Photo by Dustin Schaefer, courtesy Loveland Ski Area

Lauren Weibert saw a rainbow on opening day at Loveland

​The season of winter stoke is upon us: Wolf Creek, Arapahoe Basin, and Loveland Ski Area were all open over the weekend and, this being the 21st century, we found some sweet video coverage -- including wild remote-control helicopter footage from A-Basin -- for you to wistfully watch on this Monday. And as you check out the video clips (after the jump), take heart in the knowledge that it's snowing like crazy right now at just about every ski area in Colorado.

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Photo by Dave Camara, courtesy Arapahoe Basin

A-Basin opens for business tomorrow.

​This morning, Arapahoe Basin announced it will open tomorrow, October 13, at 9 a.m., for the season. The ski area is reporting an eighteen-inch base after a week of snowmaking and several inches of natural snow. That's not quite as epic as the 36-inch dump that helped Wolf Creek temporarily open last weekend but it's still good news for skiers and snowboarders eager to make some early-season turns, and it makes Arapahoe Basin the first Colorado ski area officially open for the season.

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​"It would be sad to see this much snow not being skied on at a ski area," says Elesha Goad, ticket office supervisor at Wolf Creek Ski Area, where they're opening this weekend to take advantage of the 36 inches of new snow that has fallen in the last 24 hours, and where the forecast calls for more today and tomorrow. In other words, this is the real deal and not some tiny little white ribbon of death made of artificial snow.

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​Skate & create! The fourth annual Bordo Bello skateboard art fundraiser runs tonight from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Redline Gallery, 2350 Arapahoe Street, with a silent auction featuring skateboard decks, vinyl toys and other artwork. Event organizers sent out blank Board Pusher decks and KidRobot Munny toys to a ton of artists (many of them are previewed on the Bordo Bello blog), and will be auctioning them off at the show and in an eBay auction (already under way) with a portion of the featured artwork. Proceeds from the auction and tonight's $20 entrance fee benefit VSA arts of Colorado's Access Gallery + Studio and the Robert Tatlor AIGA Colorado Scholarship.

And if you get outbid on the deck of your dreams at Bordo Bello, don't miss the art show and art swap on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Crisis Skateboards, 6821 West 120th Avenue in Broomfield, where they're celebrating the shop's one-year anniversary as well as the release party of Lowcard issue #40 and the debut of Nullozine Jr. Magazine

More weekend stoke after the jump...

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​As if the explosion of Fall color isn't reason enough to drive over Independence Pass this weekend headed for Aspen, tonight is also the NEPSA Video Awards ceremony at 7 p.m. at the Wheeler Opera House, the official kickoff of The Meeting, Aspen's 7th annual ski & snowboard film festival.

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​Yesterday marked the official ownership transition at Grand Mesa's Powderhorn Resort: Andy Daly and brothers Ken and Tom Gart bought the ski area at auction on August 4 for just $577,500, plus an additional 700-acre development tract below the resort for $825,000, spending a total of $1.4 million and announcing big plans to polish one of Colorado Ski Country USA's 'gems.'

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​Last week we looked at some of the best early-bird deals on season passes at Colorado ski areas; now that details of the 2011/2012 Colorado Gems Card from Colorado Ski Country USA have been announced, we'd be remiss in not mentioning that its $10 price tag makes it a must-buy, no matter which other season pass you're opting for.

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​Before that other big endurance event gets underway today, we thought we'd let you know that runner Lynette Clemons -- a Leadville local -- won the women's division at the 28th annual Leadville Trail 100 with a time of 19:59:06 to beat out Rhonda Claridge (Ophir, CO; 21:11:24) and Andrea Metz (Wausau, WI; 21:13:14). This is Clemons' second gold belt buckle in Leadville: She previously won the race in 2009. Her time this year put her in 10th place overall, beating out all but 9 of the men's competitors.

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​Attention, ski and snowboard bums: Vail Resorts has a job just for you. This winter you could be riding out the recession at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and Northstar-at-Tahoe as part of the Sprint Snow Squad blogger team. For your trouble -- a trifle, really -- you'll get a free Epic Pass, a full gear package and an "amount is to be determined" monthly salary.

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Photo by Alex Fenlon, fenlonphoto.com, courtesy Crested Butte Mountain Resort

Lance Armstrong wins the Crested Butte Alpine Odyssey, qualifies for the 2011 Leadville 100

​Look out, Leadville 100 competitors: Lance Armstrong is coming for you again after winning yesterday's Crested Butte Alpine Odyssey mountain bike race with a time of 4:32:21, three seconds ahead of second-place finisher Greg Krause and third-place finisher Travis Scheefer. The 63-mile Crested Butte Alpine Odyssey is the third and final qualifier for the Leadville 100 (August 13), which Armstrong has previously won.

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