Only Remaining North American Summer-Only Ski Area Hopes To Re-Open This Spring

The only ski area that opens for summer-only in the US, Beartooth Basin on the Montana/Wyoming border, has announced that it hopes to open again this spring after failing to do so last year.

The ski area, which was established in the mid 1960 by Austrians Pepi Gramshammer, Eric Sailer and Anderl Molterer as the Red Lodge International Ski and Snowboard Camp, had only managed to open for a few weeks in recent years due to multiple issues including lift failure and lack of, or at times, too much, snow.  After last year’s failure to open at all a ‘For Sale’ notice was issued for the facility.

However, despite apparently still being for sale, Beartooth Basin now say they’ll open daily from May 25-July 6 this year, 9am to 3pm, weather permitting.

The news comes as North America’s Whistler Blackcomb appears to have ended its glacier ski and snowboard camps which took place in June and July.  Prior to around the time that Vail Resorts took over the centre, the general public could summer ski and board on part of the glacier. However in recent years that practice stopped and only those signed up to long running private summer camps were able to. However it now appears that the camps are ending to, with climate change and resulting glacial retreat blamed.

Besides Beartooth Basin’s summer only operations a number of US winter resorts often stay open into June or beyond. These regularly include Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin, California’s Mammoth Mountain and Timberline in Oregon, which most years is last on the continent to close in mid-August.  Colorado's Copper Mountain also usually opens a hike-to terrain park well into summer. Some particularly snowy years have seen others open into July however, aiming to offer skiing on US Independence Day.