Keystone, CO – Colorado’s Keystone Resort was scheduled to open this Friday, but with no end in sight to the unseasonably warm air blanketing the entire central Rockies and Intermountain West, Keystone officials have pushed their planned opening back by a week, to a tentative date of November 11.

“Our top priority at Keystone is to provide our guests with the best early season ski and ride experience possible. While Mother Nature has not made it easy for recent snowmaking operations, our team is ready to fire up the snow guns at every opportunity as weather gets cooler this week and next,” said Keystone’s chief operating officer, Mike Goar. “We look forward to opening as soon as we feel we can provide our guests with a better experience and quality snow conditions.”

Keystone’s snowmaking team was able to run the system up at the summit last night, and while resort officials are expecting better temperatures tonight and Wednesday, warmer weather is expected to return to the region later this week.  The local forecast calls for a possible dusting of snowfall on Saturday, followed by a chance rain on Monday.

Arapahoe Basin, just up the road to Loveland Pass from Keystone, remains the only ski area presently operating for the public in the western U.S. Nearby Loveland Basin, which perennially competes with A-Basin for the title of first to open, has yet to announce an opening date. Wolf Creek Resort in southwestern Colorado, which also frequently opens in October, has also missed its planned opening.

“It’s been unseasonably warm in the Southern San Juan Mountains; Wolf Creek’s tentative opening date is postponed until more weather moves into the region,” resort officials indicated in a prepared statement issued today. “Wolf Creek has been lucky enough to have several early openings in the past, so we patiently wait for a new season to begin.”