Steamboat and Tremblant Delay Opening Dates, Stratton May Do the Same

Earlier today, Colorado’s Steamboat announced it had made the decision to push back its 2020-21 opening day to December 1. The resort said that current weather conditions, such as limited snowmaking and less-than-ideal early-season natural snowfall, forced the decision. Given current social distancing mandates, the resort says it hopes to open with enough terrain to allow visitors to reasonably disperse around the mountain.

Shortly after, Vermont’s Stratton made a similar announcement. This East Coast resort did not commit to a new opening date, saying that they’re still waiting for “that first good window of snowmaking weather,” but implied that the open date might not move at all if favorable conditions manifest.

Yesterday, Quebec’s Tremblant also announced a weeklong delay to its opening. The French Canadian resort noted that unseasonably warm weather had compelled the decision, and the mountain now plans to open November 27, weather conditions permitting.

Tremblant, Steamboat, and Stratton are now the third, fourth, and fifth Alterra-owned resorts to push back their originally scheduled openings, following similar announcements from Winter Park and Solitude.

Our Take

People who had trips booked for November will assuredly be disappointed with this decision. Since the affected dates are before December 10 (for now), Ikon’s Adventure Assurance will not provide deferral credits for the delayed openings.

At least in Colorado, Epic’s pass reservation system is really paying dividends here. Thanks to their ability to limit capacity on-mountain for all visitors, some Vail-owned Colorado resorts have been able to open with limited terrain. Since mountains like Steamboat and Winter Park have chosen not to place any reservation restrictions, we wouldn’t be surprised if they’re forced to prepare more terrain than the others to open up.

On the other hand, it seems like Stratton and Tremblant’s delays have been forced by unseasonably warm weather. Two other Vermont resorts have also been forced to push back their openings, and it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing skiing on the East Coast for at least a few more weeks. It’s also unclear how many people will choose to travel to Vermont this season given the state’s strict quarantine restrictions.

For more, see our reviews on Steamboat, Stratton, and Tremblant.