SAM Magazine—Dillon, Colo., Oct. 28, 2026—In a short, simple message on his blog a little before 8 a.m. MDT today, Arapahoe Basin president and chief operating officer Al Henceroth announced the start of the 2026-27 North American ski season: “We are going to open today at 11 AM with Black Mountain Express and High Noon.”
A-Basin has been making snow at every opportunity since Oct. 14 and got enough down to open High Noon, an intermediate thoroughfare that starts near the top of the Black Mountain Express quad.
The ski area will operate seven days a week for the remainder of the season. Snowmaking will continue and more terrain will open as quickly as possible along the front side of the mountain, according to a press release from owner Alterra Mountain Company.
No other details about the opening day festivities have been shared. The base area webcam showed a fairly short line at the base of the Black Mountain Express shortly after 11 a.m. MDT—not entirely surprising given the short notice.
Last year, A-Basin gave about 24 hours’ notice of its plan to open the morning of Sunday, Oct. 26, which would have made it the first ski area to open daily for the 2025-26 season. Neighboring Keystone then alerted the public with just 90 minutes’ notice that it would open at 3:30 Saturday afternoon to take the title of first ski area to open in North America.
