Colorado’s 2026/27 ski season is officially underway, with the opening of Arapahoe Basin Ski Area on October 28^th, sending the season’s first skiers and riders up the mountain on the Black Mountain Express chairlift.

Opening day at A-Basin is a quintessential Colorado tradition, with colorful costumes, parking lot breakfasts, and a crowd eager to welcome another winter. And while A-Basin kicks off its 80th season, other resorts are gearing up, too.  Here’s what’s new  across Colorado Ski Country USA, including lifts, trails, amenities and ticket deals.

 Getting the Next Generation on Snow

Monarch Mountain is introducing $49 beginner lessons along with a program to bring approximately 1,300 students from the Salida School District to the mountain for a free day of skiing or snowboarding.

Powderhorn‘s Bob Beverly Free Learn to Ski/Ride Program offers first-time skiers and snowboarders up to three free days of group lessons, lift tickets, and rentals.

Purgatory Resort continues its Power Kids program, providing free season passes to children 12 and under, while Loveland welcomes guests back to its improved Lift 7 and reshaped beginner terrain.

A Season of Milestones

Arapahoe Basin and Aspen Snowmass both mark 80 years of skiing, while Powderhorn Mountain Resort celebrates its 60th anniversary and Echo Mountain reaches its 10th season.

At A-Basin, “80 Years of the Legend” includes $80 Wednesday lift tickets, and skiers and riders 80+ ski or ride FREE every Wednesday all season.  There’s also an official birthday bash the first weekend in December with giveaways, entertainment and more.

Aspen Snowmass will celebrate eight decades with throwback pricing, anniversary events, and special programming honoring its 1946 opening.  On Saturday and Sunday, December 12 and 13, lift tickets are $80 across all four mountains. On December 14, the day the lifts first operated in 1946, tickets drop to $3.75, the same price they were on opening day, and $19.46 food specials.

Crested Butte celebrates its 65th anniversary season with the return of its popular Uley’s Cabin sleigh ride dinners, where guests travel by snowcat and sleigh for an intimate on-mountain dining experience.

New Lifts, Terrain, and Mountain Improvements

At Aspen Mountain, the new Nell Bell high-speed quad replaces the historic Bell Mountain and Little Nell lifts, providing a single chairlift route to the top of Bell Mountain.

Powderhorn’s Wild West Express gives a former Snowmass chairlift a second life on the Western Slope. The refurbished high-speed quad, previously the Elk Camp lift, replaces the West End double and cuts the ride from more than 13 minutes to approximately six.

Purgatory is adding roughly 40 acres of expert terrain and five new trails through its Colorado Couloir expansion, along with expanded snowmaking on Divinity Trail, to improve early-season access to beginner terrain.

Winter Park continues its multi-year snowmaking improvements, while Steamboat is reshaping Maverick’s Halfpipe to reduce the amount of snow needed for construction by approximately 60 percent.

Racing News

Copper Mountain welcomes men’s FIS Alpine Ski World Cup racing Nov. 28–29 for the Stifel Copper Cup, 50 years after the mountain first hosted World Cup competition. In January, Buttermilk hosts the inaugural winter season of the new X Games League.

Eating and Drinking

Vail Mountain is building on its rich après history with the new Vail Ice Bar, a lively outdoor destination adjacent to the iconic Legendary Back Bowls Gate, and the return of the beloved Two Martini Lunch at The 10th, serving martinis, a Caesar salad and fries.

At Breckeridge, the new Climb and Dine series pairs a self-powered ascent with a curated dinner experience.

At Beaver Creek, the resort’s renowned Alpine Table Series returns with chef-curated menus and sommelier-selected wine pairings served in an intimate alpine setting.

Visit coloradoski.com for the latest opening dates and mountain conditions, or sign up for CSCUSA’s daily Snow Report, delivered to inboxes by 7 a.m. throughout the season.

See you on the slopes!  Or at the bar.  Or both.

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Evelyn Kanter

Evelyn Kanter is a NYC-based travel and environmental writer and a senior skier who would rather ride a chairlift, river raft or zipline than the subway, and has done so in the more than 100 countries she’s visited, skiing in many of them. In what she calls a “previous life”, she was a TV and radio news reporter for ABC News and CBS News, now a regular contributor to major publications, including airline inflights and AAA magazines, and has written or contributed to more than a dozen travel guidebooks.Her latest are “100 Things to Do in NYC Before You Die”, Fodor’s Essential Germany and Fodor’s New York City. Evelyn's website is www.ecoxplorer.com

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