Hidden Valley Ski Resort to open early for the season

EUREKA, Mo. - The resort that holds skiing, snowboarding, and snow tubing will open back up for the season Friday at 3 p.m.

Hidden Valley Ski Resort's General Manager, DJ Koch, says this year marks one of the earliest openings they've had, as well as classifying this year as the best for snowmaking conditions in the last four years.

"We've made such good snow that we've kind of weathered the 60-degree temperatures and all the rain that's come up, so I think we owe it to the community to get some terrain open to be able to be open for the holidays," he said. 

Six trails of snowy terrain will be open for skiers and snowboarders tomorrow afternoon, and the goal is to add new trails throughout the season as snowmaking conditions allow.

"Right now, we've got six trails that are going to be open. The temperatures will be dropping tomorrow, so we'll be making snow this weekend," Koch said. "Every opportunity that we can do that will allow more trails to open up throughout the weeks."

Dipping temperatures this weekend will be ideal for additional snowmaking. The crew plans on producing enough snow to combat the fluctuating temperatures by early next week.

"The warm weather and the rain coming up... We'll keep it going as long as we possibly can, and hopefully, we'll get some colder temperatures to make even more snow," Koch added.

Skiing and snowboarding will be available for those looking to come out for opening day; however, snow tubing will not be open this weekend as Hidden Valley concentrates on making more snow.