California Ski Resort To Open Snow Tubing for Halloween Weekend

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Sugar Bowl Resort, California, has a pile of snow primed and ready for the spookiest time of the year.

While the machine-made flakes won’t be used for skiing, they will offer a kind of wintry tease. On Halloween, Sugar Bowl is dropping the ropes on its tube park.

“Join us for Tube-or-Treat this Saturday! Real snow, 50% off tubing, candy, costumes, and plenty of Halloween fun,” the resort wrote in a social media post. “Then, keep the fun rolling because we’re tubing every Saturday + Sunday through November right up to Sugar Bowl’s Opening Day on November 27, conditions permitting.”

Per Sugar Bowl’s website, tickets for this weekend cost $25 for a two-hour snow tubing session. During upcoming weekends in November, they’ll cost $50.

Now, you might be wondering, where the heck is Sugar Bowl getting all this snow? While Lake Tahoe’s seen some flakes this season, the big dumps haven’t arrived yet.

For Sugar Bowl, it’s all about its “trusty SnowFactory system” and traditional snowmaking.

The SnowFactory machine, built by TechnoAlpin, can blow snow even when temperatures are well above freezing. Some models, according to the manufacturer, can produce snow at an outdoor temperature of up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sugar Bowl’s SnowFactory “has been pumping out snow even above freezing for weeks,” the resort wrote.

Elsewhere in the U.S., the approach has even facilitated some early, early-season skiing. Ski Ward, Massachusetts, used a similar machine from Latitude 90 to open a small slope on Saturday, October 24, and Sunday, October 25. While it was a modest offering, we can’t imagine any Boston skiers were complaining given the time of year.

As for skiing, Sugar Bowl is currently eyeing an opening on November 27, 2026.

For the resort, it’s shaping up to be another big year. In recent seasons, it’s reimagined its terrain park offerings and, this summer, has been working on rebuilding its gondola. Those efforts join others as part of a multi-year $100 million transformation at Sugar Bowl.

Now, the snow just needs to start flying. Around Lake Tahoe, precipitation—hopefully of the snowier kind—is expected to turn up this weekend, according to the National Weather Service. Then, there’s the El Niño-shaped elephant in the room, a potential boon for moisture in California this winter.

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Related: The Freeride World Tour Is Headed To Snowbird, Utah

This story was originally published by POWDER on Oct 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add POWDER as a Preferred Source by clicking here.