Six Upgrades Shaping California Ski Resorts Next Winter
As the 2026-27 ski season approaches, a slew of upgrades are coming to California’s ski resorts, from new lifts to remote systems that can trigger avalanches from afar and keep staff out of harm’s way.
It’s all part of the great renovating, reconstructing, and reimagining that takes place at mountains when the snow stops, and the slopes go quiet. For the most part, these are incremental changes—a new ticket deal or ski school program—but some of the ski areas are going bigger, with in-your-face improvements that essentially every visitor will bump against or at least see.
Ski California, a statewide ski industry trade association, recently shared a list of improvements at its member resorts. These are some of the biggest.
Lee Canyon
Lee Canyon, which is located in Nevada near Las Vegas but is a member of Ski California, is debuting an entire new lift and accompanying terrain expansion. The area served by the lift, called West Bowl, includes the fixed-grip quad and five new trails, encompassing terrain with “mixed difficulty levels,” Lee Canyon said in a social media post. Alongside the new chairlift, a new rope tow for the terrain park will open, too.
Homewood Mountain Resort
Once beset by questions and criticism surrounding its proposed future as a private ski area, the humble Lake Tahoe area resort Homewood is preparing to turn over a new leaf (or pine needle?) next winter with the opening of an eight-person gondola that replaces the Madden Chair. Super-extra-gnarly gondola this is not. Instead, Homewood is billing it as a way to “further enhance the experience for first-timers and families.” The gondola climbs up from the Madden base area and drops skiers atop a network of largely blue and green runs. And yes, in case you were wondering, after the past brouhaha, Homewood has previously affirmed plans to stay open to the public.
Cody Mathison, Mammoth Mountain
Mammoth Mountain
Known for enormous storms that deposit several feet of snow in only a few days and, yes, the avalanche danger that can come with them, Mammoth Mountain—and its sister ski area June Mountain—is funneling millions of dollars into snow safety systems that can be controlled from afar. Called remote avalanche control systems, or RACS, these towers allow ski resorts to set off and mitigate slides without sending ski patrollers into the thick of it. Mammoth’s getting 15, while the smaller June is getting one, at a total cost of $5.7 million, which may also mean speedier terrain openings during storm days.
Chris Segal/Palisades Tahoe
Palisades Tahoe
Also known for heavy Sierra storm cycles, Palisades Tahoe is upping its snow safety game with six new Gazex and Gazflex exploders at Palisades, five Wyssen avalanche towers at Alpine, and a new CATEX cable system in The Funnel at Palisades. The resort’s also added three swanky-looking new diesel-electric PistenBully 600E+ snowcats. They come equipped with LiDAR systems for measuring and grooming the snow.
Photo: Courtesy Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl’s $100 million makeover continues with the upcoming opening of the new Village Gondola, an 8-person Doppelmayr ropeway that replaces its aging predecessor in connecting the ski area’s parking lot to its base. Along with that structure, the resort is also making improvements to its lodges and, in recent seasons, debuted a juiced-up series of terrain park lanes that cater to everyone from beginners to the pros. Not so long ago, the Faction team stopped by Sugar Bowl, putting the ski resort on the map as a place to work on your double or triple corks.
Jared Alden/Getty Images
Boreal
Lake Tahoe’s night skiing hotspot is making the evening experience better with the addition of new, efficient LED lighting, improving visibility.
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