Aspen Highlands will open Saturday, one week early, with 700 acres of terrain

Aspen Highlands will open Saturday, one week early, with more than 700 acres of terrain, Aspen Skiing Co. announced Monday.

Skico tweeted that the opening will include “major portions of the Highland Bowl.” That will include 200 acres on the G Zones side of the Bowl. Another 100 acres of terrain in Deep Temerity will open. Additional terrain will include Scarlett’s, Gun Barrel, Meadows, Grand Prix, Prospector, Nugget and Jerome. The terrain will be served by the Exhibition, Loge and Deep Temerity chairlifts.

Highlands will have top-to-bottom skiing with 2,500 feet of vertical terrain.

Highlands had been scheduled to open on Dec. 8 but the season debut was moved up after 11 inches of snow fell in the past week as of Monday.

“Given the recent storms, cold weather, and hard work of the Aspen Highlands operations and patrol teams, we are proud to offer an early opening to locals and visitors on Highlands this weekend,” Kevin Hagerty, mountain manager of Aspen Highlands, said in a prepared statement. It will be the first time Highlands has opened early in several years, he noted.

Aspen Mountain also opened early this season and Snowmass opened a significant amount of terrain as scheduled on Thanksgiving Day.

As of Monday, 1,156 acres of terrain on 63 trails was open between Aspen Mountain and Snowmass.

At Highlands on Saturday, the Merry-Go-Round restaurant will be open. The Cloud Nine High Alpine Bistro will open as scheduled on Dec. 8.

Skico is charging $149 per day for adult lift tickets starting Saturday.