With the cold weather moving in early on the Front Range, it feels like the rest of summer and all of fall will totally be skipped and instead we’ll head straight to winter! Naturally, we snowboarders start getting ready for the snow season by checking out opening days at various mountain resorts. With how the weather’s been lately, if you want a head start on boarding, you’re options are open, as it looks like we have a good, snowy season ahead. The more popular mountains open around Thanksgiving time, they include: Aspen, Copper, Crested Butte, Snowmass, Steamboat, and Telluride. Look up Coloradoski.com for more information consisting of snowfall to events in Colorado. Surprisingly, this season, there are even a few places that open in October (A-Basin and Loveland)!

Here’s an extra cheeky tip for the season too. When deciding where to ride this season, keep in mind and take advantage of; Wolf Creek Ski Area. It boasts the “Most Snow in Colorado” with 465 natural inches, has great offers to match the great powder – Almost throughout the entire ski/boarding season, every Wednesday is Local Appreciation Day with $31 lift tickets (no ID required) and Sundays are College Day with a $31 lift ticket with a valid college photo ID!

For cheap snow packages this winter, get familiar with Crested Butte and their Ski Free special. Crested Butte Vacations are offering free airline tickets through its “Friends and Family Fly Free” promotion featuring one free airline ticket for every two airline tickets purchased. The advantage to this mountain is that it’s not nearly as crowded as the other resorts, thus it can be a lot cheaper, especially if you come during the Ski Free promo.

Check out deals on season passes at REI or online. You can get pretty good deals for individual passes on eBay or Craigslist too. I even saw an offer at Wells Fargo bank that if you sign up for a college savings account you can get a BOGO deal on a pass. Don’t forget to take advantage of the annual Warren Miller season opener film which your movie stub gets you free lift tickets at a variety of mountains. Buy a couple extra tickets, it’s worth it.

As for lodging and resort vacations all over the States, there are several locations that have pre-season deals and even guarantee snow during your visit, a win-win situation. This goes for Wildcat Mountain, New Hampshire, Heavenly, California, Grand Targhee, Wyoming, Killington Resort, Vermont, Smugglers’ Notch, Vermont, and Stratton Mountain, Vermont. I’d recommend Wyoming – with an average snowfall of 500 inches, they have snow-making down. Don’t forget Utah either.

As time goes on, I’ll be getting my hands on some of the newest snowboarding gear to try out and give reviews. If you have something in mind or recommendations, send them my way! I love finding great deals and sharing them, too. Check out 6pm.com in the meantime.

Tags: Snowboarding