Wolf Creek Ski Area east of Pagosa Springs has been open on weekends for three weeks. The ski area now is open every day.
New this year is a detachable four-person "quad" chair. The Treasure Stoke lift replaces Treasure, a first-generation triple chair that proved cumbersome for skiers.
"It would stop and start a lot because people would have trouble loading and unloading," said Rosanne Pitcher, vice president of marketing and sales. "It was just time to replace it."
The lift, which cost about $5 million, serves intermediate and expert terrain.
Unlike DMR, Wolf Creek has only four snow guns, which it uses to cover beginner terrain at the base area. Wolf Creek tends to receive among the most snow of any Colorado ski area.
"We really depend on the natural snow, although the man-made snow helps us out on the beginner terrain there," Pitcher said.
Wolf Creek had received four feet of snow for the season by Thursday.
Wolf Creek also improved the ticket office with new windows for customers.
Adult lift tickets cost $58. Local days cost $38, and there are three this month - Wednesday, Nov. 20 and Nov. 24. Season passes now are $786.
SILVERTON MOUNTAIN
The expert ski area outside of Silverton is offering overnight backcountry heli-skiing trips for the first time, becoming the only ski area in Colorado to do so.
Similar trips are popular in Canada, said Silverton Mountain manager Aaron Brill.
The helicopter will take skiers and a guide to a remote basin near Animas Forks. Skiers then will ski down untouched snow to a camp.
"There's usually no other users out there because it's so remote," said Brill.
The trips cost $429 per person per day with a minimum of four people.
Silverton Mountain is scheduled to open Dec. 21. The ski area has found skiers tend to show up in small numbers before then, Brill said.
"If the early-season snow trend is spectacular, then we might open earlier," he said.
DURANGO MOUNTAIN
Durango Mountain Resort is deploying 16 new snow guns this month in a bid to ensure better early-season conditions for skiers on the mountain's heavily trafficked front side.
After a dry beginning to the 2012-13 season, Purgatory wanted to open the front side's "six-pack" - the resort's highest-capacity and fastest chairlift - earlier in the season.
