{"id":16271,"date":"2026-08-07T16:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T16:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=16271"},"modified":"2026-08-07T16:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T16:35:00","slug":"ski-resorts-expand-summer-activities-and-adventures-year-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=16271","title":{"rendered":"Ski Resorts Expand Summer Activities and Adventures Year-Round"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Published August 7, 2026 10:20AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s been a scorcher this summer on Colorado\u2019s Front Range. My respite: escaping to some of my favorite ski resorts. Yes, ski resorts. I\u2019ve lived in Colorado for over a decade and have spent most winter weekends riding the lifts at resorts like Vail, Keystone, and Snowmass. As soon as the snow started to melt, so did the appeal of those ski villages. Throughout summer, I\u2019d pass them without a second thought, as I drove toward a trailhead or campsite. And if I was in a mountain town like Steamboat Springs or Winter Park, I\u2019d explore the surrounding wilderness rather than make the short drive to the ski areas, which\u00a0felt like they went into hibernation come spring.<\/p>\n

Ski resorts dazzle winter visitors annually with new investments like high-speed, heated chairlifts, expanded terrain, and big-name DJs headlining apr\u00e8s-ski bars. But in the last few years, as snow seasons become shorter and less predictable, ski resorts across the U.S. have been quietly enhancing their post-winter allure beyond scenic lift rides and hiking trails. New mountain bike terrain, via ferratas, wave-riding experiences, amenity-laden boutique hotels, and cool festivals and events are capturing the attention of outdoor enthusiasts, myself included.<\/p>\n

My partner and I recently went to a wedding near Colorado\u2019s Keystone Resort, which I\u2019ve always viewed as a day-trip destination, even in winter. But the ski area welcomed its first full-service hotel, Kindred<\/a>, this May, giving us a basecamp steps from the The River Run Gondola which takes riders up to the top of\u00a0 Dercum Mountain. Kindred\u2019s dining venues\u2014from a sushi restaurant to a burger-and-beer tavern\u2014communal lawn, swimming pool, and novel summer programming such as silent morning nature walks, culinary workshops, fire-pit storytelling, and astronomy nights with the Keystone Science School,\u00a0created an energy that hadn\u2019t previously existed.<\/p>\n

Keystone Bike Park in Colorado offers trails for mountain bikers of all ability levels. (Katie Young)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We planned to spend one night so we could check out the Keystone Bike Park, which had just completed a new trail, WD-40<\/a>. Their first new mountain biking trail in nearly a decade is a cruisy blue (medium-difficulty rating) with jumps and wooden features built from reclaimed Keystone\u2019s Bergman Bowl snow fencing. It allows riders to bypass the easier\u00a0<\/strong>green trail and reach the switchbacks and berms of the Mosquito Coast <\/a>trail much faster.<\/p>\n

When I learned about Keystone\u2019s Summer Afternoon Club\u2014free gondola rides from 4 to 7 P.M.\u00a0every Thursday up to Dercum Peak (dogs included!) for a free concert and barbecue, we decided to stay an extra day. Once we arrived and discovered it was the Wine and Jazz Festival<\/a> weekend, we extended our stay even longer. We were completely surprised by how much there was to do.<\/p>\n

More than 50 ski resorts<\/a> across the West closed early this winter due to poor snow conditions. To ease the financial blow, many got their summer operations up and running ahead of schedule. Winter Park, 67 miles from Keystone,\u00a0typically opens Trestle Bike Park in mid-June but had riders on the trails by Memorial Day weekend this year. The ski area also introduced a family-friendly 2.4-mile out-and-back Alpine Fairy Trail<\/a> and its newly upgraded, 3,000-foot-long alpine slide<\/a>. Vail is enticing visitors this summer with a handful of new signature summer programs<\/a> ranging from high-alpine Jeep tours that culminate in chef-curated mountain-top picnics to guided cycling adventures paired with yoga and a sound bath.<\/p>\n

And about a 2.5-hour drive from Winter Park,\u00a0<\/strong>Steamboat Resort is luring visitors to the mountain with Friday night comedy shows<\/a> held at 9,000 feet in Thunderhead Lodge, Saturday movie nights<\/a> and concerts<\/a> hosted in the village plaza, and Sunday yoga classes on the lawn outside of Thunderhead Lodge (all\u00a0<\/strong>free or by donation). The resort continues to expand its hiking and biking trails, but this August, endurance junkies can test their mettle at a 29029 event<\/a>. Ski resorts have become perfect host sites for this unique endurance challenge. Also known as Everesting, participants bag 29,029 feet\u2014the equivalent height of Mount Everest\u2014by hiking up and riding the gondola down over 36 hours.<\/p>\n

Summit Observatory Accessible for All<\/h2>\n

Big Sky Resort in Montana proves it lives up to its name with this summer\u2019s debut of Kircliff<\/a>, a futuristic, steel-and-glass observation deck built at the 11,166-foot summit of Lone Peak. Visitors\u2014including wheelchair users\u2014can ride the new Explorer gondola from the base, connect to the Lone Peak tram, which travels 2,000 vertical feet in four minutes, and be deposited at Montana\u2019s highest scenic overlook. On a bluebird day, visitors can see more than ten mountain ranges across three states\u2014Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming\u2014with Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks visible in the distance. And the addition of the Explorer gondola now makes it easier to access the resort\u2019s 50-plus miles of mountain bike trails.<\/p>\n

\"Big
Big Sky\u2019s Kirclliff Observatory opened in summer 2026. <\/span>(Photo: Courtesy of Big Sky Resort)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Aspen, the mountains have largely been a pretty backdrop to summer events like the annual Food and Wine Classic and Aspen Art Week. That\u2019s changing. \u201cSummer is an increasingly important part of our business, and we\u2019re investing in it accordingly,\u201d\u00a0Susan Cross, vice president of mountain operations for Aspen Snowmass\u00a0This year, she shared they\u2019ve doubled bike haul capacity on the new Elk Camp Chair at Snowmass, expanded family access to Snowmass\u2019 Lost Forest and Elk Camp Gondola, as well as the Silver Queen Gondola on Aspen Mountain.<\/p>\n

Other reasons to ride the gondola in Aspen this summer included a July wellness event<\/a> hosted in collaboration with global morning dance community Daybreaker, and on-mountain Sunday brunches<\/a> at the Cabin and Elk Camp in Snowmass and the Sundeck on Aspen Mountain. Tamarack Resort in western Idaho just upped its summer game with a new 100-slip public marina<\/a> on Lake Cascade that rents paddleboards and kayaks; rentable private cabanas line the beach and a waterfront Hawaiian\u00a0food truck almost (almost) makes you feel like you\u2019re on the shores of Oahu or Maui.<\/p>\n

On the East Coast, the summer thrills to be had at Killington Resort in Vermont are reminiscent of the boardwalk rides of my childhood summers on the Jersey Shore. The mountain\u2019s adventure center<\/a> already had more than a half dozen attractions, including a 4,800-foot-long alpine coaster that twists and turns through the woods with 360-degree corkscrews and Soaring Eagle, a sort of inverted roller coaster set 100 feet off the ground that glides for 600 feet at 30 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

\"corbet's
Climbing magazine\u2019s EIC Maya Silver ascends Exposure Therapy underneath the tram, which accesses the Corbet\u2019s Couloir via ferrata routes.<\/span> (Photo: Courtesy Jackson Hole Mountain Resort)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This July, as part of a $215,000 investment in summer activities\u2014one of Killington\u2019s largest summer capital expenditures in the past decade\u2014the resort added a 24-foot climbing wall, a 24-foot tower of webbed netting which you climb up and slide down, plus an enhanced bungee-assisted trampoline jump. \u201cInvestments like these enhance the guest experience and reinforce that there\u2019s plenty of fun to be had here long after the snow melts each spring,\u201d says Josh Reed, a spokesperson at Killington Resort.<\/p>\n

Each summer in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania, Camelback ski resort turns into Camelbeach<\/a>, the state\u2019s\u00a0largest outdoor waterpark, boasting 39 waterslides, a wave pool, and a lazy river. This summer, the family-friendly attraction transforms into an adults-only beach club on Saturday nights with live DJs and extended hours for some of the most popular slides.<\/p>\n

First DarkSky Ski Resort and New Via Ferratas<\/h2>\n

In Sun Valley, the late-night draw isn\u2019t DJs, but the quiet of the night sky. The resort recently earned an internatioanl\u00a0DarkSky certification, marking a milestone for U.S. mountain ski resorts and astrotourism. Snow King Mountain in Jackson, has also bet big on astrotourism, recently investing in the country\u2019s only mountain-top observatory and planetarium<\/a>. In mid-July, adventure-minded boutique hotel brand Trailborn opened in the base area.<\/p>\n

\"Proctor
A stunning captured display of the aurora borealis over Proctor Mountain in Sun Valley Resort, Idaho, the first DarkSky-certified resort lodging destination in the United States.<\/span> (Photo: James Conrad)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was in Teton Village at Wyoming\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong>Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in early July and while the town swelled with tourists, the ski area, located 12 miles or a roughly 30-minute drive depending on traffic, felt quiet. Last week, a free shuttle<\/a> connecting Town Square and Teton Village was announced in an effort to get more visitors to the mountain. Other big draws: the new Corbet\u2019s Couloir via ferrata across one of North America\u2019s scariest ski runs, and the food at Sure Hand<\/a>, the restaurant in the new Faraway hotel at the base.<\/p>\n

Jay Peak in Vermont has also been investing in summer restaurant programming, like weekly themed dinners at both the Foundry and the Clubhouse Grille, to give both locals and guests more reasons to visit the resort. The mountain\u2019s big summer draws have been its golf course and waterpark. Last summer, Jay Peak tapped the top U.S.-ranked FlowRider\u00a0athlete Monica Caffrey<\/a> to teach an eight-week lesson series inside Vermont\u2019s only indoor waterpark<\/a>. The series culminates with the park\u2019s annual FlowRider competition.<\/p>\n

Jay Peak\u2019s Goatscaping Chew Crew Attracts Visitors<\/h2>\n

But the most unexpected pull for visitors has been Jay Peak\u2019s Chew Crew<\/a>, a herd of Vermont-raised goats and sheep that naturally maintain ski trails through goatscaping. What started as a pilot last year has become a guest attraction in its own right, with visitors hiking out to watch and snap photos of the animals at work. Last year, the goats even made an appearance at Jay Peak\u2019s annual Bean & Brew Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Jay
Jay Peak \u00a0Goat unexpected pull for summer visitors has been a herd of Vermont-raised goats and sheep that naturally maintain ski trails through goatscaping. (Courtesy of Jay Peak)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFor mountain resorts, summer isn\u2019t simply the off-season anymore,\u201d says Steve Wright, president and general manager at Jay Peak.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s become an opportunity to introduce new audiences to the mountain in ways they may never have considered. Whether that\u2019s live music, surfing, goats on ski trails or simply spending an evening outdoors over dinner, every experience helps build a year-round relationship with the resort while easing the concentration of visitors in traditional tourism areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

We still have six weeks of official summer left, plus fall foliage on the way. Until that first snowfall, I\u2019ll be riding the chair lift to other seasonal alpine adventures and practicing my apr\u00e8s ski game at upcoming mountain events like the Big Sky Food & Wine Festival<\/a> and Whistler Village Beer Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Jen Murphy is a regular contributor to <\/i>Outside. Based in Colorado, she regularly hits the ski resorts of Keystone and Snowmass in the summer and fall to hike and mountain bike.<\/i><\/p>\n