The Chair 1 webcam at Lost Trail Powder Mountain is dark for now. The ski area runs entirely off-grid, and on operating days the power comes on at 7 AM. Until then, the camera has nothing to show. The hours page still says "Closed for the Season," and that includes the kitchen. On November 1, Snow-Forecast's report showed zero inches of base at both the top and the bottom.
The ski area's calendar is already filling up, though. Lesson registration for 2026-27 opened on November 1. The two main coaching programs stop taking sign-ups on December 31, and the season pass moved to its full price back on October 1. On the hill up US-93 from Darby, a family's winter gets priced and booked in the weeks before opening day.
The Calendar Runs Backward From December 31
Here is Lost Trail's 2026-27 calendar, in order, from the resort's own pages:
- October 1, 2026: Season passes switched to the regular-price tier.
- November 1, 2026: Lesson registration opened. Lessons are booked by email or phone, generally 24 hours ahead.
- Around December 11, 2026: OnTheSnow's projected opening list puts Lost Trail here. The site marks it as a projection that may change.
- December 31, 2026: Registration closes for both the All Mountain program and the F.A.S.T. adult clinics.
- January 8, 2027: F.A.S.T. Friday clinics start, and season-pass buddy discounts become available.
- January 9 and 10, 2027: The All Mountain program starts on Saturdays or Sundays.
- February 12 through 15, 2027: Buddy discounts are blacked out for Presidents' Day weekend. There are no All Mountain sessions on February 13 and 14.
If the projection holds, the registration deadline falls about three weeks after opening day. Anyone who waits to see the snow before signing up still has a window, but a short one, and it runs through Christmas week. The All Mountain page also says "space is limited."
The weekly rhythm will be familiar to anyone who skied here last year. The lift report lists Lost Trail as open Thursday through Sunday. Down the pass, Lost Trail Hot Springs posts winter pool hours of Friday noon to 9 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The hot springs says hours change with the season and asks visitors to call first.
What a Pass Costs in November Versus March
Waiting to buy a pass costs real money at Lost Trail. The season pass page shows three price tiers for 2026-27:
| Pass | March 1–15, 2026 | March 16–Sept. 30, 2026 | Oct. 1, 2026 onward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult, 13–64 | $500 | $600 | $700 |
| Senior, 65+ | $400 | $500 | $600 |
| Child, 6–12 | $300 | $350 | $400 |
| Age 5 and under | Free | Free | Free |
An adult buying today pays $200 more than someone who bought in the first two weeks of March. Prices exclude a one-time $5 RFID card that carries over from season to season. A replacement card costs $10. Every pass comes with five $10 buddy discounts and no blackout days for the passholder.
For a household weighing a pass against a program, the numbers above are the baseline for everything in the next section.
The Programs That Close on New Year's Eve
Lost Trail sells its coaching programs in pieces. The coaching fee comes first, and lift tickets, lunches, and rentals are add-ons:
| Program | Who and when | Coaching | Add-ons | Everything included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Mountain | Ages 7+, six Saturdays from Jan. 9 or six Sundays from Jan. 10 | $250 | $190 tickets, $60 lunches, $50 rentals, $5 RFID | $555 |
| F.A.S.T. clinics | Adults, six Fridays, Jan. 8–Feb. 12 | $225 | $310 tickets, $75 lunches, $50 rentals, $5 RFID | $665 |
| 1-2-3 beginner | Three lessons, three full-day tickets, rentals | $300 package | None | $300 |
The add-ons are where a pass comes in. Six All Mountain lift tickets cost $190, and a child's season pass is $400. A child who skis only on program weekends comes out ahead with the add-on. A child who will also ski most holiday weekends may get more out of the pass, since passholders can skip the ticket add-on entirely. Adults face the same math at a bigger scale: $310 for six Friday tickets against a $700 adult pass.
The 1-2-3 package is for people who have never skied. Finishing it earns a three-day punch pass good for the 2026-27 season, so the $300 covers a beginner's first six days on snow.
Valley schoolkids reach the mountain through a separate track. Lost Trail's school program runs from the first week of January through mid-March on Thursdays and Fridays, with some Mondays. It serves students seven and older who ride buses from their schools. Lessons, lift tickets, and rentals are included, and lunch is priced on request. Schools reserve ahead, and registration opens at the start of October, so any school's spot for this winter was decided weeks ago.
The resort is also hiring. Its jobs page asks for ski and snowboard instructors and lists openings for a Snowsports School Assistant Director and an Office Assistant. The volunteer Lost Trail Ski Patrol says it is always looking for new members.
Last Winter Is the Reason the Pass Sells Early
Families commit to Lost Trail before it opens because of how last season went. The resort's March 30, 2026 snow report wrapped up 2025-26 with 199 inches of total snowfall, 56 inches of depth at the top, and 36 at the bottom.
The resort called it "a weird one." December started strong. Warmer-than-normal temperatures packed the snow down over the rocks and built a solid base. Then a long dry January brought weeks of high pressure, and the grooming crew kept opening new terrain anyway. February brought the powder back.
That matters for this winter. A strong early-season storm cycle can carry the mountain through a dry month, and last winter it did. Snow-Forecast's model shows several snow days at the pass in October, including October 10, 11, 23, and 26, and it lists October 23 as the last significant snowfall at an estimated two inches. Those are model estimates, not resort measurements, and none of that snow has built a base yet.
The Chairs Approved in June
On June 15, 2026, the Bitterroot National Forest signed a decision on the Lost Trail Ski Area Expansion under a categorical exclusion, with the Darby Ranger District as the lead office. The review began on November 18, 2021, so the decision took nearly five years.
The approved project includes:
- Replacing Chairs 1, 2, and 4 with high-speed quads
- Moving the existing Chair 1 to a new spot in the beginner area
- Clearing new beginner runs around the relocated lift
- Expanding the parking lot
The ski area sits on both the Bitterroot and Salmon-Challis National Forests, in Ravalli and Lemhi counties, so the decision covers ground in two states. The signed decision gives the federal approval. Building the lifts is the ski area's job. For this winter, the resort's lift report still shows the current five-lift layout, with Chair 1 listed first.
Power is the engineering question to keep an eye on. Lost Trail runs entirely off-grid. In a 2021 Teton Gravity Research profile, the mountain had no power-line connection, and generators supplied power to the lodge. Three high-speed quads would be a large addition to that setup.
The ski area has stayed with one family for a long time. According to Lost Trail's history page, Bill Grasser took sole ownership of the ski area, and it is still in the Grasser family. TGR's 2021 profile adds that he bought it with a partner in 1967, took sole ownership in 1973, and that Scott and Judy Grasser ran it as of that year. Questions about the federal side go to the project contact, Erica Strayer, at the Darby Ranger District, 712 N Main St in Darby, or [email protected].
This year's opening, Thursday-through-Sunday schedule, and lesson calendar run on the same mountain Darby has skied for decades. The approved lifts are the longer project behind them.
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