Two Tahoe Resorts Kick Off Snowmaking—Opening Day Quickly Approaching

Temperatures have finally dropped enough for two Tahoe ski areas to fire up the snow guns.

Heavenly Mountain Resort and Northstar California Resort kicked off their snowmaking efforts on Monday, October 27, 2025, ahead of the 2025/26 ski season. Both ski areas have an anticipated opening date of November 21, 2025, which gives them just under a month to continue building a base for the resort.

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Although both ski areas are just now firing up the snow guns, October 15th brought the area’s first big storm of the season with more than a foot of snow falling at Kirkwood, just under 12″ at Heavenly, and about 6″ of snow at Northstar.

The snow from these early storms didn’t stick around, but with recent low temps, things seem to be heading in the right direction. Teams from both mountains will continue snowmaking and monitoring weather and temperatures as opening day approaches.

Kirkwood, which is also on the EPIC Pass, alongside Heavenly and Northstar, currently has a planned opening date of December 5, 2025.

All three ski areas exceeded expectations in the last storm, with PowderChasers only forecasting 4-6″ for Kirkwood and raking in much more than that.

There’s not much more snow in the forecast for the Tahoe region currently, but temperatures should continue to drop significantly into the first weeks of November, which will no doubt aid snowmaking conditions.