Plenty Of Choices To Keep The Skiing, Riding 'Jones' Going Into May
Late-season storms in the West have pushed a few more resorts than normal to add days to their skiing and riding calendars this season.
Aside from the usual suspects, three mountains -- Utah's Brian Head, Idaho's Bogus Basin, Arizona Snowbowl and Oregon's Mt. Hood Meadows -- will spin lifts on the first weekend in May.
The two areas that traditionally stay open during summer months will do so again. Oregon's Timberline Lodge, on the shoulder of Mt. Hood, will keep operating its lower mountain until early June whereupon the upper Palmer Snowfields will open for recreational and racing folks into early fall.
After a year hiatus, Beartooth Basin will reopen for above-timberline runs this summer. Sitting near the Wyoming-Montana border, the lifts are expected to open May 26 and run through July 6.
Otherwise, the late-runners' names are familiar. Colorado's Copper Mountain, Loveland Ski Area and Breckenridge have all set Sunday, May 11, as the final day for cranking up their lifts for winter's last runs. And Utah's Solitude will shut down daily operations on the same day but fire up the lifts for the next two weekends.
Its neighbor Brighton Resort plans spin all of its lifts until Sunday, May 18, as does Sunshine Village Banff in Alberta -- the longest season in the Canadian Rockies.
Longtime late-spring favorites line up to end on Memorial Day, May 26. Snowbird will be Utah's last to close again. It will be joined by California biggies Palisades Tahoe and Mammoth Mountain on that holiday. And, Oregon's Mt. Bachelor plans to keep things going through Memorial Day as well.
And the most hardy of them all, Arapahoe Basin along the Continental Divide in Colorado, will stay open as long as it can. So will newcomer Donner Ski Ranch, whose management has instituted a "no snow or no interest" policy as the way to determine when to finish the 2024-2025 season.
