An Ohio ski area is heading into its 66th winter with another round of upgrades to its lifts, snowmaking system and night skiing infrastructure.
Snow Trails, located near Mansfield, announced its 2026-27 offseason improvement projects on Sept. 23. The work includes replacing 30 older slope lights with LEDs for night skiing, adding snowmaking equipment and making significant improvements to two chairlifts.
The Alpine Triple is receiving an entirely new set of chairs, while the Silver Triple is getting new tower tops, an updated communication system and fresh paint. The Alpine lift will also be repainted.
More Snowmaking for an Ohio Ski Area
Snowmaking is particularly important at Snow Trails, where the ski season typically runs from December into March.
This summer, the resort is adding new SMI Grizzly tower-mounted snowmakers dedicated to the Silver Bullet trail. An additional SMI tower gun is being installed on Possum Trail, and 10 existing tower guns are being rebuilt ahead of winter.
Snow Trails has steadily expanded its snowmaking system in recent years. Ahead of the 2025-26 season, the resort added five snowguns after adding nine the previous year, bringing the two-year total to 14 new machines.
The resort also operates a commercial-grade cooling tower that lowers the temperature of water before it reaches the snowmaking system. Snow Trails says the system helps crews produce greater quantities of snow during limited periods of sufficiently cold weather.
Those cold-weather windows are critical in Ohio. Snow Trails says it typically hopes to begin snowmaking around Thanksgiving when temperatures fall below 29 degrees for sustained periods.
30 More LED Lights for Night Skiing
Snow Trails is also replacing 30 older slope lights with LED fixtures in selected areas of the mountain.
Night skiing is a major part of the operation. All 21 trails at Snow Trails are illuminated, allowing skiing and snowboarding to continue until 9 p.m. during regular evening operations.
The latest lighting project continues a gradual conversion to LEDs. Snow Trails installed another 28 LED lights ahead of the 2024-25 season on the X-Over trails, lower Alpine and around a new terrain park rope tow.
That rope tow was notable on its own. Snow Trails added Ohio’s first ski area rope tow in 2024, giving skiers and snowboarders quicker laps through The Woods Terrain Park.
More Than Just the Ski Slopes
Additional work is taking place at Snow Trails’ Vertical Descent Tubing Park, where crews are building a new tubing center that will combine the ticket window, restrooms, offices and snow tube storage under one roof. Electrical infrastructure at the tubing park is also being upgraded.
The resort is paving an additional section of the Rental Center parking lot and replacing a portion of its ski and snowboard rental fleet.
Snow Trails opened in 1961 and describes itself as Ohio’s first commercial ski resort. Today, the mountain has a 301-foot vertical drop, 21 trails and five terrain parks. Its longest run, Timberline, stretches 2,200 feet.
The resort is currently closed for the offseason and expects its 2026-27 season to begin in December, conditions permitting.
