Opening Day Revealed for Arizona's Largest Ski Resort

Originally posted on Powder | By Matt Lorelli | Last updated Nov 6, 2024 7:56 PM ET

Followers of Arizona's largest ski resort, Arizona Snowbowl, might have noticed that the ski resort has been quite active on social media lately. The resort's feed is littered with videos of white-covered trails, and images of snow making guns firing at full blast.

Snowbowl had previously set Friday, November 22, 2024 as their targeted opening day for the season, but according to a social media post published minutes ago, the resort has enough snow to open two weeks early. Arizona Snowbowl will open on Friday, November 8, 2024 for the Winter '24/'25 season.

The resort expressed their excitement for the favorable early-season conditions in the following Instagram caption: "The early-season snowstorms have been plentiful, our mountain teams have put in extensive work to get the mountain ready, and the time has come to welcome you all back for another phenomenal winter season - our scheduled opening day is now set for Friday, November 8th!"

Snowbowl will open the Arizona Gondola (as seen in the image above) at 9 a.m. on Friday. It will be the lone lift in operation with access to advanced trails only including Spur Catwalk, Lower Bowl, Log Jam, Wild Turkey, and Round Up.

The resort has taken full advantage of an extended period of favorable snowmaking conditions, and has benefitted from multiple early season storms. Snowbowl is not reporting a season-to-date snowfall total yet, but OpenSnow estimates that as much as 19 inches of snow has fallen on the resort this season, with five inches of new snow in the last five days.

Like many ski resorts across the country, Arizona Snowbowl uses a dynamic pricing model for lift tickets. The higher the demand, the higher the price of the lift ticket. Snowbowl famously listed daily lift tickets for as high as $309 during the Winter '22/'23 season during a particularly busy time of the year. Don't worry, that won't be the case on opening day.

At the time of publishing this article, lift tickets cost just $29 for opening day, November 8, 2024. The price drops to $19 on Sunday, November 10. Make sure to check Snowbowl's website early and purchase tickets in advance.

Arizona Snowbowl joins a growing list of ski resorts planning to open on Friday, November 8. Notables include Breckenridge, Colorado; Lookout Pass Ski Area, Montana/Idaho; Brian Head, Utah; Banff Sunshine Village, Alberta; Copper Mountain, Colorado; and Mt. Rose-Ski Tahoe, Nevada.

Safe to say that this is a big weekend for the ski season here in North America! Winter is finally here, friends.

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This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

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