As evenings grow longer, trees begin to blossom and the sun’s warmth starts lifting our souls, you might think about packing up your ski gear until next season. However, epic skiing conditions are set to continue for another couple of months, with some regions even extending into the summer.
California
A few weeks ago, Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows in Tahoe reported a snow cover of just over 20 feet, following an excellent winter that saw 315 inches fall in February alone. The shortest month saw more snow than many other resorts usually see over the course of an entire season. Squaw Valley has extended its opening to July 7 with other California resorts also staying open. Mammoth Mountain is set to ski until Independence Day and Heavenly Mountain will run its lifts until early May.
More snow is due to arrive in the coming weeks so there will almost certainly be some of California’s legendary t-shirt skiing – and even bikini skiing – this summer.
Oregon
Mount Hood Meadows and Mount Bachelor have announced that they will stay open until early May and many other Oregon resorts are offering special deals on spring ski passes and lodging.
Wyoming
The West Coast’s epic winter also brought benefits further inland with Wyoming’s beloved Jackson Hole Mountain Resort – the country’s favorite – experiencing record snowfalls in February. It dumped just over three feet, breaking the previous record by more than five inches, and the resort expects to remain open until early July as a result.
Colorado
It’s not unusual for the Arapahoe Basin to stay open until June 2 and the same is expected this year. Elsewhere, Breckenridge has announced an extension that runs until Memorial Day and, if the weather holds, they expect to extend it even further.
While the slopes around Aspen have planned that their end of season parties will take place in early April, many smaller Colorado resorts have announced extensions and expect to stay open for weekends in late April and even May.
Utah
In just about every resort in the Beehive State record amounts of “the greatest snow on Earth” were falling for several weeks. As a result, Snowbird expects to stay open throughout May, but Park City will be closing according to schedule, despite the excellent conditions and much to the dismay of locals who blame a change of ownership for cutting the season unnecessarily short.
Montana
Most resorts will be closing towards the end of March although a few destinations have announced extensions, with Big Sky and Red Lodge Mountain set to remain open until the middle of April.
Getting your money’s worth
Anyone with a multi-mountain season pass will be even more excited by the amount of snow as the good weather means that there are more days on slopes at no extra cost. For those not lucky to have a pass, now is the time to buy one for 2019/2020 as there are various deals available which will disappear later in the year. The best all-mountain options are IKON and EPIC passes, with EPIC asking for $49 upfront with the final amount due in September.
Here’s a breakdown of many of the deals available for season passes.
