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WINTER PARK, Colo. (KDVR) — Winter Park Resort is kicking off the season early on Halloween day. FOX31 got a behind-the-scenes look at the team effort to get the slopes ready the day before opening day. “The last time we opened on Halloween was 2022,” Winter Park Resort Spokesperson Jen Miller said. “It is tied for our earliest opening ever.” An all-hands-on-deck effort clearing and grooming snow on Thursday was made with Winter Park’s major snowmaking upgrades. “We made a $37 million investment in our snowmaking system,” Miller said. “We started building it a couple of years ago, so it was a multiyear process, and we've just started really seeing the benefits of the new system.” Miller was not the only staff member excited about the new additions. “Over the past couple of weeks, we've been waiting for the temperatures to show up,” Winter Park Resort’s Director of Mountain Operations Bob Holme said. “They finally did with our new upgraded snowmaking system. It allowed us to put down about 20 million gallons to get a really good opening day product.” A lot of power requires a lot of team power to prep. “On my particular staff, there's over 105 people,” Holme said. “45 snow makers alone that will work around the clock to get the surface ready. 30 groomers lift maintenance. A team of another 30 and 10 people in the train park. So a lot of different folks all hands on, just in my department, and that doesn't include patrol ground-based services, F&B, so a lot of rallying to get things open.” Halloween marks the start of a packed season ahead with the introduction of Send’er November, a multi-week celebration of Winter Park’s unique ski culture. “There'll be some fun events for people to come up, including ski ballet,” Miller said. “We have a rail jam and we're doing a little mini Mary Jane Mogul course because it is Mary Jane's 50th season this year.” People can come ski and ride starting at 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31.
