Pinedale's Ski Winter Starts at the Library and the PAC, Weeks Before White Pine's First Chair

"It was a swimming pool. We should have been checking for floaties and not lift passes," White Pine general manager Dalan Adams told KHOL 89.1 FM about March 22, 2026, which turned out to be the last ski day of the season.

White Pine closed a week early. KHOL reported that the snow at the base held up only because Adams' crew hauled in dump trucks of snow from the surrounding forest. Ski patrol also spray-painted orange on large rocks showing through on the runs, and the resort's snowfall for the year came in at about half of normal. Adams said that if mild winters continue, the resort may eventually look at snowmaking. White Pine has no snowmaking yet, so its season still depends on what falls from the sky.

White Pine's posted 2026–27 dates are a target that depends on snow. The first ski-season dates in Pinedale that won't move with the weather are in town, run by volunteers, in the last two weekends of October.

Two Saturdays in town come first

The Sublette County Ski & Snowboard Association opens its 2026–27 home schedule before any chairlift turns.

The PAC is the Pinedale Aquatic Center at 535 North Tyler Ave. If you went to last year's swap, note the change. In its Oct. 30, 2025 edition, the Pinedale Roundup put that year's swap at the Pinedale Library. The club's 2026 schedule lists the PAC.

The early hour is the one to plan around. For $5 you get first look at the tables before the free crowd comes in at 10. If you're selling, Friday evening is your only listed drop-off window, two hours long.

What the swap money actually does

SCSSA says it is a 100% volunteer organization and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It names the Annual Ski Swap as one of the fundraisers behind everything else it does. That includes scholarships that help local youth cover the cost of skiing and snowboarding, plus a $500 annual scholarship for a high school senior through the Bruce Carlson Memorial Scholarship. The club also sponsors race events and social nights, and works to offer members discounted skiing.

The Roundup's 2025 notice called the swap an important fundraiser for both the club and the high school ski teams. The same edition shows how much the film night can raise. The Roundup reported that the 2025 dinner, raffle and ski movie brought in nearly $10,000 for the association and the Pinedale High School ski teams. Pitchfork Fondue donated the meal. The raffle offered donated items ranging from hunting optics to ski packs to hand-crafted art.

The night also showed how much local talent the program has produced. Amy David, a Pinedale High School ski team alumna who is now a pro skier and movie producer, screened "The Way Back." The Teton Gravity Research film follows three women and their pack horses into the Wyoming Range to ski three alpine peaks. Jayne Thomson Nolan, another ski team alumna and now executive director of the American Avalanche Association, gave the keynote on skiing as a lifetime sport.

After a winter that ended in slush, the October fundraisers carry more weight. A short season means fewer days for families to get value from their gear and passes. The club's scholarships exist to cover the cost of getting kids onto the hill, and the swap and film night are where much of that money comes from.

The posted dates, and what they depend on

White Pine's Plan page lists the 2026–27 season as December 11, 2026 through March 28, 2027. Opening day falls on a Friday. Last winter followed a similar plan. Oil City News reported in December 2025 that White Pine had moved its opening target from Dec. 5 to Dec. 12 and would run Thursday through Sunday.

Without snowmaking, opening day comes when enough natural snow has fallen. Last spring the only way to stretch the season was hauling snow by truck. Treat Dec. 11 as the date to watch for, not a date to count on. The resort says it will email ticket holders and post on its website and social media if conditions force a closure.

Passes are already selling. Adams told KHOL that preseason sales for 2026–27 were about equal to or slightly above the year before. He credited discounted early pricing on the new passes and free skiing for first-timers through the rest of last season. As of mid-October 2026, the resort's online store lists these season-pass renewal prices:

• Adult, 16–69: $560
• Youth, 6–15: $425
• Golden Ager, 70–79: $500
• Mini, 5 and under: $25
• Legend, 80 and up: $25

The family pass takes 10% off when you buy three or more passes together, as long as at least one is an adult pass. Local employers can buy a transferable business pass. It costs $700 for one, $650 each for two or three, and $600 each for four or more.

A week that starts on Thursday

When White Pine opens, it runs on its own weekly schedule. The community page says the mountain rests Monday through Wednesday. It opens Thursday through Sunday plus Monday holidays. That schedule shapes each day of the ski week:

1. Fresh Tracks Thursdays. After three closed days, Thursday morning means first tracks on groomed corduroy and untracked snow.
2. Fun Run Fridays. The resort pitches Friday as a family day when kids are out of school.
3. Ladies Club, Fridays and Sundays. A group for women of all ages and abilities, from first-timers to experts.
4. Holiday stretch. Open every day from Thursday, Dec. 17 through Sunday, Jan. 3.

Ticket sales, rentals and lessons run 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The chairlifts run 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the White Pine Grill 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the White Pine Bar until 5 p.m.

This is the second winter under this management team. Joe Ricketts bought the resort in 2024, as Cowboy State Daily reported at the time. Ahead of the 2025–26 season, SAM magazine reported that Adams was named general manager and Austin Bevilacqua assistant general manager, with Mercedes Pepper as director of operations. Adams told KHOL that even with a billionaire owner, the resort has to operate within its margins.

"A business is a business, and I'm gonna work hard to just keep running it that way, and work with what things we can generate here for ourselves."

Monday through Wednesday, the winter goes elsewhere

The days White Pine is closed leave three open days in the week. The places that fill them are free or already underway.

The Sublette Trails Association maintains more than 20 miles of groomed trails in Sublette County, paid for by the county Recreation Board with volunteer help. There is no use fee. The association lists three main areas:

• Skyline Nordic, next to White Pine, with 35 kilometers of loop trails
• CCC Ponds, about 10k of groomed beginner Nordic trails
• Rendezvous Meadows Golf Course, another 5K groomed trail

Skyline Drive is the only place the association allows motorized use. Grooming also depends on snow, but these trails ask nothing of a skier but a pair of skis.

Indoors, winter has already started. The Pinedale Hockey Association season runs October through March. Teams practice two to three times a week at the Sublette County Ice Arena and usually play 20 to 30 weekend games. Registration is open. Families are asked to volunteer at least three hours or use a buyout option.

The Nordic trails and the rink are part of the same picture. White Pine's season depends on snowfall, while many of the things that keep Pinedale's winter going run on volunteers and county funding: the Ski & Snowboard Association, the trail groomers, and the hockey families putting in their three hours. The club's season opens with dinner and a film at the Sublette County Library at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, and the swap doors open at 9 a.m. the next Saturday, Oct. 31, at 535 North Tyler Ave.

At RE/MAX Elite, Julie Kannier and the team watch the winter calendar as closely as the market, because they shape each other here. If you're buying or selling around Pinedale and want to know how places like White Pine, the Skyline trails and town fit together in winter, get in touch.