At a time when a single day of skiing can easily cost well over $100, North America’s oldest operating ski area is preparing to give away lift tickets every Sunday this winter.
Howelsen Hill Ski Area in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is heading into what the city calls its 111th winter season. The city-owned ski area is scheduled to open Nov. 28 and operate through March 28, 2027, conditions permitting.
Its popular Ski Free Sunday program will return for every Sunday of the season.
That works out to 18 scheduled Sundays when anyone can ski or snowboard Howelsen Hill without paying for a lift ticket, assuming conditions and operations allow.
No Reservation and No Lift Ticket Charge
The program is refreshingly simple. Reservations aren’t required, but visitors still need to stop at the Howelsen Hill ticket office and pick up a free ticket before getting on the lifts.
The offer isn’t limited to alpine skiing and snowboarding. The free ticket also provides access to Howelsen Hill’s groomed Nordic trails for cross-country skiing, fat biking and snowshoeing.
Tubing is not included.
Free is obviously a breath of fresh air in an age when a day of skiing regularly goes into the triple digits but it should be noted that Howelsen Hill regular lift tickets are already relatively inexpensive adult tickets normally cost $55, with youth and senior tickets priced at $40. A Nordic ticket costs $25.
Skiing Here Dates Back to 1915
Howelsen Hill has been operating since 1915, putting it at the top of the list of America’s oldest ski areas still in operation.
The hill sits just across the Yampa River from downtown Steamboat Springs and is owned and operated by the city rather than a private resort company. Over more than a century, it has developed into one of the country’s most important training grounds for ski jumping, Nordic combined and other winter sports.
Howelsen Hill is also home to what the city describes as the largest and most complete natural ski jumping complex in North America and has helped train generations of Winter Olympians.
Despite that history, Howelsen remains very much a community ski hill. The area offers alpine skiing and snowboarding along with 13 miles of Nordic, snowshoe and snow bike trails.
Free Skiing Is Still Part of the Mission
Howelsen Hill’s regular pricing already puts it well below what skiers can expect to pay at many destination resorts, but Ski Free Sundays remove the lift-ticket cost entirely.
The mountain plans to operate seven days a week this winter, including evening hours during the week. Its 2026-27 season passes also include three consecutive days at several partner ski areas, including Bogus Basin in Idaho, Snow King Mountain in Wyoming, Hogadon Basin in Wyoming and Mont du Lac in Wisconsin.
You don’t need a season pass, however, to take advantage of Sundays.
Show up, pick up the required free ticket and ski. At a 111-year-old community hill surrounded by one of Colorado’s best-known ski towns, that’s a tradition worth keeping around.
