What to *SNOW* about the 2025-26 Ski Season

Cool temps, early openings as ski resorts prep for a frosty forecast

No one cheers an autumn blizzard quite like a kid with a brand new sled…except, maybe ski resorts and their season pass holders.

So when that early November snow dropped piles of the white stuff all across northern Michigan (Leelanau saw 10 inches!) it was just the kind of sign the industry, which brings in nearly $55 million annually across the state, was looking for. Indeed, with another blizzard that came right on time for Thanksgiving turkeys to be pulled from the oven, and as meteorologists jump in with predictions of a cold La Niña winter filled with flurries, the snow cannons and lifts are already up and running for the 2025-2026 season.

Here’s what ski resorts say they’re doing to welcome you back to the slopes and what’s new before you click in.

Schuss Mountain

Last winter got off to a melty start, but it actually wound up being one for the books. For Shanty Creek Resort’s 42-run Schuss Mountain, the 2024-2025 season was “absolutely amazing” once Jack Frost decided to cooperate, says the Bellaire resort’s rep Kirsten Borgstrom.

With 264.5 inches of natural snowfall, it was “our snowiest winter on record,” she says. “Combined with our snowmaking capabilities, we delivered outstanding conditions throughout the entire season.”

This year’s early weather patterns have the Schuss team expecting another great season while they cross their fingers that the low double-digit temps will stick around. “When we get into temperatures in the teens, our snowmaking operations run at peak efficiency,” and make way for a better base to build runs quickly, says Bergstrom.

But where the real fluffy stuff lacks sometimes, the resort’s expanding its use of mSnow, a spongey orange mat that looks like it’s made of nerf darts, to keep their Red, Yellow, and Purple lifts safe for loading and unloading no matter the snowfall that day.

What’s New: The mountain will stay open a little later Wednesday through Saturday, giving after-work skiers and boarders until 9pm to hit the slopes, while Nordic skiers will have a new homebase in The Legend Pro Golf shop, which will be the cross country headquarters for the winter months. And, for those of us who are less gifted with balance and coordination but still want to take in NoMi’s glittering sights, the resort is introducing the Snow Glider, a 45-minute ride through portions of Shanty Creek’s 5,500 acres aboard a new Alpina Dual-Track sled.

Caberfae Peaks

Going on its 89th year, Caberfae is one of the country’s longest-running ski destinations and has been witness to nearly a century of northern Michigan winters—some better than others. Like Shuss reports, Caberfae was surprised in the best way by last season’s snowfall, says owner Pete Meyer. “Once we made it to January, the snow quality was incredible and by far the best winter in recent memory,” he says. “The snow just kept coming down and kept piling up.”

What’s New: While mother nature’s been delivering, Meyer says that over the last 25 years the Cadillac ski hub hasn’t “had a winter in which we had no thaws in January or February.” To prepare for the inevitable warm-ups, he and his team spent this summer expanding their snowmaking system to over 160 machines. They also added luxe heated walkways to the base and lift station and a Prinoth Tier 5 Bison X groomer, which is basically the king of trail laying and slope building. Looking further ahead, Caberfae recently announced a multi-year chairlift expansion that’s going to add more beginner-friendly terrain by the 2027-28 season.

Crystal Mountain

A half hour (but definitely more on icy roads) north of Caberfae, folks were making runs right up through the first week of April at Crystal Mountain, for a total of 118 skiable days, recalls Brittney Primeau, who reps the Thompsonville resort. With 178 inches of snow hitting the mountain over last season, “we were able to push enough snow around to host our first ‘April Avalanche’ event with tubing after the slopes were closed for the season,” she says.

As for what makes ideal snowmaking conditions, it’s “28 degrees or less, low humidity, clear skies, and a light but consistent wind,” says Primeau.

What’s New: Crystal’s launched quite a few upgrades for the season, like repositioning its 178 snow guns to maximize early-season coverage, especially in the Loki slope complex, and beefing up the rental shop’s offerings, which now includes 600 new Head skis and more than 50 Burton snowboards. Crystal has also expanded flexible ticketing with its Crystal Flex passes to give visitors the ability to choose which days they’ll use their pass instead of having to carve out consecutive days. Meanwhile—and just as important—a new Mac n’ Cheese Bar is now available in the Clipper Café for when it’s time to carboload.

Boyne Mountain & The Highlands

Boyne’s Kari Roder says the energy going into this winter is high after only just wrapping up last season at the same time that northern Michiganders started making their summer vacation plans.

“We kept [the] lifts turning until Memorial Weekend,” says Roder, who’s betting the 2025-26 season will be just as good. “We compared last year’s Thanksgiving week forecast with this year, and it’s almost identical.”

Over at their sister mountain in Harbor Springs, The Highlands is also coming off what president and general manager Mike Chumbler calls a strong 2024-25 winter where snowmaking kicked off in early November and hills opened on Dec. 8. “The snow and quality of skiing were fantastic,” he says.

This year, he’s watching the La Niña pattern and says his team is “optimistic this could be an exceptional winter in northern Michigan.”

What’s New: For anyone looking to get the whole family on the hill this year, Boyne’s new “Small Fry Camps” for tots ages 2-4 have been added to the daily lineup. Kiddos get a taste of the mountain-life (plus some lunch) while parents and older siblings hop the lifts. And, if you’ve ever entered a situation and thought, “this would be better with a DJ” you’re not alone. Boyne’s adding a DJ booth in a repurposed gondola at their Village Lane base for what they call “après vibes.” They also took their brief down season to add to their snowmaking fleet, with nine SuperPole Cat guns aimed at the Meadows and Disciples areas for better coverage, something Roder says will help get the mountain open faster no matter the weather.

The Highlands, which is in the midst of a major resort-wide upgrade planned through 2030, is mirroring that same strategy with one of their latest projects bolstering their snowmaking operations for quicker terrain expansion, says Chumbler, who’s also bringing post-run jams starting in December with the return of their Friday Night Concert series.

Photo courtesy of Boyne Mountain

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