WHETHER YOU’RE A fan of skiing or snowboarding, Colorado has more than enough resorts to suit your taste for snow.

Most of Colorado’s 24 ski resorts will be open by Thanksgiving, some sooner if the snow continues to fall and temperatures remain cold.

Loveland. just in front of the Eisenhower Tunnel on Interstate 70, was the first to open. It started off the Colorado ski season on Oct. 17. This year, instead of man-made snow, there’s plenty of the real thing.

Keystone and Arapahoe Basin will open in November.

Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, Crested Butte, Powderhorn and Solvista won’t open till December.

Breckenridge, Copper, Telluride and Winter Park are well known to skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts nationwide. Telluride, for example, has been featured in the films of famous director Warren Miller.

Breckenridge is an old mining town, while Copper was built from scratch as a ski resort, as was Vail and Beaver Creek.

Breckenridge and Vail, as well as Aspen, offer extensive shopping for those who rather stay in town instead of taking on the mountain.

All of the skil resorts have hotels, condos and fine restaurants, which can be enjoyed after a long day on the slopes.

Getting up at five o’clock in the morning to drive up to the mountains and slide down the snowy sloped may not appeal to everyone. To others, this is a dream come true.

If this is the kind of thing that gets your blood pumping, first check out www.coloradoski.com for conditions and snowpack.