SAM Magazine—Reno, Nev., Oct. 16, 2026—Mt. Rose – Ski Tahoe fired up its snowmaking system in the overnight hours on Sunday, Oct. 11, becoming what appears to be the first ski area in the United States to start making snow in earnest ahead of the 2026-27 winter season. A handful of other western ski areas also began making snow during a midweek cold snap. Snowmaking season, at least for now, is underway.
“We had a good run,” Mt. Rose – Ski Tahoe general manager Greg Gavrilets told SAM. “We were able to start the system up Sunday night/Monday morning and go through Wednesday morning. Monday night we had a great drop—it got down to a low of 18 [degrees Fahrenheit] wet bulb. In total, we made snow for about 30 hours, top to bottom on our opening route with about 40 guns running.”
The snowmakers focused on the ski area’s primary opening route, Kit Carson Bowl, which has more than 1,000 feet of vertical and is just over a mile long. Another window of cold is forecast next week. Mt. Rose is aiming for a Nov. 6 opening day.
Arizona Snowbowl, Ariz., started making snow at 8 p.m. on Tuesday night (Oct. 13) from the top of the Arizona Gondola—which tops out at 11,500 feet—down to Agassiz Lodge, according to the resort’s social media. It appears the crew had temps into Wednesday. The resort’s opening day is scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 20.
Perennial early openers Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, and Loveland Ski Area in Colorado all started making snow Wednesday night (Oct. 14).
A-Basin has been making snow ever since, with guns still throwing flakes down to the base area as of late morning Friday. COO Al Henceroth wrote in his blog that he expected temps to rise enough to halt snowmaking for most of the day, but cold temps were expected to return Friday night.
It was a good start, though. With wet bulb temps getting down into the mid-teens, “Last night’s [Thursday night] snowmaking conditions and output were what ski area geeks (like me) dream about,” he wrote.
A-Basin plans to open as soon as possible.
Loveland has also been making snow straight through as of mid-morning Friday. “The team’s initial goal is to establish a top-to-bottom run with tree-to-tree coverage and an approximately 18-inch base of packed snow,” the ski area shared in a press release that confirmed a target opening between late October and early November, weather and conditions permitting. Last season, Loveland opened on Nov. 8.
Last year, Keystone opened first with 90 minutes notice for three hours on the afternoon of Oct. 25, beating out A-Basin, which had announced it would open the next morning. The resort also plans to open as soon as possible this season. Webcams showed snow guns were still firing as of noon on Friday.
Winter Park and Breckenridge joined the snowmaking party Thursday night.
South of Colorado, Taos Ski Valley, N.M., which has a base elevation of 9,350 feet, got its snowmaking fired up Thursday morning.
Adding to the excitement, many ski areas in the West saw their first dose of natural snow at higher elevations during the week, with up to a foot falling in some places.
Elsewhere, the Northeast will get its first shot of cold this weekend and some northern ski areas might take advantage of the window to start making snow in earnest. Ski Ward, Mass., turned on its all-weather snowmaking system in late September. The ski area has offered a couple days of October skiing on its learning trail served by a conveyor lift since 2023.
With a super El Nino in the forecast, some areas of the country—such as the Sierra Nevada, southern Rockies, and Mid-Atlantic—may have a bumper snow year. Regardless, temps have finally started falling in ski country and flakes are starting to fly.
