Vail Resorts restricts ski passes for Thanksgiving weekend; next storm expected Thursday night

Weather watchers say Black Friday could be a white one in Colorado's high country as yet another storm rolls through later this week, but Vail Resorts announced on Monday that season ski pass restrictions will be in place for the Thanksgiving weekend.

That means all Epic Local Passes, Merchant Passes, School Employee Passes, Guest Fee Passes and Community Relations Passes will be blacked out on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 25-26. The ski company sometimes lifts pass restrictions for Thanksgiving if enough skiable terrain is open, but so far snow riding is limited to about 10 trails and 160 acres at Vail.

A storm that was forecast to drop up to six inches on Saturday produced only about an inch of snow, and another weak system to start the week has so far skunked the Vail Valley in terms of new snowfall. Now forecasters are calling for sunny and dry weather Tuesday through Thursday.

Then they're calling for 1-3 inches Thursday night, another 2-4 during the day Friday, and one more inch Friday night.

Eight more Colorado ski areas open for the season this week, including Beaver Creek on Wednesday. Also opening Wednesday are Crested Butte, Monarch and Steamboat; and Breckenridge announced today it's opening Peak 9 on Wednesday.

Telluride, Ski Cooper and Aspen open on Thanksgiving Day, followed by Purgatory on Friday.

Anyone with a Vail Resorts season pass who still wants to ski on Friday and Saturday can purchase a discounted single-day lift ticket by showing their pass at the ticket window. The discounted price varies depending on the type of pass.

For more information, call the Vail Mountain Information Center at (970) SKI-VAIL (754-8245) or the Beaver Creek Information Center at (970) 754-4636.

	24hr snow	mid dpth	snow cond.
A-Basin	n/a	n/a
Aspen	n/a	n/a	closed
BC	n/a	n/a	closed
Breckenridge	n/a	n/a	closed
Buttermilk	n/a	n/a	closed
Copper	n/a	n/a	closed
Crest. Butte	n/a	n/a	closed
Eldora	n/a	n/a	closed
Heavenly	n/a	n/a	closed
Highlands	n/a	n/a
Howelsen	n/a	n/a	closed
Keystone	n/a	n/a	closed
Kirkwood	n/a	n/a	closed
Loveland	n/a	n/a
Monarch	n/a	n/a	closed
Northstar	n/a	n/a	closed
Powderhorn	n/a	n/a	closed
Purgatory	n/a	n/a	closed
Silverton	n/a	n/a	closed
Ski Cooper	n/a	n/a	closed
Ski Granby	n/a	n/a	closed
Snowmass	n/a	n/a	closed
Steamboat	n/a	n/a	closed
Sunlight	n/a	n/a	closed
Telluride	n/a	n/a	closed
Vail	n/a	n/a	closed
WinterPark	n/a	n/a	closed
Wolf Creek	n/a	n/a	closed
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