The season's started, but the new year hasn't - do you risk the Colorado snow? Absolutely.

The opening day for Snowmass was November 28 (the previous weekend for Aspen mountain), or Thanksgiving as our US friends call it. And there was much to give thanks for, with boarders and skiers straining at the leash after a couple of weeks of near-solid snowfall.

Already, there is a similar base depth on Snowmass mountain as there was at the end of the whole of last season - the top has 51 inches (126cm) and the mid-stations 34 inches (86cm) with 1,755 acres of a possible 3,010 acres open. Aspen is looking at a top of 36 inches (91cm) and mid of 35 inches (88 cm) with 657 of 673 acres open. Lift lines are short, or non-existent (Christmas week will have changed that, but in the US they will still be swift and orderly).

We started on Snowmass with the easier blue runs - corduroy heaven - and even after two hours, we were pretty much only looking at our own tracks coming down. When we expanded our horizons to some of the more outlying runs (Sam's Knob area), they hadn't been groomed, but it was first tracks all the way.

Some of the more vertical double black diamond runs are open at their earliest ever (Roberto's, Baby Ruths) - certainly locals claimed they'd never been given the thumbs up before Christmas in living memory - and, so far at least, skier numbers haven't been heavy enough to scrape it all off.

Back country (off-piste) is deep and light, with little or no rocks, pretty much as good as it gets, especially considering there is more snow forecast.

More people were set to arrive over Christmas, but conditions are good enough to be able to soak them up - and in the US they tend to stick close to the base station - with more than 3,000 acres at Snowmass, you can always find a quiet corner.

And if that lot fills up, there are three other mountains to explore: Aspen, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk. The latter especially is usually uncrowded and protected, so the snow stays good.

So, with storms lining up to make a pass over the Rockies like planes in a holding pattern at Heathrow, the odds are that it's going to be good for a while to come.