Jacqueline Hart, Nederland.   Eldora’s early opening day on November 7 has led to the best opening week in Eldora history. The local ski area opened early because the combination of consistent cold temperatures and higher than average snowfall, created perfect conditions to welcome skiers sooner. Eldora was prepared for the winter weather and opened their gates.

A surprisingly early opening in any seasonal business, can be an invitation for trouble. This was not the case at Eldora this week. According to Eldora President and General Manager Brent Tregaskis, the newly implemented ICON hands-free pass system ran almost glitch free. Only about 5 percent of ICON passes did not scan. Guests were immediately supplied with replacement passes without issue. Some visitors had not received their passes yet and Eldora was able to accommodate them by instantly printing passes on site. Equipment rental services opened on Saturday with the help of employees from other ICON group ski areas, who came over to help.
Because most of the ski areas covered on the ICON ski pass are still closed, Eldora saw more customers from the Denver metro area than usual. Many of this week’s tourists had never been to Eldora before, and they were introduced to our local resort under the best possible conditions. New customers were greeted with great snow and service, shorter lines and faster travel time to the slopes. Tregaskis also reported he spoke with visitors from all over the Denver Metro area, personally, and directed them to Nederland restaurants for dinner. The bulk of Eldora’s customers are usually from Boulder and the surrounding areas like; Broomfield, Lafayette, and Louisville. Eldora’s record-breaking week is likely to bring increased tourism throughout the winter months to surrounding Nederland businesses.

Loyal Eldora customers were present for the historic opening day, as well. The MacGregor family, pictured here, were among the opening day visitors. Maddie, age six and Gwen, age 2 were kind enough to share their first day on the slopes this year, in between runs. Maddie said that although November 7 was a school day, “My dad had me skip school, so we could go skiing today.” She agreed she has a very good dad. Maddie stated that she doesn’t remember when she started skiing, probably because she was as young as her sister, Gwen. She says the best part of skiing is “flying.”

Maddie said, “It feels like we are flying when we are skiing,” in an excited and thoroughly happy voice. Maddie and Gwen are fourth generation Eldora skiers. Their father, Gregor, their grandparents and their great-grandparents all learned to ski at Eldora. This year, Gwen joined the family tradition for the first time! Opening day at Eldora this year was historic for the MacGregor family as well as Eldora.

Additional services will be available the weekend of November 16 including the opening of Indian Peaks Lodge, ski and snowboarding lessons and the beginner slopes. Eldora reports it is also likely the Corona and Indian Peaks lifts on the backside of the mountain will be open by Saturday, November 17, 2018.

See you on the slopes!

(Originally published in the November 15, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)