Mount Bachelor, Oregon, Sets December 4 Opening Date

The countdown to the 2026-27 season has officially begun at Mount Bachelor, Oregon. 

According to Mount Bachelor President and General Manager John Merriman and the Bend Bulletin, Mount Bachelor has officially set its 2026-27 opening date for December 4. With the resort’s base area already seeing light snowfall and temperatures expected to drop in the coming weeks, Oregon skiers can finally get their gear ready and mark their calendars for their first turns at Mount Bachelor.

• Related: Ikon Pass Resorts Confirmed Opening Dates for the 2026-27 Season

The 2025-26 season was not what Mount Bachelor had hoped for at all. In fact, last season was pretty much a meltdown in terms of total snowfall. It received just about 140 inches of snow — its lowest total in 50 years — which resulted in a much shorter season that saw fewer skier visits. Opening on December 23, 2025, and closing on April 19, 2026, the 2025-26 season lasted just 177 days when it typically lasts around 200.

But despite the lackluster 2025-26 season, defined by unseasonably warm temperatures and lack of snowfall, Mount Bachelor leadership believes things will turn around in 2026-27. 

“Last year was one of the worst years in history as far as snow totals, but the nice thing is what we’re seeing so far this year, and I’m hoping that it continues, is the return of the clouds that sit on top of Bachelor and stay for days,” Merriman said. “We didn’t see a whole lot of that last year.”

Mount Bachelor typically averages around 400 inches of snowfall, and Merriman expects “this year to be right around that number.”

• Related: Less Than 50 Days Until Non-Glacier Ski Season Starts in the Northern Hemisphere

The resort already received its first snowfall on September 2. Mother Nature dropped about 18 inches of snow in total throughout the weekend. The snowfall forced the resort to ditch its summer operations and move to fall hours. For a resort known for its skiing, it wasn’t a bad deal.

“It did affect our summer business but for us, the excitement was almost more important than that,” Merriman said. “The snow gets everyone really stoked. It reminds us that winter’s coming, and we better wrap up our construction projects because the snow’s gonna fly soon,” Merriman said. “We can’t wait to get open and to see people ripping turns again.”

Also a positive sign for Oregon skiers is the current El Niño forecast. In the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) September El Niño forecast update, the signal for warm weather for Oregon looked less extreme than it did in past updates. Central Oregon also falls within California’s wet signal, meaning the state could receive above-average precipitation this winter. More precipitation means more snowfall, which is something Oregon skiers and Mount Bachelor would like to see after a disaster of a season.

While El Niño forecasts could certainly change ahead of Mount Bachelor’s December 4 opening date, conditions look promising as of now. December 4 is less than three months away, and there is plenty of work to be done at Bachelor: preparing the lifts, testing and running snowmaking systems when temperatures are ready, trimming the runs, and lots more. Despite the work to be done, this is one of the most exciting times of the year for the resort and Oregon skiers, and soon, Mount Bachelor’s lift lines will be filled with skiers ready to start the 2026-27 season.