Opening day at a Colorado ski resort is a joyous affair. It’s not the white ribbon of death that skiers and riders drive up for, but the white ribbon of joy.

And Sunday was a joyous day indeed as 11 inches of fresh snow — powder day — covered the mountain. The freshies were almost as tasty as the free donuts the staff handed out to skiers and riders waiting in line.

Arapahoe Basin became the first ski area in Colorado to turn on its lifts — well one lift anyway — for the 2023/24 season, and the people showed up.

Drivers heading over Loveland Pass were all playing nice with each other as the sun rose Sunday, a practice not very common on weekend powder days, even opening day. But who wants to ruin everybody else’s chance of getting to opening day by crashing near the Bakerville exit?

It was a relief to see the horde of skiers and riders lined up in front of the Black Mountain Express chairlift as I pulled into the parking lot shortly before 8 a.m.; some had been in line since 6:15 a.m.

Walking around the base area, people were listening and dancing to music Phil Lindeman and Tom Fricke from Krystal 93 were spinning. Some skiers and riders adorned costumes to celebrate the upcoming Halloween holiday. And everybody just seemed happy.

“I came up today because it’s opening day,” skier and snowboarder Tyrel Ebele said. “I didn’t think it was going to be this busy today being a Sunday, but you can’t miss an opening day.”

Arapahoe Basin has opened before Nov. 1 every year since the 2003/04 season except the 2020/21 season when the ski area opened Nov. 9. The ski area’s earliest opening ever was Oct. 9, 2009.

As the clock ticked closer to 8:30 a.m., the DJ counted down from 10. Skiers and riders cheered and smacked poles together … 9, 8, 7, the photographers and media grabbed their last positions … 6, 5, 4, a liftie ‘beeped on’ the start button … 3, 2, 1.

The lifts turned on and the banner was broken. Colorado ski season is here.

Sunday’s first-chair winners were, of course, ski bums, Nate Dogggg, Trailer Tom, Chad Otterstrom and Anthony Uglade. The quartet has been making first-chairs on opening days in North America for over 20 years, and Sunday’s first chair was Nate Dogggg’s 31st year claiming the infamous award.

Catching up with Colorado Ski Country USA Communications Director Sarah Beatty after the banner break, she said, “What fun, what fun this is. We look forward to opening day every year. We look forward to the good time everybody is having, we look forward to seeing the first chair go up. It’s always a good time.”

The wait to get on the chairlift was about 40 minutes once the first several waves of skiers and riders had clamored onboard.

The white ribbon of joy was very soft thanks to the fresh snow, however, a little sticky since the snow was wet with it being October.

Some planned to stay the entire day, most came up for a few runs, however.

“I got three runs in now and am thinking about getting a drink at 6th Alley,” Ebele said.

Arapahoe Basin is now open seven days a week for the 2023/24 season and will try to stay open as long as possible, like always.