Some CA ski areas had a ‘bummer’ warm winter. Will they rebound with summer fun?
Melting snow patches and churning snow-making machines marked much of the late winter conditions across California ski areas this year.
California’s Sierra Nevada mountains experienced an unusual winter in late 2025 and early 2026, which strained some ski resorts’ abilities to run normally. Smaller ski resorts around the state were made to trust Mother Nature’s timing more than ever, stretching out their operating days as far as possible with the snow dumped by sporadic storms.
While the state typically gets a steady stream of snow between roughly late October and early April, this year the weather seemed to have an on-off switch instead. Heavy snowstorms at the turn of the New Year, in February and in April kept the Sierra Nevada’s overall snowfall within five feet of its median snowfall-to-date this water year as of May, according to the Central Sierra Snow Lab.
However, record-high temperatures in March decimated what little snowpack the mountains managed to build up with the first two storms.
Though skiing and snowboarding season has come to an end for the vast majority of California’s resorts, including most in the Lake Tahoe area, many will keep the fun going through the summer with off-season activities. Here’s what some ski resorts throughout Northern California plan to do while temperatures are up through the summer, including some that coincide with the Father’s Day and July 4 holidays.
Tough times in the Cascades
In the far northern reaches of California, Mt. Shasta Ski Park operated for only about half of its usual run this year.
The resort’s marketing director, Grace Hornbeak, called this season “pretty bummer,” with the unseasonably warm and dry conditions severely hindering a decent snowpack.
“We typically average at roughly 95 to maybe 110 days of operation,” Hornbeak said. “This year, we only got 55 days.”
The resort opened Dec. 27 and closed March 10, according to social media posts.
Though the ski park plans for tough winters with some fiscal planning, Hornbeak said the highly limited season made it tough for the resort to bring in revenue.
With that, Mt. Shasta Ski Park is introducing new summer events to invite community members back to the mountain in the offseason.
The ski resort is launching a new series of “community days” throughout the summer, opening the chairlift for a low cost for community members to hike the trails and grab a bite to eat at the lodge’s bar.
Mt. Shasta Ski Park’s inaugural community day will be Saturday, June 27 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., with subsequent events on Saturday, July 25, and Saturday, Aug. 29.
On the same morning of the first community day kicks off, the ski resort will run the brand-new Lemurian Ascent Trail Run. Race registration is available on the Mt. Shasta Ski Park website. The trail run features three distances — 4 miles, 7 miles and 14 miles around the mountain — with staffed aid stations throughout and a post-run yoga session for competitors after the race.
“That’s the first time we’ll be hosting this event, so we’re very excited, it should be a lot of fun,” Hornbeak said.
The ski area will also continue hosting its annual archery competition for Father’s Day weekend, as well as rent out its space as an event venue throughout the summer.
Nearby, the Mt. Shasta Nordic Center had a similarly difficult season, only open from Christmas weekend through February with occasional midseason weather closures, according to Justi Hansen, executive director of the Siskiyou Outdoor Recreation Alliance.
“We just didn’t have the snowfall and accumulation that we needed for a banner year,” Hansen said. “One thing that we’re envisioning for the Nordic Center lodge is that we could open up year-round operations, but that is just going to take some investment, and we didn’t have the financial year that we were hoping.”
Though the resort does not have the means to host any new events at its new grant-funded mobile lodge this summer, the trails remain open for biking and hiking through support from the Siskiyou Outdoor Recreation Alliance, Hansen said.
Mt. Shasta Nordic Center has also operated a July 4 walk/run event for the last 46 years as a fundraiser for youth education and sports organizations in the region and the Nordic Center itself. Registration for the July 4 race is open on the Mt. Shasta Chamber of Commerce website.
Making do with nature’s bounties
Some resorts did not suffer quite as much this winter, benefiting from ideal locations and temperature conditions.
Mt. Rose-Ski Tahoe resort, located north of Lake Tahoe in Nevada but included as part of the Ski California consortium, closed only one week earlier than usual, according to Mt. Rose marketing director Mike Pierce.
Pierce said Mt. Rose opened Nov. 21 and closed April 19 during the 2025-26 winter season. Normally, the high-elevation resort receives about 350 inches of snow, but this year snowfall totaled 281 inches.
“Mt. Rose-Ski Tahoe actually had a successful winter this year,” Pierce wrote in an emailed statement. “Our skier visits were only slightly down from last year ... and the timing of the storms worked out well with big snow coming at the right times.”
Thanks to the resort’s high base elevation and shelter from direct late-day sun exposure preserving the resort’s snow, Mt. Rose is not planning to add any new summer programming, Pierce wrote.
Along Donner Pass, one of the closest ski areas to Sacramento along Interstate 80 experienced slightly lower-than-usual visitation, but still had some days with 100% of terrain open.
Boreal Mountain, best known for its indoor and outdoor snow and skate parks, managed to run until its expected closing date of April 5 after opening only one week later than planned, according to marketing director Tucker Norred.
“Less terrain than normal was open around our Thanksgiving holiday, even into Christmas,” Norred said. “Then we had that miracle storm right around the New Year time, which opened up much 100% of our terrain ... but the unseasonably warm March did taper off visitation for us as well as the rest of the region.”
This year, Boreal received about 207 inches of snow, according to resort data. Reports from the Central Sierra Snow Lab indicate the Donner Summit area has averaged roughly 386 inches of snow annually since 2000.
The offseason is when things really ramp up at Boreal, according to Norred. Youth sports summer camps, mountain bike races and a variety of sports classes and clinics — ranging from skateboarding and scootering to tumbling and ninja parkour — are on the resort’s books for the spring and summer months.
A yearly or seasonal membership to Boreal and its adjoining indoor sports park Woodward gives access to all the resort’s summer classes and clinics, as well as lift access for outdoor mountain biking and indoor park admission.
“I think everybody was just ready for summer to be here, because it kind of felt like summer in the month of March,” Norred said.
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