
Antelope Butte's summit reaches 9,398 feet, dropping 1,000 vertical feet to a base at 8,399 feet across 28 runs spread over roughly 250 acres in the Bighorn National Forest. Terrain splits 18 per cent beginner, 25 per cent intermediate and 57 per cent advanced, with no expert-rated runs. The resort operates on Indy Pass, giving pass holders access to Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains without the crowds found at larger Rocky Mountain resorts. Annual snowfall averages roughly 200 inches, drawing on the range's high-elevation snowbelt.
Two double chairlifts and a single surface lift give access across the mountain's 28 runs, with the surface lift dedicated to lower-mountain beginner terrain. Advanced skiers account for 57 per cent of the trail count, against 25 per cent intermediate and 18 per cent beginner. That split makes Antelope Butte better suited to skiers already comfortable on steeper pitches than to first-timers, despite marketing that frames it as a family learning hill. The terrain covers roughly 250 acres within the Bighorn National Forest boundary.
Antelope Butte operates as a nonprofit, run by the Antelope Butte Foundation after the ski area sat closed from 2004 until volunteer restoration returned lifts to operation for the 2019-20 season. There is no on-site village; skiers arrive by car and the base area centres on a single lodge building. Lift queues are minimal given the area's small scale and remote Bighorn Mountains setting, roughly an hour's drive from the nearest town. The adjoining Nordic ski area adds five miles of groomed cross-country trail.
Indy Pass holders get two lift-ticket days at Antelope Butte per season, alongside access to other independent areas across North America under the same pass. A 2025/26 season pass cost 399 US dollars, with single adult day tickets at 50 dollars regular and 60 dollars on peak days. The resort suits skiers seeking an uncrowded, advanced-leaning mountain over a polished resort experience, given the absence of on-site lodging or commercial village infrastructure. Its nonprofit structure keeps prices well below those of larger Rocky Mountain resorts nearby.
Antelope Butte is a small, nonprofit-run ski area in the Bighorn National Forest, with about 500 acres (202 hectares) of terrain on Sanity's figures. The mountain rises from 8,400 ft (2,560 m) at the base to 9,400 ft (2,865 m) at the summit, a vertical of 1,000 ft (305 m). The 28 runs lean steep for the scale: 57% are advanced, 25% intermediate and 18% beginner, with no expert-rated terrain. Two double chairs and a surface lift handle all the uphill work, so the layout is simple to read and lift lines stay short. Expect an old-school, uncrowded Wyoming day rather than a resort village.
The gentler end of the mountain has beginner runs named Ho Ho Ha, Enchanted Forest and Happy Trails, which suit learners and families, while the upper chairs serve the steeper pitches that make up most of the trail count. The area also welcomes snowboarders, telemark skiers and backcountry travellers, and an adjoining Nordic network adds five miles of groomed cross-country track. Antelope Butte suits confident intermediates and advanced skiers after quiet terrain off US-14, along with beginners who want a low-key place to learn. Bring a packed lunch, because facilities are modest and the real attraction is space.
The 2025-26 season at Antelope Butte ran from 20 December 2025 through 29 March 2026, a roughly fourteen-week window typical for this elevation band in the Bighorn Mountains. Dates shift year to year based on snowpack and the nonprofit foundation's staffing and grooming capacity. The mountain operates strictly as a winter destination during this window, alongside its separate Nordic ski trail system. Closing in late March means the season ends before many larger Rocky Mountain resorts, which often run into April.
Average annual snowfall at Antelope Butte runs to roughly 200 inches, reflecting the high-elevation snowbelt position of the Bighorn range between 8,399 and 9,398 feet. Base depth and season totals are tracked through the resort's own snow reporting rather than a regional avalanche centre feed. Snowmaking coverage is not documented for this area, leaving conditions more dependent on natural snowfall than at larger, investment-backed resorts. That natural dependency makes early and late-season depth more variable than at snowmaking-heavy competitors.
Mid-winter, from January through February, offers the most reliable base depth once early-season snowpack has built up across the terrain. Powder conditions favour storm-cycle timing given the reliance on natural snowfall rather than manufactured cover. Late-season visits in March can be inconsistent, with the area's 29 March close date reflecting typical spring snowpack decline at this elevation. Weekday visits year-round tend to be quieter than weekends, given the area's role as a regional rather than destination resort.
Antelope Butte does not operate night skiing, consistent with its scale and volunteer-supported operating model. The adjoining Nordic ski area, part of the Bighorn National Forest's winter sports programme, runs its own five-mile groomed trail season alongside the alpine lifts through the same window. As a nonprofit community resource rebuilt by volunteer labour after 2016, the mountain's calendar centres on keeping lifts running reliably through winter rather than hosting festivals or competitions. The Foundation relies on member and donor support to fund each season's operation.
Antelope Butte sits inside the Bighorn National Forest in north-central Wyoming, with a base elevation of 8,399 feet in the Bighorn Mountains' northern range. The resort lies on the west side of the range along the US-14 corridor. Summit elevation reaches 9,398 feet, giving the ski area a 1,000-foot vertical drop within national forest land. The surrounding terrain is undeveloped forest and alpine ridge rather than a built-up resort village.
Sheridan, Wyoming, lies 59 miles east of the resort via US-14, the nearest town of meaningful size and home to the Antelope Butte Foundation's offices. Greybull sits roughly 28 miles away on the range's western side, providing a closer but smaller service town. Both towns supply the lodging and groceries that the resort itself does not, given the absence of an on-site village. The wider Bighorn Basin region carries a ranching and small-town character rather than a ski-town identity.
US Highway 14, known through this stretch as the Bighorn Scenic Byway, provides the only paved access route to Antelope Butte. The drive from Sheridan takes roughly 75 minutes, climbing through switchbacks typical of the byway's mountain crossing. Winter driving conditions on US-14 can include snowpack and ice, standard for a high-elevation forest highway in this range. No public transport service runs to the resort, making a car the only practical way to arrive.
Sheridan County Airport (SHR) is the nearest airport, roughly 66 miles from the resort and served by nonstop flights to Denver. Billings Logan International Airport in Montana offers a wider range of connections and sits within driving range for visitors flying from further afield. No rail service reaches this part of the Bighorn Basin, and no scheduled bus or shuttle connects Sheridan to the resort. Visitors typically rent a car in Sheridan or Billings for the final leg to Antelope Butte.
Hotels and lodges near Antelope Butte, powered by Stay22.

Mammoth Mountain is first up in California, targeting Friday 13 November after a dusting of September snow. Heavenly and Northstar follow on 20 November, Palisades Tahoe on Wednesday 25 November and Sugar Bowl on 27 November, with Kirkwood on 4 December and June Mountain on 19 December. Plenty of smaller areas have no date yet. A super El Niño favours the Sierra, but a warmer storm track is the catch.

Arapahoe Basin, Keystone and Winter Park are all chasing an October start, though none has a firm date yet. The first dated openers are Breckenridge and Copper on Friday 6 November, then Vail on 13 November, with most of the rest bunched around US Thanksgiving. Hesperus did not open at all last season. A super El Niño offers hope but no guarantee, and forecasters say the southern mountains have the better odds.

Dolomiti Superski is spending around €100 million across its 12 areas before winter. Kronplatz gets a new 10-passenger gondola with a middle station, 3 Zinnen gets Helmissimo, and Val di Fassa swaps a chairlift for a gondola above Col Valvacin. New water-storage basins and upgraded snowmaking follow, and construction has started on the San Martino to Passo Rolle link. A peak adult day pass is €89.

Brian Head is targeting 6 November, though last year it aimed for 7 November and did not open until the 25th. Park City, Alta and Solitude are pencilled in for 20 November, Snowbird and Snowbasin for 27 November, and Deer Valley for 5 December. Eagle Point will stay closed after the Cottonwood Fire. A super El Niño is forecast, but the big snow is not expected until January.

Hintertux became Austria's second glacier to open for 2026-27 on Friday 2 October, after the Pitztal Glacier. Twelve kilometres of piste are running around the Olperer and Gefrorene Wand, served by one gondola and two drag lifts, with the Betterpark also open. Lifts officially run 8:15 am to 4:30 pm, but skiing stops at 2 pm for now.

A historically poor western winter cut Vail Resorts' annual net income from $280 million to $147.5 million and skier visits by 13.4 per cent. Now 2026-27 pass units are down 12 per cent as of 18 September, worse than the 10 per cent flagged in spring. Vail blames the weather and thinks some buyers are simply waiting, and it forecasts a rebound if the snow behaves.

Arizona Snowbowl advertised eight $1 lift ticket days this winter. Go looking and only three are showing - 10 March, 1 April and 10 April - so the rest may already have gone. The consolation is a calendar full of $9 days, including all but one day in April. Opening day is 20 November, weather permitting, and opening weekend is $19.

For years, Whitewater's Short Side was where you ducked a rope and hoped for the best: unmapped, ungroomed and unpatrolled. This winter it's inbounds. Six new runs of glades and fall-line skiing add 190 acres (about 77 hectares), taking the resort past 1,400 acres in total. F2 Logging spent a month in the trees to make it happen, and opening day is pencilled in for 4 December. Bonanza now needs less snow to groom, too.
Antelope Butte runs three lifts: two double chairlifts and one surface lift, serving 28 runs across the mountain's 250 acres. There is no gondola, high-speed quad or six-pack at this scale of resort. The surface lift covers the lower-mountain beginner zone, while the double chairs reach the upper terrain where 57 per cent of the trail count is rated advanced. This lift count places Antelope Butte among the smallest Indy Pass-affiliated areas in the Rocky Mountain region.
Neither double chair is a modern high-speed installation; both are older fixed-grip chairs consistent with the area's 1961 origins and the nonprofit foundation's restoration budget after its 2016 asset purchase. Uphill capacity is limited compared with larger resorts nearby, contributing to the short lift queues skiers report at the base. The surface lift is the only lift dedicated to the beginner zone, with no chairlift built specifically for that terrain. All three lifts were restored to working order as part of the 2019 reopening.
All three lifts return to the same base area beside the foundation's original lodge building, purchased along with the garage and maintenance shop in the 2016 asset sale. There is no mid-mountain facility separating the upper and lower sectors of the mountain. Both double chairs access the upper terrain from this single base point, while the surface lift works a separate loop for beginner-zone laps. The layout keeps orientation simple on a mountain with only 28 marked runs.
The Foundation's 2016 to 2019 restoration focused on returning existing lift infrastructure to service rather than adding capacity, given the scale of fundraising required to reopen a resort that had sat idle since 2004. No new lift has been installed since the reopening. The fixed-grip nature of both chairlifts means loading and unloading happens at walking pace, typical of areas this size and vintage. Its nonprofit funding model means further lift investment depends on community fundraising rather than a corporate capital programme.
More Antelope Butte intelligence: trail map, snow report, webcams, resort overview.