Jacqueline Hart Gibson, Eldora. On Friday, November 1, 2019,  die hard skiers and boarders began lining up at 4:30 a.m., to be the first to take to the three feet of snow on opening day at Eldora. 

The first to line up was Tom Miller, he prefers to go by Trailer or Team Nate Dog Legendary Snowboarder, who dressed as an astronaut and was reportedly the first snowboarder to arrive at Eldo at 4:30 a.m.

Tom shared his first chair experience with Jonathan Buckhouse, a YouTuber who reviews Colorado ski areas all year. If you weren’t there you can see opening day from his perspective on his channel at https://youtu.be/PglRgXSccUU. Incidentally, if your parents ever lectured you saying, “You can’t make a living snowboarding,” check out his page. Turns out, that wasn’t such good advice! Joanathan’s page reviews all the local ski areas as well as providing boarder’s with tips to “become the best snowboarder possible.” 

Chris Miller, Simon Pineau and Ziggy Abjean were along for the ride on Eldora’s first chair, and shared in the perks,with others, of showing up early on opening day. There were free burritos’s flying, champagne popping, and loud celebrating with music provided by Deejay Gangsterish, as snow sport enthusiasts prepared to get the 2019/2020 season started. 

As 9 a.m. approached, Marketing Director Sam Bass jumped on the mic to thank the crowd for their support of Eldora and helping to make this historic opening day, the earliest in 22 years and beating out last year’s record by six days, fun for everyone. He also thanked the snowmakers for their hard work adding to the snowfall from recent storms for a total of three feet of great snow. Sam was followed by GM Brent Tregaskis who got the crowd dancing, keeping visitors pumped for the day as well as warm, and introduced special guest Coach Richard Rokos. Coach Rokos, of the 20-time NCAA division 1 national champion University of Colorado ski team lead Eldora’s early birds out with a prayer. 

The season officially began at 8:55 a.m., when the first chair on the Aspenglow lift was loaded. By the end of the day the bunny hill was open as well. The weather was sunny all day and the first chair boarder’s reported the snow was, “Sick!” 

(Originally published in the November 7, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)