Beartooth Basin Blows Up Cornice Ahead of Summer Ski Season
As summer nears on the Montana/Wyoming border, so does Beartooth Basin’s opening day. The country’s lone summer-only ski area is getting the road and mountain prepped for the start of its 64th season.
Up on Beartooth Pass, the Montana Department of Transportation is clearing off the Beartooth Highway and getting it ready for travel up to the ski area. At the ski area itself, crews have been hard at work readying Beartooth for (hopefully) a solid summer season.
Beartooth Basin’s opening is largely dependent on weather, and when MDOT is fully able to clear off the roadway, as is the length of its season. Historically, the ski area has opened around Memorial Day, but in recent years, it has been tough for the mountain to remain open past mid-June.
Beartooth’s 2026 opening day is still TBD, but the ski area is planning to open this summer. Avalanche control on the ski area’s famous cornice seems to be a good sign and clearly much needed, given how far the slide in the video below ran. Tap or click below to watch.
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In 2025, Beartooth opened on May 28 but remained open only until June 15. The year prior, the ski area didn’t open at all due to low snow.
In 2023, Beartooth Basin was open for just under a month, from May 26 until June 13, and didn’t open at all in 2022. Despite a tough few years, Beartooth still draws a passionate crowd of skiers each year that can’t seem to get enough corn turns in expert terrain.
MDOT had cleared Beartooth Highway up to the Wyoming/Montana border as of May 1. Although other parts of the mountain west got snow this week, it doesn’t look like the storm significantly impacted Beartooth, which bodes well as they work to clean things up on the road.
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