Week Ahead: The Last Lap

If last week was the season's closing arguments, this is the sentencing hearing.

Saturday, April 19 was the biggest single closing day of the season. Aspen Mountain, Winter Park, Grand Targhee, Solitude, Kirkwood, and Mt. Rose all stopped their lifts. Some had been limping along for weeks. Others -- Grand Targhee specifically -- were skiing legitimately good spring snow right up until the end.

The result: we're down to roughly 15 ski resorts still open in the American West. That's 15 out of hundreds. In a normal season, we'd still be arguing about whether to buy late-April lift tickets. This year, we're arguing about whether the season actually happened.

The Survivors

Here's everyone still standing, organized by how much time they have left:

Closing this Saturday (April 26):

• Alyeska (AK)
• Loveland (CO)
• Big Sky (MT) -- weekends only
• Alta (UT)
• Brian Head (UT)
• Crystal Mountain (WA) -- weekends only

Making it to May:

• Copper Mountain (CO) -- May 3
• Arapahoe Basin (CO) -- no date announced, playing it by ear
• Breckenridge (CO) -- same, TBD
• Brighton (UT) -- May 3
• Snowbird (UT) -- daily through May 3, weekends through May 25
• White Pass (WA) -- weekends, as long as possible

The long game:

• Mammoth Mountain (CA) -- targeting May 25
• Palisades Tahoe (CA) -- conditions dependent
• Timberline (OR) -- aiming for July 19, though low snowpack may cut summer short

That means this Saturday is another mass closing event. Six more resorts go dark. After April 26, we're looking at maybe 9 resorts, and half of those are running on fumes.

The Resurrection of Heavenly

The single best story from last week had nothing to do with closures. It was the opposite.

Heavenly came back from the dead.

The Vail-owned Tahoe resort closed on April 5 -- done, dusted, green runs showing grass. Then that late-season storm rolled through and dropped 2 feet. On Thursday, Heavenly's mountain ops crew started prepping terrain. By Saturday, the gondola was spinning again, with the Upper California Trail and Tamarack Return open for what turned out to be a two-day Easter miracle (April 18-19).

It's the kind of thing that almost never happens. A resort closing, then un-closing because the weather changed its mind. In a season defined by things ending early, one resort got a do-over. Even if it was only for a weekend, it felt like the ski gods tossing us a bone.

Mammoth's Second Season

While most of the West has been in hospice mode, Mammoth Mountain is having a moment.

The same storm system that resurrected Heavenly dumped 25-39 inches on Mammoth over three days (April 10-14). The summit base is sitting at 121 inches. They have 110 runs open. The resort is calling it their "second season," and honestly? They've earned it.

Mammoth got more snow in the last 10 days than some Colorado resorts got all March.

And there's more coming. Models show another storm hitting Mammoth tomorrow (Tuesday, April 21) through Wednesday:

• GFS: ~11.8 inches
• ECMWF: ~8.4 inches
• ICON: ~9.9 inches
• Multi-model average: ~10 inches

We've got our last prediction market of the season open for this one -- Mammoth April 21-22, over/under 12 inches. The models have actually come down slightly from yesterday, trending toward the under. Storm hits tomorrow morning and tapers Wednesday. Get your picks in before it locks.

It's fitting that Mammoth gets the final market. In a season where the unders dominated -- models and forecasters consistently overestimated snowfall in a brutally dry year -- this is your last chance to see if you've learned anything.

The El Niño Lifeline

Here's the one piece of genuinely good news for people already doom-scrolling next season: a Super El Niño may be developing for winter 2026-27.

The NOAA Climate Prediction Center's latest update shows a transition from La Niña to ENSO-neutral expected in the next month, with El Niño conditions increasingly likely by fall. Multiple forecast models are showing Niño 3.4 sea surface temperatures crossing the critical thresholds by September-October 2026.

If it materializes as a strong or "super" El Niño, history suggests it could mean a dramatically different winter for California and the southern Rockies. The 2015-16 Super El Niño delivered epic Sierra snowfall. The 1997-98 event buried Mammoth.

Obviously, it's April. El Niño forecasts this far out are educated guesses. And El Niño doesn't guarantee great skiing -- it tends to favor the Sierra and southern mountains while leaving the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies drier. But after the worst season in 50 years, even the possibility of a pendulum swing is worth noting.

This Week's Closing Day Tracker

The Numbers

• Resorts still open (West): ~15
• Resorts still open after Apr 26: ~9
• Resorts still open in May: ~7 (Mammoth, Palisades, A-Basin, Breck, Copper, Brighton, Snowbird)
• Last resort closing (planned): Timberline, July 19
• Open prediction markets: 1 (Mammoth Apr 21-22)
• Season prediction market trend: Unders dominated (62%)

What to Watch

The Mammoth market. Our last one. Models say ~10 inches vs a 12-inch line. After a season where the under hit more often than not, this feels like a fitting final test.

A-Basin and Breck. Neither has announced a closing date. In a normal year, A-Basin runs into June. This year, they're making no promises. If they announce April closings this week, the season is truly cooked.

El Niño forecasts. The NOAA update in early May will give us a much clearer picture of where winter 2026-27 is headed. We'll be watching.

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The season isn't over. It's just... almost over. If you're within driving distance of any of these 15 resorts, this week might be your last shot. Make it count.

Check real-time conditions for all remaining resorts on our resort pages, and get your last prediction market pick in before tomorrow morning.