Southern Colorado Ski Area To Reopen For a Few Days of Summer Skiing

The winter season may be long gone in Colorado, but that isn’t stopping one ski area from offering skiers another chance to enjoy their favorite sport.

Taking a page from snow storage efforts both in the U.S. and abroad, Cuchara Mountain Park plans to host at least two days of skiing later this month on June 12 and June 13, 2026. Per a photo shared on the ski area’s Facebook, that’s been made possible by a small pile of tarped-off snow. 

On Friday, the entrance fee for the hike-to skiing costs $10. The next day, on Saturday, Cuchara is hosting a terrain park competition for $20 a pop. There may be skiing on Sunday, too, if the weather cooperates.

The event marks another step in the remarkable turnaround of Cuchara. For the first time in more than two decades, the ski area’s Chair 4 opened this season, welcoming a new crop of visitors. That followed local efforts to make the mountain skiable again after its closure in 2000. Three years ago, a cat known as the “ski bus” started towing skiers up the mountain.

Now, Cuchara’s back in business in a more official capacity, filling the same niche as other humble-but-vital little ski areas across the continent. A pass for next season only costs $125.

Cuchara won’t be the only place to ski in Colorado in June. The backcountry remains an option, and Copper Mountain, despite the low snow year, has still built out its summer hike park with plans to open on June 5.

Outside of Colorado, Timberline Lodge in Oregon and Mammoth Mountain in California are still in business. Mammoth, after a few season extensions, is aiming to keep the season going until June 7, while Timberline will keep its lifts spinning further into the summer.

A few other ski areas are also holding similar events to Cuchara with leftover snow this month, like Jay Peak, Vermont, and Tyrol Basin, Wisconsin.

No one would fault you for grabbing your mountain bike, of course, but if you want to ski a bit more, you have options.

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Related: A Magic Carpet Journey To Remember—Skiing With My Young Kids for the First Time