Parts of the United States may be suffering from drought, but there's no lack of precipitation in the mountains of the West, good news for the nation's skiers.

The white stuff has been coming down in such quantity in the Colorado mountains that Arapahoe Basin opened on Oct. 10 this year, the earliest ever, and Loveland was not far behind.

So ski buffs are happily breaking out their ski gear, ready once again to challenge the slopes — and they'll have plenty of challenges and new facilities this season.

Arapahoe Basin is almost doubling in size, opening 400 acres of intermediate and expert terrain this December in Montezuma Bowl, serviced by the new Zuma lift. It's the nation's largest terrain expansion this year.

Snowmass' new $17-million Treehouse Kids' Adventure Center, the largest capital project in Aspen Skiing Co.'s history, opens this month with three new lifts on Fanny Hill. The center will have ski and snowboard check-in and programs, a climbing gym, teen activities, and seven interactive nature-themed rooms for children.

Deer Valley is adding 200 skiable acres and eight new ski runs, serviced by a new high-speed quad chairlift, Lady Morgan Express.

Telluride gained approval for skiing more than 200 acres of hike-to-terrain on Palmyra Peak.

In the East, Sugar Mountain in North Carolina opens a new 10,000-square-foot outdoor ice skating rink Nov. 15.

Beaver Creek and Breckenridge both have new gondolas to take skiers from town to mountain, moves that will cut down on traffic and save on fuel and fuel emissions. Breckenridge, which opened its BreckConnect gondola from town to Peaks 7 and 8 last December, estimates that the project saves more than 20,375 gallons of fuel each season by reducing shuttle usage. Beaver Creek expects to open its new Riverfront Express gondola from the town of Avon to Beaver Creek Landing later this season.

Ecological and environmental advances such as these are major concerns for many resorts this year.

One big movement is toward subsidizing wind power for electricity. "Eleven of the 26 member resorts in Colorado Ski Country are buying wind power credits to offset coal-fire electricity," said the association's Nick Bohnenkamp.

In addition, Aspen and many other resorts are increasingly using biodiesel fuels for their snowcats. Park City is retro-fitting lighting with energy-efficient CFLs and fluorescent bulbs, reducing lighting energy usage by 50 percent.

Vail is taking many eco-sensitve measures in the ongoing construction of its $1 billion Ever Vail project at the base of Vail Mountain. Among them are using water from snowmelt rather than potable water for toilets, covering roofs with soil and grasses to reduce solar heat accumulation and installing small turbines in Gore Creek to power street lighting.