"They still showed up, so we survived." That's how Doug Laraby, planning director for Winter Park Resort, described destination guests during a regional drought tour this spring, as The Colorado Sun reported in June. The people who didn't show up were mostly day skiers from the Front Range. Overall visits fell 29%.
Read the resort's September announcement for 2026-27 with that number in mind and a pattern shows up. The earlier weekend hours, the bigger Rope Drop Club and the new snow guns all favor someone who can scan a pass twice in November and be at the Gondola by 8 a.m. on a Saturday. For anyone who lives off US-40 or keeps a place near Cooper Creek Square, the coming season gives the most to people who are already here.
What last winter actually took away
The 2025-26 season started on time and then thinned out. The Winter Park side opened October 31, 2025. Mary Jane didn't open until January 9, 2026, and it closed March 28. Sky-Hi News counted 79 days of operation on Mary Jane.
| Measure, 2025-26 season | Figure |
|---|---|
| Snow depth Laraby calls "really good" | 50 inches or more |
| Resort snow depth, first week of February 2026 | About 30 inches |
| Depth on trails without snowmaking, same week | About 15 inches |
| Change in overall visits | Down 29% |
| Mary Jane operating days | 79 |
Statewide, The Colorado Sun described Colorado's snowpack in February as record-low, with the state in a snow drought. Warm temperatures also made it hard to make snow, so trails that normally stay open into April closed in late March.
Trails with snowmaking held about twice the depth of trails without it. The visitors who disappeared were the ones who could decide each morning whether to drive up I-70 and over Berthoud Pass.
The November scan is now worth more
Rope Drop Club returns for 2026-27, and the way you earn it rewards early-season skiing more than it did before. According to the resort's Rope Drop Club page and SnowBrains' September 16 report on the announcement, it works like this:
- Scan an eligible pass at Winter Park on at least two separate days in November. The page lists the Winter Park Season Pass, the Winter Park Midweek Pass, the Ikon Pass and the Ikon Base Pass as eligible. Participants must be 18 or older as of December 15, 2026.
- That earns membership: texts straight from Ski Patrol when ropes drop and terrain opens, plus a members-only day at Mary Jane before it opens to the public.
- Those two November scans also earn two days in the new Rope Drop Lanes, starting March 1, 2027. The lanes are dedicated lift lines at the Gondola and at Super Gauge.
- Two more scans between December 1 and 15 earn two more lane days, starting January 1, 2027.
The dedicated lanes are new this season. So is the December bonus window. Both pay off for skiers who can make short, frequent visits in thin early conditions, which is far easier from Old Town or Fraser than from Denver.
Send'er November gives those visits a calendar. It runs three weekends, November 14 through 28. A Poker Run opens it on November 14 and the Mini Mary Jane Mogul Freeride closes it on November 28. On Saturdays in between, passholders get a dedicated lounge at Sunspot with weekly giveaways.
Why the new snow guns point at Lower Hughes
SnowBrains reports that the resort is adding more than $750,000 in snow guns and related upgrades, two years after a $38 million snowmaking overhaul. The new equipment nearly doubles snowmaking capacity on Lower Hughes, the trail facing the base Village and the Gondola.
Given last winter's numbers, that spending makes sense. Trails with snowmaking held about 30 inches in early February while trails without it sat near 15, and in a drought year that gap decides what stays open. Lower Hughes is also the run you can see from the base area, so more snowmaking there gives early-season skiers more terrain close to where they park or step off the bus.
The resort also spent close to $300,000 on summer grooming equipment. That includes two slope maintenance machines that clear invasive plants from dry slopes and thin gladed terrain, which the resort expects to mean broader early-season openings and better tree skiing. Less brush under the snow means terrain can open on a shallower base.
Weekends at 8 a.m. for everyone
This winter, lifts open at 8 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, an hour earlier than before. SnowBrains puts the gain at roughly 36 extra hours of skiing over the season, or about four and a half days. The resort says the earlier start applies to every guest, so no upgrade buys earlier weekend access. Weekday hours stay 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Early Ups Pass changed because of this. The $149 add-on for Ikon and Winter Park season passholders now covers weekdays only, with an hour of early access on the Gondola and Explorer Lift, Monday through Friday. A weekday early hour is mostly useful to someone who lives within a short ride of the base.
Opening day hasn't been set. The resort's hours page says the first day of skiing and riding will be "As Soon As Possible," and it lists 12/5/26 through 4/4/27 as a season range, subject to weather and conditions.
Getting to the Gondola without the car
The town has a new way to get to the base this winter. The Lift Flex, a free on-demand ride service, launched June 15, 2026. You can book through the Lift Flex app, by calling Lift dispatch at 970-726-4163, or online. According to The Lift's Flex page, winter service covers the west side of town. It picks up anywhere on that side and drops riders at Cooper Creek Square to connect with the Black Line. It doesn't serve Fraser or the Mary Jane base.
The start date for the winter fixed-route Lift schedule hasn't been published yet. Last season, Sky-Hi News reported that winter routes started November 17, 2025. If this year's schedule follows a similar timeline, the buses will start partway through Send'er November, so the Flex connection to Cooper Creek Square covers the gap for anyone chasing early scans.
Before the lifts spin, October already has plenty going on near those stops:
- October 14, 4 to 6:30 p.m.: The Chamber's free Business Bonanza at Headwaters Center, 730 Baker Drive.
- October 24, 4 to 6 p.m.: The Halloween Bash at Cooper Creek Square, 47 Cooper Creek Way, with trick-or-treating at local businesses, a photo booth, a DJ dance party and a Grand County Youth Dance performance.
- Mondays through October 26, 5 to 7 p.m.: Live music at Big Trout Brewing Company.
- Thursday through Monday, 4 to 10 p.m.: James Peak Pizza Joint at 78737 US-40, back under its original name after Ed and Amy Raegner reopened it this spring, as Sky-Hi News reported.
Hideaway Park also has its first winter coming with the new $2.4 million playground. The custom structure, built around the Moffat Tunnel, Parry Peak and a bear, opened after a June 18 ribbon cutting.
The connection that's still on paper
The longest-running version of this question is the gondola. As proposed, it would run 3.5 to 4 miles, carrying riders from downtown Winter Park to the resort and on to Amtrak's Winter Park Resort platform. Sky-Hi News reported on October 1 that the Winter Park Regional Transportation Authority was authorized to form on September 1 but won't be official until November. Voters in the district must approve two questions for it to work as planned. One covers forming the authority through an intergovernmental agreement. The other is a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights question on whether the authority can take on debt for the system.
According to that report, Town Manager Jon Peacock said the authority would seek $120 million in bonds, with about $400 million repaid over 30 years from tax-increment revenue collected by the Winter Park Urban Renewal Authority. The financing plan hasn't been approved, and the local taxing districts asked to commit future revenue are still weighing the cost. Mayor Nick Kutrumbos told the paper the town has spent years learning from other mountain resort communities.
"to ensure that we preserve our local culture as much as possible."
No construction date exists. For the 2026-27 season, getting from downtown to the snow still means the Black Line, the Flex connection at Cooper Creek Square, or your own car.
If you're weighing how changes like Rope Drop Lanes, 8 a.m. weekends and a possible gondola affect owning a home near the Winter Park base, Denise OConnell follows these Grand County updates closely and can talk them through with you over the season. Let's Connect.
