Cache Valley resorts cashing in on early start dates

LOGAN, Utah — Ski resorts in Cache Valley planned for some of their earliest start dates in about a decade thanks to our recent storms.

It’s a welcome change after several years of drought and less-than-ideal snowfall.

The Cache Valley isn’t alone, other resorts already opened early.

Not everyone can wait for the lifts to open, not when there’s so much of that fresh powder.

Adam Butts is ready, “Oh, we’re pumped!”

His friend Chris Harker agreed. “So hyped,” he said.

“It’s definitely been dumping lately, so we’re ready for Beaver to open up and start hitting some lines,” Butts added.

It won’t be long before the folks at Beaver Mountain are ready to make it official.

“For this time of year and what we’ve had for the last three years is awesome,” Travis Seeholzer the mountain operations manager said. “It’s a great start.”

He said it’s been several years since Beaver Mountain has been able to open in early December.

“And with the forecast, with what we’re seeing, if all these storms pan out this weekend and the first of the week, we should be in really good shape,” Seeholzer said.

If it stays cold, he said this base should help carry them through the coming weeks and months.

“We’re fully ready to roll. We just want to make sure we’ve got a suitable snowpack to kind of get us to the holidays and make sure it’s safe for everyone,” he said.

Meantime at Cherry Peak, the cold has allowed them to keep making snow which is something that didn’t work this early in past years.

Dustin Hansen, mountain operations manager at Cherry Peak said, “Right now we’re building dense snow for a good base. So it helps stay open just a little bit longer in the season into April.”

It’s also giving this eight-year-old resort its earliest opening date ever.

It’s creating lots of excitement.

“So yeah, this just looks delightful, hardly any traffic so far,” Harker said.

Butts added, “I think last  year there was still grass out here around December 7^th so it seems like we’re on a really good track.”

Utah’s ski resorts celebrate series of winter storms and early openings

Seeholzer expected to make an announcement about Beaver Mountain’s opening date Friday.

Cherry Peak is expected to make an official announcement Friday as well, but is planning on opening December 8.