Timberline Lodge Closes for Summer After 287 Consecutive Days

Timberline Lodge, Oregon, has officially shut the book on its 2025 summer ski and snowboard season. The resort made the announcement on Sunday, August 17, via Instagram, marking the end of 287 straight days of lift-served skiing and riding. Timberline is known for running one of the longest ski seasons in North America.

The closure came a few days earlier than Timberline’s original August 20 target. Warmer weather and a thinning snowpack ultimately forced the call, a recurring theme in recent summers as conditions have grown increasingly variable.

Timberline’s high-alpine Palmer Snowfield has long been the lifeline for summer skiing in the U.S., drawing everyone from Olympic athletes and World Cup competitors to weekend warriors chasing novelty laps in the middle of August.

This year, the Magic Mile and Palmer lifts spun daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., keeping the public and training camps on snow well past spring. Freestyle terrain shifted higher on the mountain as the snow receded, and the resort’s dedicated park crew kept building features late into August.

Historically, Timberline has even hosted skiing into September and over Labor Day weekend, but those late-summer closing dates have become increasingly rare. In recent years, August has marked the reliable cutoff as rising summer temps accelerate the melt-off.

Unlike many ski areas that lean on snowmaking, Timberline relies 100% on natural snowfall. That distinction has always made the resort a bellwether for how snowpack is changing in the Cascades.

The earlier-than-planned closure underscores a reality that’s becoming harder to ignore: climate change is reshaping the calendar for summer skiing. While the Palmer Snowfield still provides one of the most unique ski experiences in North America, holding out into late August now feels like the exception rather than the rule.

That's it for the North American ski season. It’s time to shift focus to the coming winter and start counting down to November storm cycles.

Still, Timberline’s 287-day season remains a reminder of what makes the mountain iconic. It's one of the only places where you can really ski in the summer.