Vail, CO – With nearly a foot of new snow at mid-mountain over the weekend and snowmaking conditions prime at lower elevations, operations crews at Colorado’s Vail Mountain plan to open more lifts and terrain than initially anticipated with approximately 550 acres of skiable terrain available on the ski and snowboard resort’s opening day, set for this Friday.n“The recent storms have been a huge help to our snowmaking and grooming crews who have been hard at work to provide our guests with the best opening day and early-season terrain offering we’ve seen in the last few years,” said Chris Jarnot, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Vail Mountain. “We’re looking forward to getting the 2010-11 season started and will provide additional updates over the next few days.”

Beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, Vail guests will be able to access the mountain from both the Vail Village and Lionshead base areas through the Vista Bahn Express Lift (#16), the Born Free Express Lift (#8) and the Eagle Bahn Gondola (#19). Skiers and riders will also have access to four more lifts and portions of terrain surrounding these lifts: Avanti Express Lift (#2); Wildwood Express Lift (#3); Mountaintop Express Lift (#4); and Little Eagle Lift (#15).

Additional lifts and terrain will open as conditions permit. Another storm is impacting the area today, with another eight to 16 inches predicted before winding down early Wednesday. A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect into Wednesday.