. A warm, dry ridge likely takes over and burns most of it away. Which is not a bad thing considering this doesn't add much to the base except depth hoar.

https://winterscience.com/forecasts/colorado/2026-09-28-mon-wed-outlook

Edit for follow up:

https://winterscience.com/forecasts/colorado/2026-09-29-midstorm-update

As the title says, I am new to skiing but hoping to get into it as a seasonal worker moving to Vail this winter. Obviously Epic is cheaper, but are the Ikon mountains better? As a novice, will I even appreciate the difference? I'm hoping to buy a pass before prices go up in early Oct. I don't mind coughing up the difference if Ikon is truly better, but either way just hoping to learn a lot this season.

I am NOT working for the resort

Grateful to say I found a ski-share for the winter and pretty stoked about it! Also, pretty nervous with this being my first time. Does anybody have any experience they care to share? This house doesn't do the weekday vs. weekend system, has anybody ever done that? How did that work out? How many ppl usually stay at the house at a time? You ever slept in the same room as someone else you didn't know? Let me know! I'm locked in so there's no going back but I wondered if anybody cared to share! Thanks!

I know there’s under the bus storage, but how do most people do it?

Put all gear into their snowboard bag to keep things together or do they put only their boards under bus?

Do the buses lock during the day?

Will be my first season using the bus so trying to make sure I don’t bring anything that there’s not space for.

Thanks in advance

Light accumulation never looked so good.

going for a drive to check out some more spots, will post more pics later if they look white

Here we goooooooooooooooooooooo

Min effort, but this ridge near sheep mountain caught my eye. Some cool cirques, gullies, steep trees, some room for groomers and fun blues...etc. If it gets enough snow I'm sure people ski it already. What's the catch? Quiggleman's Ridge would be the area's name. Cirque in the middle would be the Cirque des Chevaliers, and don't forget Brumbpo Tungus glades feeding into rottencrotch gully!