Popular Lake Tahoe Destination Ski Resort To Close a Month Earlier Than Planned

After a bumpy and often warm ski season, Palisades Tahoe, California, confirmed that it won’t stay open until May 25, 2026 (Memorial Day) this year as originally planned.

Now, according to a conditions update, the ski resort is aiming to stay open until late April but hasn’t confirmed a closing date. The schedule change, the resort said, stemmed from a “lack of early/mid-season snowfall and a quickly diminishing base.”

Palisades Tahoe hasn’t confirmed a closing date because the resort is “committed to going as long as conditions allow.” While Palisades is slated for late April, the other half of the resort, Alpine, has a planned April 5 end date.

“Of course, this is all dependent on conditions and snowpack,” the blog post noted.

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This month, several ski resorts around Lake Tahoe, like Homewood and Sierra-at-Tahoe, closed earlier than expected amid a record-setting heatwave. The blast of hot weather came after a season that delivered fewer powder days than usual, leaving snow coverage already low.

As of March 24, the snowpack in the Central Sierra is 30% of normal. Per Palisades Tahoe’s webcams, bare patches of dirt have appeared across the mountain. 

The weather, of course, hasn’t been good news for those in the snow business. Some of Palisades Tahoe’s best-known lifts, KT-22 and Granite Chief, have closed for the season. The resort is now offering around 30% of its total terrain.

Still, per the blog post, Palisades Tahoe seems to be taking the conditions in stride. 

“The past couple of weeks at Palisades Tahoe have been everything we love about this time of year at the Spring Skiing Capital®,” the blog post said. “Warm weather. Sunny laps. Slushy corn turns. And time spent with the community that makes this place what it is.”

A possible storm, too, could bring back more seasonally appropriate weather, including snow, in the coming days. But local OpenSnow forecaster Bryan Allegretto noted in a recent blog post that it’s “still early to lock in bets or belief in potential snowfall amounts.”

Our advice in these trying times? Yes, spring’s here far too early, but spring skiing is fun. So, this weekend, we suggest hitting your local mountain, whether that’s Palisades Tahoe or somewhere else.

Once the snow melts, it won’t be back for a long time. And we could be in for a hot summer.