May 2026

 Snow Partners to Launch New Multi-Mountain Product, Expand Snow Triple Play. Snow Partners is launching a new multi-mountain frequency product, Snow Pass. The pass will provide two days of access to each partner ski area and operate as a cooperative. The company is also expanding its three-day multi-mountain product Snow Triple Play to the Midwest. More. SAM

Skier visitation in the U.S. tumbled by more than 6 million in the Rocky Mountain West amid a historically hot and dry winter. Roughly 9 million fewer skiers and riders took to the slopes this season than last, with the Rocky Mountain West accounting for more than two-thirds of that decline, according to preliminary data released this week by the National Ski Area Association. The data counted skier visits, or each time an individual used a lift ticket or season pass to a ski area. More. The Aspen Times via Google Alerts

 Global Skier Visits Hit Record 399M for 2024-25. Global skier visits reached a record 399 million in the 2024-25 season, surpassing the previous high of 392 million set in 2018-19, according to the 18th edition of the International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism, compiled by Laurent Vanat. More. SAM

These 5 East Coast Resorts Just Had Their Best Seasons on Record. From the longest season to the earliest opening, these are the East Coast ski areas who won the 2025-’26 season. More. Ski

Vail Resorts Visits, Revenue, and Pass Sales Down. Skier visits, lift revenue, and other season-to-date metrics reported by Vail Resorts were down for the North American ski season through April 19, 2026, compared to the same period through April 20, 2025. More. SAM

Bought a Ski Pass and Didn’t Use It? Here’s What You Can (and Can’t) Get Back. Common sense dictates that since you didn’t use the service you paid for, you should get your money back. Right? Right?!?!? Unfortunately, usually not. More. Ski

$1 Billion Expansion Plans Could Make Nordic Valley, UT, One of the Premier Ski Resorts in the State. A major approved development plan could transform the Ogden Valley ski area into something far larger, with new lifts, expanded terrain, hundreds of lodging units, chalets, condos, hotel rooms, employee housing, and a full village-style base area. More. SnowBrains

Homewood, Sugar Bowl, Lee Canyon Working To Debut Lifts Next Season. A trio of lifts highlight the summer construction season in the Far West, including the ongoing resurrection of a ski and snowboard mountain on Lake Tahoe, and the latest version of a one-of-a-kind, parking lot-base gondola. More. SnowCountry

Nearly 2,000 Ski and Snowboard Instructors Join Labor Suit Against Vail Resorts. Nearly 2,000 current and former ski and snowboard instructors have joined a collective action Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit against Vail Resorts, according to reports citing consent forms filed in federal court in Colorado last week. More. SAM

One Staff Member Killed, Another Injured After Work Basket Falls at Mt. Hood Skibowl. Two Mt. Hood Skibowl employees were in a work carrier when it fell from the line of the Upper Bowl chairlift Thursday morning, killing one and injuring the other. More. SAM

Parents Charged with Endangerment After 5-Year-Old Falls from Lift.  The parents of a 5-year-old boy who fell from a chairlift at Blue Knob All Season Resort were each arraigned this week on a felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child. The boy was riding the lift alone when he reportedly turned to adjust his goggles, slipped off the chair and fell 20 feet to the trail below. He did not sustain any major injuries. More. SAM

Official Report on the Castle Peak, CA, Avalanche That Killed 9 Reveals Critical Decision Errors, Undeployed Airbags, and Victims Buried 8 Feet Deep. The Sierra Avalanche Center has published its official investigation report on the February 17, 2026, Perry Peak near Frog Lake/Castle Peak avalanche that killed nine skiers and guides northwest of Lake Tahoe. The report is publicly viewable on Avalanche.org. More. SnowBrains

Skier Killed After Sluff Knocked Them 2,000 Feet Down a Cliff in Rogers Pass, BC. A skier died after a small loose-snow avalanche knocked them off their feet and sent them tumbling 2,000 vertical feet (600 vertical meters) down the northeast face of Swiss Peak in Rogers Pass, Glacier National Park, British Columbia. More. SnowBrains

Taxing the Mountain: Vail Resorts’ Blended Sales Tax Angers New Hampshire Residents.  When a skier in New Hampshire buys an Epic Day Pass or full Epic Pass to Attitash, Wildcat, Crotched Mountain, and Mount Sunapee, they’re now paying an Epic Pass sales tax of approximately 3.2% at checkout, even though New Hampshire collects no such tax on retail transactions. More. SnowBrains

April 2026

Indy Pass Adds 16 Resorts for Next Season. Indy Pass continues to grow, which is a good thing, because it offers bargain rates and other perks to smaller, independent areas at less than half of other multi-destination season passes. More. Seniors Skiing

Ikon Pass Adds SilverStar, Giants Ridge. SilverStar Mountain Resort in British Columbia has joined Ikon Pass as a partner resort and Giants Ridge, Minn., has been added as a bonus mountain on the 2026-27 pass. More. SAM

MCP Details $37.5M in Planned Capital Improvements. Mountain Capital Partners (MCP) plans to invest more than $37.5 million in capital improvements across its Power Pass network ahead of the 2026-27 season in the United States and the 2026 season in South America, with projects focused on snowmaking expansion, lift infrastructure, and terrain development. More. SAM

Ikon Pass Adds Partners, Benefits, and Other Changes for 2026-27. Alterra Mountain Company’s 2026-27 Ikon Pass suite of products is on sale  with new partners, access, benefits, and numerous other changes. More. SAM

A New Lift Will Unlock 1,000 Acres of Steep Expert Terrain at Powder Mountain (UT).  Powder Mountain’s new expansion will bring a chairlift to the steep “DMI” (short for Don’t Mention It) terrain pod while adding a new base lodge and other amenities. More. Ski

$1 Billion Expansion Plans Could Make Nordic Valley, UT, One of the Premier Ski Resorts in the State. Nordic Valley has long been one of the state’s more low-key ski areas. If built as envisioned, Nordic Valley would go from a modest ski hill to one of the more dramatically reimagined resorts in the West. More. SnowBrains

Mont-Sainte-Anne Details Lift Replacements, Other Improvements. Mont-Sainte-Anne has ordered three new lifts to replace four existing lifts as part of a CA$100 million investment plan that operator Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) is undertaking in partnership with the Québec government to modernize the resort’s lift infrastructure. More.

Pico (VT) Ski Resort Retires Historic Chairlift. Pico Mountain announced that the Outpost Double chairlift is now closed for good. Earlier this ski season, it experienced a main drive-shaft failure. After further review, an engineering analysis revealed that further repairs are no longer possible. More. Unofficial Networks

Berkshire East and Catamount Join Bear Den, New Mountain Alliance Formed. Berkshire East and Catamount Resorts in Massachusetts have joined Bear Den Partners, formalizing an ownership transition that brings the Schaefer family’s two ski areas into a growing portfolio alongside Vermont’s Burke Mountain and Smugglers’ Notch. More. SAM

Mountain Collective Pass Adds Referral Bonus for 2026-27. The 2026-27 Mountain Collective pass is on sale and has retained all the resort destinations around the world that it offered in 2025-26. More. SAM

New Hampshire Will Become Headquarters for Indy Pass and Parent Company. Erik Mogensen has announced that he will buy out all early investors in Black Mountain and return the ski area to 100% private ownership. He will also permanently relocate the headquarters of Entabeni Systems to the Jackson, New Hampshire, site, as well as the headquarters for the Indy Pass. More. SnoCountry

Oregon Legislature Passes Waiver Reform Bill. Oregon lawmakers finally passed a bill that strengthens the enforceability of liability waivers in the state after several previous attempts to quell what had amounted to a crisis for the state’s outdoor recreation providers failed to progress over the past decade or so. Senate Bill 1517 passed the Oregon House 55-2 on March 5 and the Senate 29-0 on March 6. More. SAM Ed. Note: The Northwest Ski Club Council carried out an extensive letter writing campaign to support the legislation.

Vail, Alterra Named in Antitrust Class Action over Pass Pricing. Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Company have been named in a federal antitrust class-action lawsuit challenging pricing and competitive practices tied to their Epic and Ikon passes, respectively. the complaint alleges the companies engaged in anticompetitive conduct by bundling multi-resort access and setting single-day lift ticket prices high enough to steer consumers toward season passes. More. SAM

Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz Opens Up About Expensive Lift Tickets, Crowding In Wall Street Journal Interview. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz gave some insight into how he and Vail Resorts view high ticket prices, crowding, and dwindling Epic Pass sales. Katz seldom gives interviews, so his conversation with WSJ Correspondent Roberto Ferdman gives a rare glimpse into his thinking on some of the more contentious issues facing skiers today, More. Snowbrains

Ski Helmet Usage Just Hit An All-Time High of 91% In The 2024/25 Season. According to a report from the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), overall helmet usage among U.S. skiers and snowboarders reached a national all-time high of 91% during the 2024/2025 skis season, up from just 25% back in the 2002/03 season. That’s a generational shift in behavior playing out over two decades. More. Unofficial Networks via Google Alerts

More Than Just a Sticker: How Mips Is Changing Helmet Safety in Skiing. SnowBrains spoke with Mips CEO Max Strandwitz to better understand what the technology does and why it has become increasingly common across snow sports and beyond. More. SnowBrains

La Niña Fades as NOAA Expects El Niño by Summer With Significant Impact on Winter 2026-27. The climate pattern that has shaped global weather for the past year is nearly done. La Niña is weakening quickly, and by summer, its warm-water counterpart El Niño could take over. More. SnowBrains

 Germany’s Last Glacier Ski Resort Disappears as Zugspitze’s Platt Lift is Torn Down. An era in German winter sports is drawing to a close as the final ski lift on the Zugspitze glacier area is being dismantled this week — a sad sign of how climate change is reshaping alpine landscapes. More. SnowBrains

Don’t Knock ’Em Till You Ski ’Em. Why Appalachia’s Resorts Are Worth Exploring. Once you get past the stigma, the Southern Appalachians are an unexpected ski region that doesn’t deserve the overlook it gets. More. Ski

I Thought It Was a Gimmick—Until This $60 Boot Hack Saved My Toes at Zero Degrees. Bootcaps, low-tech toe wraps for your ski boots, add a crucial 20 degrees of warmth to keep you on the mountain all day .More.  Ski