{"id":65487,"date":"2019-11-27T16:07:18","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T23:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/purgatory-resort-opens-with-snow-in-the-air-more-in-the-forecast\/"},"modified":"2019-11-27T23:07:18","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T23:07:18","slug":"purgatory-resort-opens-with-snow-in-the-air-more-in-the-forecast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/purgatory-resort-opens-with-snow-in-the-air-more-in-the-forecast\/","title":{"rendered":"Purgatory Resort opens with snow in the air, more in the forecast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"James
James Coleman, owner of Purgatory Resort, and his wife, Tonia Coleman, kneel with the first chair of the 2019-20 ski season Wednesday during opening day at the resort north of Durango. On the first chair from left are Taylor Anderson, Evan Drake, 7, Owen Drake, Ashby Drake, 9, Romeo Wilson, 10, and Gabe Wilson, all of Durango. They camped overnight at the base to claim first chair.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

PURGATORY \u2013 There\u2019s no way Romeo Wilson was going to wait long to get on the mountain. The 10-year-old has been practicing his 1080 spins all summer. So he, his friend Ashby Drake, 9, and father, Gabe, got there early.<\/p>\n

Earlier than Jack Breezley, a Durango High School junior, who slept in a sleeping bag overnight near the Bear Bar & Grille at Purgatory Resort. He got the second chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about the experience, not just getting first chair,\u201d Breezley said, his stomach full from second breakfast. \u201cI was trying to get first chair, but it\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fewer than 100 people stood in the line for the Purgatory Village Express Lift when mountain operations let Wilson on the first chair of the 2019-20 season at Purgatory.<\/p>\n

The resort opened with a 22-inch base, and three lifts servicing eight runs.<\/p>\n

\"Skiers
Skiers and boarders head up the mountain on Lift 1 during Purgatory Resort\u2019s opening day Wednesday as snow falls. The resort is preparing for up to 30 inches of snow by the end of the week.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Skiers
Skiers and boarders make their way down the mountain Wednesday during Purgatory Resort\u2019s opening day.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Falling snow melted on plates stacked with hotcakes made by resort staff. The storm didn\u2019t last long, but it made for a good start to the season, said Tiona Eversole, Purgatory marketing manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was up in the air about what would happen, but right when we got here, it started snowing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Opening on a Wednesday \u2013 let alone the day before Thanksgiving \u2013 makes it tough to attract huge morning crowds, she said.<\/p>\n

But meteorologists have predicted up to 30 inches of snowfall by the weekend, and Eversole said mountain operations is prepared.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a good chance, with the snow that\u2019s predicted, that we will open more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

bhauff@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

100 skiers, snowboarders wait in line for first tracks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-65487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65487"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=65487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}