Skiers at Winter Park who put in a couple of early season days could get an inside line on some of the most anticipated moments of the winter.
Winter Park Resort is bringing back its Rope Drop Club for the 2026-27 season, giving qualifying passholders access to private text messages from Ski Patrol when new terrain and lifts are ready to open. Members will also get a day of early access to Mary Jane before it opens to the general public and, new this winter, dedicated lift lanes at two major lifts.
Getting into the club is fairly simple. According to Winter Park’s official Rope Drop Club rules, eligible passholders need to ski or snowboard at the resort on two separate days between opening day and Nov. 30.
Winter Park has not announced an opening date yet and currently says it intends to begin skiing and riding “as soon as possible” depending on weather and conditions.
Ski Patrol Will Send Rope Drop Alerts Directly To Members
After Winter Park verifies two qualifying November visits, Rope Drop Club members will receive an invitation to opt into a private Ski Patrol text list. The resort says those messages will include alerts about terrain openings, rope drops and directed skiing opportunities as conditions allow.
The alerts are expected to begin in early December. Winter Park notes that receiving them does not guarantee terrain will open on a particular day, since openings remain dependent on snow, weather and mountain operations.
The program essentially gives frequent early-season skiers an official version of something powder hunters have been doing for decades: trying to figure out where Patrol is about to drop a rope.
Ski Mary Jane Before It Opens To The Public
Rope Drop Club membership also comes with access to Mary Jane one day before the terrain opens to the general public.
The Mary Jane side of Winter Park is known for its moguls, tree skiing and more advanced terrain. Last season, Mary Jane opened on Jan. 9, just before its 50th anniversary celebration. Winter Park has not yet announced Mary Jane’s public opening date for the 2026-27 season, so the date of the Rope Drop Club preview remains dependent on snow and operating conditions.
The preview perk is limited to qualifying club members and is subject to terrain availability.
New Dedicated Lift Lanes Are Coming This Winter
The biggest addition to the program for 2026-27 is dedicated Rope Drop Club lift access.
Members who complete their two November visits will receive two days of access to special Rope Drop Lanes beginning March 1 and continuing through the end of the season. The lanes will be available at the Gondola and Super Gauge and will merge with the regular lift queue.
Passholders can earn another two days of priority-lane access by skiing or riding on two separate days between Dec. 1 and Dec. 15. Those additional days become available beginning Jan. 1.
“Want more? Unlock additional Rope Drop Lane days when you ski twice between December 1-15.” -Winter Park
That means a passholder who skis twice in November and twice during the first half of December can earn four days of dedicated lift-lane access during the season. Winter Park says scanners at the Gondola and Super Gauge will recognize passes with Rope Drop Lane access automatically loaded onto them.
Winter Park Is Rewarding Early-Season Loyalty
The Rope Drop Club is open to Winter Park Season Pass, Winter Park Midweek Pass, Ikon Pass and Ikon Base Pass holders who are at least 18 years old.
The program debuted last winter as part of Winter Park’s Send’er November promotion. The original version also rewarded skiers who visited twice in November with Ski Patrol text alerts and early access to Mary Jane, but it included transferable Early Ups tickets instead of the dedicated Rope Drop Lanes being introduced this season.
Winter Park has experimented with several forms of early mountain access in recent years. The resort introduced its Early Ups add-on in 2023 allowing skiers to pay for access before normal lift operations.
Early Ups is changing this winter as well. Winter Park is moving the paid product to weekdays only while opening lifts at 8 a.m. for everyone on Saturdays and Sundays beginning in December, conditions permitting. The resort says the expanded weekend schedule could add as many as 32 hours of skiing over the course of the season.
The Rope Drop Club takes a different approach. Instead of charging extra for its primary benefits, Winter Park is using early-season visits to reward passholders who show up before the heart of winter arrives.
For anyone hoping to get the message when Patrol finally drops the rope on fresh terrain, two November ski days are now the price of admission.
