Salt Lake City, UT – Three ski areas are known to be making snow this morning in the race to open a strip of white to anxious skiers and riders this fall, and they’re not just in the West.nSunday River in Newry, Maine, fired up its snow guns on Locke Mountain overnight. Resort staffers are making snow on the upper mountain on the K2 trail in a bid to open for the 2010-11 ski and snowboard season, which last winter launched on Oct. 14.

In the West, Arapahoe Basin ski area in Colorado also began its snowmaking operations overnight, entering its annual competition with neighboring Loveland Ski Area for the title of first to open. Eighteen guns were firing on the intermediate High Noon run. Operations will continue as weather permits. A-Basin’s new high speed quad chairlift, the Black Mountain Express, will be up and running on opening day, which is weather dependent and has yet to be determined.

“The race is on,” quipped Arapahoe Basin’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Leigh Hierholzer.

Across the Continental Divide, snow guns were also blazing at Loveland on the Mambo and Catwalk trails in their bid to open first for the season. But opening first may be a misnomer, depending on how you qualify it for Timberline ski area on Mt. Hood in Oregon opened its Palmer Snowfield earlier this month after a two-week maintenance closure following summer operations.