Northeast Ski Resorts Begin First Snowmaking Push Ahead of 2026-27 Season
The West got its start; now it’s the Northeast’s turn.
This past weekend, as overnight temperatures dipped, Sunday River, Maine, began snowmaking on Locke Mountain, hitting the T2 and Upper Sunday Punch trails.
The resort said in an email that its system, in full, can move 10,500 gallons of water per minute through more than 2,000 snow guns. This winter, Sunday River is one of four resorts in the country testing SMI’s new Panther Fan Gun.
Courtesy Sunday River
“We are working with the best snowmaking technology out there, and we’re doing so much in this space that the only thing left to figure out is how to control the weather,” said Sunday River general manager Brian Heon in the email.
Sunday River doesn’t have an announced opening date yet. Last winter, the resort officially kicked the season off on November 12. In 2024, Sunday River got a head start, holding a one-off ski day on Halloween.
According to snow-forecast.com, temperatures are set to hover in the 40s and 50s at Sunday River early this week, with colder air arriving Thursday night. The Skiesta webcam showed two ribbons of white on Sunday River’s upper mountain as of Monday morning.
Courtesy Sunday River
Sunday River wasn’t alone. Killington, Vermont, another Northeast resort known for starting the season early, also turned on its snowmaking system, firing 165 snowguns across five trails in total, including four trails in the North Ridge Area as well as Superstar, the location for the return of the Stifel Killington Cup.
At this point, neither effort makes it much easier to guess when either resort will open—other than that, when consistent cold temperatures arrive, they’ll be taking full advantage.
The snowmaking runs arrived after several Colorado ski resorts got started, blowing flakes amid a surge of colder weather. Last week, skiers also noticed that Keystone, Colorado, had begun offering tickets for Saturday, October 24. Despite the hype, the resort told POWDER that the listing didn’t have any bearing on its opening day, which hasn’t been announced yet.
Regardless, we could be getting close—depending on the weather, of course. For the past five seasons, Killington has opened before November 20, so we suggest getting those skis waxed.
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