Las Vegas, Nevada — For most people, Las Vegas isn’t considered a snowy destination. That’s for obvious reasons, as the heart of the city is consistently warm, especially during the summertime. However, there is a place less than an hour away from the Strip that’s typically around 30 degrees colder than in the desert city.
Located around an hour’s drive outside of the city is Lee Canyon. While Lee Canyon may have flown under the radar nationally for years, it has long been an important part of Southern Nevada’s outdoor community. As the region’s population has grown, the resort has expanded into a four-season recreation destination to meet increasing local demand.
The Las Vegas ski resort was acquired by Mountain Capital Partners in 2023. Since then, new ownership has spent $23 million in upgrades. This has included building the new Hillside base lodge, adding the Ponderosa terrain expansion (which included a new chairlift), constructing a new base area around Ponderosa with 450 new parking spaces, snowmaking upgrades, adding multiple surface lifts, and introducing a hiking/biking trail.
These investments are working. Last ski season, Lee Canyon saw its biggest skier visitation totals ever. This is despite their season ending in late March. In prior winters, Lee Canyon has closed in April and even May.
Wild West Bowl
Their big project for this offseason is the creation of the West Bowl expansion. The multi-million dollar project is adding new terrain and a fixed-grip quad chairlift to the Nevada ski resort.
Earlier this month, I was in Vegas to explore the city before making my way to a wedding in Utah. While there, I stopped by Lee Canyon to check out the work on the expansion. During my visit, GM Josh Bean and Marketing Manager Johnny DeGeorge gave me a tour of the under-construction terrain pod. Their enthusiasm for this next phase is palpable, as it will give skiers even more terrain variety on top of what they’ve added in recent years.
We took a trip up to the future base terminal zone of the new chairlift. The Wild West Bowl lift will be a fixed-grip quad chairlift from SkyTrac. It will have a vertical rise of 800 feet, a length of 1,370 feet, and carry 1,800 passengers per hour. The first season will feature five trails, including a gladed zone that caters to multiple ability levels, along with various undeveloped tree zones to explore. It will serve mostly intermediate terrain, but will give plenty of wooded areas for advanced skiers to explore. More trails are planned to be added in the years ahead.
Guests will reach this zone by going up the Bluebird chairlift; they will then have access directly off the top of the chairlift. An egress route from the bottom of the new terrain pod will take skiers back down to the base area.
Much of the trail work has already been completed, with some of the trails cut for the winters ahead. The plan is also to install snowmaking infrastructure this offseason so it can be used to open this new terrain. For now, the steep upper elevation terrain is available via gate access for backcountry skiers and riders.
Next up in construction is the pouring of the concrete bases, which they are aiming to do in late August. From there, they will slowly assemble the new chairlift. Various parts, such as the new chairs, are on site.
Further additions could be coming after that. A new master plan is in the works, which would add more lifts and the terrain further up the mountain. One idea is a tram to one of the peaks. If you’ve been there, you know the potential.
Lee Canyon aims to open the new West Bowl expansion during the 2026-27 season.
Image Credits: Lee Canyon, Ian Wood
