Bridger Bowl's early season closure due to low snowfall impacted hundreds of workers. The resort's board approved extra payouts to compensate, a rare move in the ski industry.
Red Lodge Mountain offers 732 metres of vertical and genuinely challenging terrain an hour from Billings, with day tickets topping out at $85. It's the sort of place where advanced skiers find proper steeps without the branded village nonsense.
Utah's Alta Ski Area endured a historically dry 2025-26 season, receiving just 321 inches of snowfall – the lowest on record. This highlights a broader pattern of declining snowpack in the West and raises concerns about the future of skiing.
Crans Montana markets itself on sunshine and sophistication, but beneath the resort town polish lies 140 kilometres of genuinely varied skiing. Two hours from Geneva, this south-facing plateau delivers the unusual combination of reliable snow and 300 days of sun.
Banff Sunshine is closing out its 2025-26 season on a high note, with the upper mountain surpassing 10 metres of cumulative snowfall as of May 16. The total of 1,021 centimetres makes it the snowiest season at the resort in over a decade - well above its typical annual average of around 600 centimetres. The season wraps up on Monday May 18 with the annual Slush Cup.
Arapahoe Basin has closed for the 2025-26 season after 204 days - wrapping up on May 17 following three extensions driven by late-season storms in April and May. It's the resort's earliest closing date in over a decade, but given how tough the season was across Colorado and the West, 204 days is worth acknowledging. The season opened October 26 and ran well beyond its original May 3 closing date.
Thirty minutes from Ashland, Mt Ashland runs on community ownership and 6.7 metres of annual snowfall. With half the terrain rated advanced or expert, this Southern Oregon mountain offers proper Pacific Northwest steeps without the crowds.
Most of Colorado's ski resorts have already closed for the season, but a late-May cold snap is about to dump serious snow on those still running. Eldora is the standout with 20 inches forecast, while Winter Park, Arapahoe Basin and Loveland are also in line for meaningful totals. A solid end-of-season bonus for anyone still on snow.
At 730 metres summit elevation, Neuastenberg Postwiesen shouldn't work as a ski resort. Yet this Sauerland area 150km from Cologne has cracked the low-altitude code through aggressive snowmaking and realistic expectations about what it offers.
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