Winter’s final grip has loosened and the snow receded to the highest points in the Alpine. Besides the perennial holdout of Timberline, are there any ski resorts left standing when it comes to skiing in May? The answer is YES! We suggest slapping on some slush wax, grab your decks, and check out one of these resorts for what most of us will call the final hurrah.
For suggestions on spring skiing at these ski resorts in North America, see our article, “Everything you need to know about spring skiing & why it’s the time of year to visit.”
Where To Ski In May
Mount Bachelor
Acreage Open in May: Top-to-bottom skiing and over 2,000 acres
Learn more about Bend & Mt. Bachelor
Our personal favorite, Mt. Bachelor, is ALWAYS our go-to for skiing in May. Besides having the most perfect topography and weather to generate primo corn, the city of Bend is a bike friendly town filled with mouthwatering cuisine and plenty of other après activities. If you do make it up there around mid-May, be sure to check out the ULTIMATE spring tradition the Pole, Pedal, Paddle Bend race which starts on the slopes of Mt. Bachelor and finishes on the legendary Deschutes River.
Mammoth Mountain
Acreage Open in May: Top-to-bottom skiing and normally 1,500-2,000 acres
Learn more about Mammoth Mtn. & Mammoth Lakes
Warm sunny days and cold windless nights translate to spring being THE time to hit the slopes at Mammoth Mountain. Besides the average end of lift-served skiing, Memorial Day weekend normally signifies the beginning of mountain biking season. That’s right! You can shred in the morning and then take some laps in one of the best mountain bike parks in the nation. Not this year though. With the deepest snowpack in its history, they’ve already signaled that they are open until AT LEAST the end of July for skiing and snowboarding.
Don’t forget to set aside time to après and enjoy some great brews at Mammoth Mountain Brewing, JLB, and Distant Brewing. With plenty of sunshine, a deep snowpack, and a ton of pro riders calling it home, what other proof do you need? They also have the top team of snow sculptors crafting their terrain park! This is the place to be in the spring. This mountain is worth a trip even into June.
Snowbird
Acreage Open In May: Skiing and riding via its Mineral Basin Express and Little Cloud chairlifts, with uplift and download service via Peruvian due to Aerial Tram being replaced.
Just a mere thirty minutes from Salt Lake City tucked away in the Little Cottonwood Canyon is the ski area with the longest ski season in Utah. The “Bird” as it’s known, by this time of year is usually one of the few ski resorts open in May. It has at a minimum the Mineral Basin and Little Cloud chairlifts running, but if the snow is deep and the crowds do show up, there’s a good chance they’ll start running a few more. Spring skiing and riding is always a bit different than that in the winter. In the spirit of the party atmosphere, Snowbird normally has live music on the deck every week. All performances take place on the Plaza Deck from 12 – 3pm weather permitting.
Whistler Blackcomb
Acreage Open in May: Excellerator, Crystal Ridge, Catskinner, Jersey Cream and Seventh Heaven (weather dependent)
It used to be that Blackcomb would be open until late May providing 2,500 vertical feet of skiing and snowboarding and thousands of acres via Jersey Cream, Seventh Heaven, and Glacier Express lifts. Unfortunately, ever since Vail purchased Whistler Blackcomb, they’ve been reducing the amount of terrain available. The obvious let down this year is that Glacier Express will not run this spring due to lift maintenance. Glacier reaches some of the highest terrain at the resort, and not having it running will substantially limit spring skiing options. Even then, it’s still home to a ski village that all other mountains try to replicate, so it’s definitely a must try for spring skiing. The best part of skiing in May is that you can ski the upper elevations of the mountain in the morning and mountain bike the bottom part in the afternoon. Talk about a fun filled, adrenaline rushing day!
Palisades Tahoe | Alpine
Acreage open in May: On a good snow year expect around a 1,000 acres to be open … MUCH more this year.
This season has been one for the record books. A non-stop parade of storm after storm after storm leaving us with the deepest snowpack ever. With all this snow, they’ve already announced that they’ll be open through at least July 4th. Due to the Funitel’s haul ropes being replaced this summer, be sure to check out the Spring and Summer Hours of Operation to find out what will be open.
This spring will provide some of the most terrain open ever for all-time spring shredding in May, hot tubbing at High Camp, and of course the Made in Tahoe festival. Local artisans, businesses, culinarians, organizations, and entertainers will gather in the Village to display a wide array of offerings that are made or inspired in the Lake Tahoe Basin and Truckee areas. The world-famous Cushing Crossing is even happening this May! In fact, we’ve had some of our BEST powder days of the season in May. How good was it? See for yourself: The Winter That Won’t End – May Powder Day In Lake Tahoe.
Honorable Mentions
Besides the ones listed above, there are a few other resorts that keep the lifts turning that we have to mention. In Colorado, the late season resort is of course Arapahoe Basin which keep their’s running into June or later. And In Canada, you have Sunshine Village. Lastly, you have Timberline Resort in Oregon. While these are all open during May, the consistency of producing high quality corn is less than ideal than the ones listed above. We wanted to also give a shout out to the East’s spring king. While the quality isn’t as great as the ones above, their dedication to late season skiing is insane. They shoot snow ALL WINTER to push the season. That’s some love for skiing.
Killington
Acreage Open in May: Normally a handful of trails
Have a Nor’Beaster spring pass? Every season Killington pushes the limit of how long a season can be with the help of snowmaking. Throughout winter they train their snowguns on Superstar burying it with more than three stories of snow ensuring that they’ll be skiing in late April and usually all the way into Memorial Day. With how rough of a season they’ve had for now we’ll see if they make it. The one thing we can guarantee is that there will be all kinds of multi-sport fun to be had. From the Bike Park opening in late May to the annual legendary New England stage race and golfing on the links you’ll be in for a treat to say the least.
No moping about the house that snow season is over! Skip the “summer traffic” in the city and head up to the mountains. You’ll enjoy some daytime drinking, get some shredding in, and maybe even your 1st sun burn of the year! I don’t know about you but that sounds like a great long weekend.
You’re missing Sommet Saint-Sauveur, traditionally the first to open and last to close in Eastern Canada. They are planning to be open one last time this weekend.
Thanks Patrick! I’ll be sure to include them moving forward. 🙂
This year Solitude (Utah) plans to close on May 1st.
Hey Phil,
There are quite a few that are staying open until May 1st this year. We wanted to highlight the ones that are pushing to stay open until Memorial Day. Normally this is the case for Palisades Tahoe but due to an epic-ly bad winter most likely that won’t happen.
What about Arizona Snowbowl? For years Snowbowl stayed open to mid-may with lift tickets as low as $29. Are you paid to only mention those resorts you listed, I would hope your lists would be NOT so biased in the future.
Hey Edward,
We aren’t paid by ANY resorts. I will admit I didn’t even know that Snowbowl stays open to mid-may in most years. I know that this winter they’re only open until May 1st but next spring I’ll be sure to check it out and thank you for letting me know.
Breck???