Barbara Lawlor, Eldora Mountain Resort.   It may not have been a postcard perfect Colorado day, blue skies and sunshine, but it was as good as gets for skiers on opening day.

A long line of skiers and snowboarders queued up at he lift lines at Eldora Mountain Resort on Friday morning. They’ve waited all summer and all fall for this moment.

Before the lift operators opened the lifts to the public, EMR marketing director JP Chevalier welcomed the crowd to the slopes and in a effort close to a high school homecoming pep rally got them waving their poles in the air and cheering.

Locals Dirk Larsen, Glenn Schaible and Barbara Henderson were the first to ride up the mountain  behind the ski patrol and then the crowd surged forward. It was windy, cold and grey but snow conditions were exceptional, nature-made powder on the side and groomed man-made snow on over 50 percent of the trails.

As they came down, hatted, scarved and goggled against the biting wind one could still the smiles they couldn’t stop from showing through.

This year, 250 snowsports instructors will guide all levels of skiers and snowboarders. At an employee’s meeting, the instructors set their kickball trophy in the front of the room, a reminder of the annual instructor/liftie tournament at the end of the years. Snowsports manager Andy Fasig told the instructors that he wants to keep to the trophy. The competition is friendly but brutal and the condenses of opinion appeared to be that everyone was happy to be back on the slopes.

“This could be the best early season in a while,” said Chevalier. “There is new snow and new employees and a great spirits.”

A new group to join is the Front Range Gang, for people over 50, to get them back on the mountain, especially those who want to ski but don’t want to ski by themselves.

Another new addition is the West Wing Smokehouse, which features home-smoked pulled pork sandwiches.

Usually, an alpine skiing opened is followed by a Nordic opening, but this year, conditions are such that the Eldora Nordic Center was able to offer eight kilometers of trails and instructors are waiting for students.

More cold weather and more snow is predicted this week and conditions will get even better at our local resort.