Thanksgiving Ski Openings, Resort by Resort
Aspen, Snowmass and Beaver Creek target opening on Thanksgiving week while Deer Valley waits until 5 December, so advisors should place holiday ski clients now and lock in advance tickets.
Thanksgiving falls on 26 November this year, and the major Rocky Mountain resorts have now set their target opening dates around it. For advisors with families wanting a holiday ski week, the choice of resort is effectively a choice of how much terrain will be open, and the advance-purchase window for Thanksgiving lift tickets at Aspen closes early next week.
The opening calendar
Vail Resorts published these target dates for 2026/27, which it says are subject to weather and conditions:
- Keystone, Colorado: as soon as possible in October
- Breckenridge, Colorado: 6 November
- Vail Mountain, Colorado: 13 November
- Park City Mountain, Utah; Heavenly and Northstar, California; Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia: 20 November
- Beaver Creek and Crested Butte, Colorado: 25 November
- Kirkwood, California; Stevens Pass, Washington: 4 December
Aspen Snowmass lists Aspen Mountain and Snowmass opening on 26 November 2026, Thanksgiving Day itself, with Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk following on 12 December. Aspen Mountain runs to 18 April 2027; Snowmass to 11 April.
Deer Valley Resort in Utah is slated to open on 5 December 2026, conditions permitting, so it is not a Thanksgiving option this year.
What’s new where
Deer Valley’s expansion is the season’s biggest change on the ground. The resort says its new Hail Peak Express chairlift adds 200 skiable acres and seven runs this winter, taking it to 4,500 skiable acres and 209 runs. A new 10-million-gallon snowmaking reservoir brings snowmaking coverage to 932 acres. The Deer Valley East Village Lodge, with ski school, rentals and a food hall, and the Park Peak Lodge are listed as coming in winter 2027/28, so clients staying on the East Village side this season should expect construction and limited base facilities.
Vail Resorts says it is upgrading mountain dining across its portfolio this season and adding Epic Ascent, which layers concierge services onto private lessons. Bill Rock, president of the company’s Mountain Division, said it is “taking an aggressive approach to snowmaking.” The company says it has put more than US$100 million into snowmaking since 2015.
Sources
- Vail Resorts: Is Winter About to Show Off? Vail Resorts Announces 2026/27 Opening Dates (18 August 2026)
- Aspen Snowmass: Lift Tickets 2026-27
- Deer Valley Resort: Hail Peak Express release (16 September 2026)
- Deer Valley Resort: Expanded Excellence updates for 26/27 (29 June 2026)
Where to stay near Deer Valley, Utah
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Jeff Cameron writes about neighbourhoods and the business of travel for Not An Atlas, usually from a desk buried in maps, beside a mug of tea big enough to count as carry-on. His first trip was to St. Pete Beach, Florida, where dipping his feet in the Gulf felt like a major expedition, and he's still chasing that first shock of “the ocean can be warm?” He always takes the window seat (nobody climbs over him to get to the washroom), lands already briefed thanks to an audiobook or two about wherever he's going, and sizes up every city by its first cup of coffee. He'll happily walk 45,000 steps in a day to find the side streets where a place really lives. Kraków, Utrecht and Turin are the underrated favourites he'd go back to tomorrow. Friends say curious, candid and composed. His mom says contrary, and she's probably right. Next stop: anywhere a first-class, round-the-world ticket will take him.
