The Race to Open: Which Resort Does the SnowBrains Team Expect to Open First in 2026-27

Every October, a handful of resorts chase a title with no trophy or prize money: first lift-served terrain of the season in North America. But not everything is about the prize — sometimes it’s just about the glory, or the bragging rights.

We asked the SnowBrains team who their top 3 picks are for the 2026-27 season.

For those who like a statistic, you might want to know who has had the best track record. To be counted as “first to open,” a resort needs to offer continuous operations from opening day—aka every weekend counts as well, but a one-day publicity stunt does not cut it.

• Related: Which U.S. Resorts Were First to Open in the Last 20 Years

First to Open Resorts in North America (2019-2026)

• Related: Ski Ward, MA, Wins the Race to Open as the First Resort in North America to Offer Lift-Served Skiing

Wolf Creek has the most outright wins in the last seven seasons. Overall, Colorado has taken the title in five of the last seven seasons. But you never know; there is always a chance for the odd outlier, like 2023-24 when Massachusetts’ Ski Ward snatched the title.  (Wild Mountain, Minnesota, opened first in 2022-23 but then closed again, so had to be disqualified from the list; same for Ski Ward in 2024-25). Or maybe a Canadian resort could take the crown — you never know.

Location, location, location, they say — but sometimes cold nights, aggressive snow guns, and a whole lot of dedication can take the win.

So which one will it be this season?

SnowBrains CEO Miles picked Arapahoe Basin as his topic pick, followed by Keystone and Loveland. Miles considered Wolf Creek for a bit but ultimately decided it was too much of a dark horse to commit to.

COO Steven’s reasoning for Arapahoe Basin similarly relies on the El Niño logic, and agrees that the pattern won’t meaningfully kick in at Wolf Creek until later in the season, so he’s believing in “the Legend.” By that logic, he also included Keystone and, as a Winter Park regular, he added his Colorado favorite to the list.

Editor-in-Chief and numbers-nerd Julia is going full stats: Wolf Creek’s simply won this race more than anyone else this decade. Nevertheless, she also loves an underdog, so threw everyone by throwing the ring in the hat for Arizona Snowbowl, but played it safe with Keystone as her third pick.

Canadian-American Creative Director Liam was torn between picking a Canadian resort or going for the safe bet. While he tossed up Banff as his dark-horse bet, he ultimately went all in on Keystone: repeat-win momentum and “a chance for Vail Resorts to show up for core skiers rather than just shareholders.”

Our Contributing Editor Shauna gave A-Basin the third top pick of the team. Shauna has the highest pick for Loveland on the team, while Wolf Creek is her third bet.

Martin went for Wolf Creek as his top pick, slotted Keystone into second, and Breckenridge into third.

Notably, three of our staff members have A-Basin in the top spot. Keystone is the most mentioned resort with five votes, while Wolf Creek and Loveland each have three votes from Team SnowBrains.

Not surprisingly, Colorado is the top pick for everyone by state.  According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, El Niño is actively strengthening, with a greater than 90% chance of a very strong event this fall and winter, and a 75% chance it becomes the strongest El Niño on record since 1950. SnowBrains‘ own September forecast update framed it similarly: Colorado gets an early-season upgrade, while California holds its ground.

The catch, and it’s the same one Steven raised, is timing. El Niño’s storm track tends to strengthen the Southern Rockies corridor (good news for Wolf Creek specifically) through the subtropical jet and Gulf moisture surges, but that signal is typically clearest from December onward, not necessarily in the first weeks of October when this race is usually decided. So the team’s split between “ride the El Niño wave early” and “the pattern won’t show up in time, bet on the usual suspects” isn’t just a personality difference, it’s a real disagreement about how fast this pattern moves.

We’ll find out who’s right soon enough. Opening day announcements start rolling in next month. Are you ready? Because winter is coming.