Loveland is usually the first to open, followed by A-Basin, in mid to late October.
If nothing is open, you might try using a car as the "lift". When I lived in Steamboat, before the mountain opened for the season, we used to drive up one of the local mountain passes as far as we could, and ski down to where the snow ran out, leaving one person to drive for each run. Might be able to do that on Rt. 6 (Loveland Pass road) between Loveland and A-Basin, if both ski areas aren't open.