It also had Freddy Valladares crawling through several inches of snow on a day that brought many firsts for the truck driver.

"This is a tough one," Valladares said.

The Oct. 1 storm gave Valladares his first-ever Colorado snowstorm, which also meant for the first time ever, having to crawl under his truck and put on snow chains.

"First day and first time," Valladares said.

It's an October storm that comes just a little early for the Pennsylvania resident, but at ski areas like Loveland, Spokesperson John Sellers says the storm is right on time.

"It's never too early at Loveland," Sellers said.

Loveland and Arapahoe Basin are racing to see who will open first for the season, which thanks to snowmaking and the natural stuff, could mean an opening day that is just two weeks away.

"We're working hard, working around the clock. We have all the snow guns in position on the hill still cranking away on the upper portion of the hill," Sellers said.

It is enough to get most skiers jumping with anticipation, thinking about making those first tracks of the year.

"I think it gets everyone excited on the Front Range as well. People are getting skis out of storage and finding their gloves and hats and getting ready to go," Sellers said.

Just don't expect to see Valladares standing in any lift lines.

"It feels like the middle of November, it looks like November here," Valladares said.

With those chains in place and hours in the cold and snow, Valladares says he is ready to jump back into his warm cab and put his first Colorado snowstorm way behind him.

"Please, let me go from here," Valladares said.