Top of the Far East Express at Palisades Tahoe, March 25, 2026 Photo: Palisades Tahoe lift cam
Palisades Tahoe, California’s largest ski resort and one of the largest in all of North America, is a haven for spring skiing. This spring, however, the home of the 1960 Winter Olympics (formerly Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows resorts) will not have much spring skiing to offer. The resort announced in a blog post that it has (most likely) axed plans to remain open until Memorial Day, 2026 and are now expecting to close by the end of April.
“The lack of early and mid-season snowfall and a quickly diminishing base will not allow us to make our targeted closing date of May 25 this year,” the resort announced. “We do not have a specific closing date because we are committed to going as long as conditions allow. We believe that Alpine can continue to operate into the first week of April and that Palisades can go until late April. Of course, this is all dependent on conditions and snowpack. There is also the likelihood of spring storms which could change things up. We’re committed to offering Tahoe’s longest season with a multitude of ways to enjoy skiing and riding when all other resorts in the Lake Tahoe area have closed.”
Resorts all over the Western U.S. have been closing over the past two weeks amid a March heatwave. That heatwave, of course, came after an already dry and warm winter through much of the region, and only made matters worse. Snowbrains published a list earlier this week of at least 69 resorts in western states that had either already closed or announced early closing dates. But the Palisades announcement is arguably the largest domino to fall.
Palisades is not just California’s largest resorts covering two mountains, it is also one of its highest in elevation. The Northern-Central Sierra Nevada snowpack is reportedly near 30 percent of its average for the end of March, just over a month after a mid-February storm had brought the snowpack to around 60 percent, according to the California Department of Water Resources.
The Palisades Tahoe operations team says it is currently spinning just 16 of the 39 lifts with access to just under 30 percent of terrain open (87 of 269 trails, according to On the Snow). Palisades says it plans to maintain that footprint throughout this week as long as conditions permit.
So much for a Miracle March.
