Will Frisco's Tubing Hill Make Its Thanksgiving Opening This Year?

In the days before Thanksgiving 2023, snow guns were still running on the Frisco Adventure Park tubing hill. They finished in time, and every tubing reservation for Thanksgiving Day sold out. "It's been dry and really warm. Feels like we're behind on our natural snowfall," operations manager John Anicito told Summit Daily News that week. "The team has been working really hard to capitalize on all the cold temps that we've had. And we pulled it off."

That quote explains how the Peninsula Recreation Area's winter calendar really works. The Town of Frisco lists Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026 as reopening day for both the tubing hill and the Frisco Nordic Center, and both listings say "snow pending." Thanksgiving is the day staff aim for. Whether the hill is ready depends on how many cold nights Recreation Way gets between now and then, and last November there weren't enough of them.

What "snow pending" meant last November

On Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, the town announced that the Adventure Park and Nordic Center would not open on Thanksgiving, Nov. 27. According to Summit Daily's report on the delay, the reasons were warm temperatures and very little early snow, and the new target was Thursday, Dec. 4. That extra week gave staff "more time to make the volume of snow needed" for tubing and Nordic.

The delay set off a chain of changes. Tubing reservations for Nov. 27 through Dec. 3 got refund or rescheduling notices. The beginner ski and ride hill moved to an anticipated Dec. 11, and the Frisco Railpark to Dec. 19. Two Below Zero started its sleigh rides on Nov. 22 as planned, but used its chuck wagon until there was enough snow for sleighs.

The announcement came nine days before Thanksgiving. If 2026 follows the same pattern, the week of Nov. 16 is when the town will know whether the Nov. 26 date still works.

How the hill actually gets built

In a dry fall, the tubing hill's opening depends on snowmaking. In the 2023 coverage, Anicito said the park had been running its snow guns "whenever it is cold enough overnight" for the weeks before opening, and that snowmaking had started at the Nordic Center too. At the time, general manager Erin Socks said the Nordic Center could open about a week after the Adventure Park so local high school athletes could start training.

"We generally always try to open on Thanksgiving Day," Socks said that year. "As far as snowmaking went, we did have some warm temps."

That makes the overnight low the figure to follow in November, since the guns run only on nights cold enough for snowmaking.

This October's nights so far

The early signs for this season are mixed. On Oct. 23, Summit Daily reported that a warm week had slowed snowmaking at the ski areas racing to open first. OpenSnow founding meteorologist Joel Gratz called recent snowmaking conditions "marginal," though he said Arapahoe Basin, Keystone Resort and Loveland had all made some progress. Keystone moved its first posted lift-ticket date from Oct. 24 to Oct. 31. Gratz expected conditions could improve this week.

Those are high-elevation resorts, not the town's hill on the shore of Frisco Bay. Still, they are dealing with the same cold-air question one valley over, and they started a month earlier.

The schedule as it stands, next to last year's plan:

This year's beginner-hill target falls on the same date that tubing and Nordic were pushed to last year. In other words, the 2026 calendar is a week more ambitious than what last November actually allowed.

The pass deadline comes before the answer

The Frisco Nordic Center is selling 2026/2027 season passes at early-bird prices through Tuesday, Nov. 24. That is two days before the conditional opening. If the town announces a delay on last year's timing, the news would come about a week before the deadline. If no delay is announced, the deadline still passes before anyone has skied the trails.

The town's posted early-bird rates:

• $305 for individuals ages 13 to 64
• $215 for seniors 65 and older
• $475 for a family of two adults and up to three kids ages 13 to 17

Passes are sold online through FriscoNordic.com, by phone at 970-668-2558, at the Frisco Day Lodge, or in person at the season kickoff party. The party is Thursday, Nov. 5, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Frisco Nordic Center Lodge, 616 Recreation Way. Staff will serve free appetizers and drinks and go over the season's clinics, programs and events. The kickoff is the best chance to ask the people grooming the trails how the cold nights are going.

The end of last season matters too. The Nordic Center planned to stay open until April 5 but closed on March 17, with about 2 of its 30 kilometers of groomed trail still open. Trails manager Pete Swenson thanked skiers in a town release, quoted by Summit Daily, for their support "throughout a very difficult snow season." The Adventure Park ended tubing, beginner-hill and terrain-park operations after March 22 and offered lift-served sledding from March 25 through April 5, Summit Daily reported. The Nordic season that was planned to open Nov. 27 and close April 5 lost a week at the start and nearly three weeks at the end.

Something new on Recreation Way already

Whatever the snow does, there's something new to see on the walk to the Nordic lodge. Wisconsin-based artist Greg Gossel began a mural on Sunday, Oct. 4, on a small utility building along Recreation Way near the lodge, and Summit Daily reported he finished it in five days. The Frisco Arts and Culture Council commissioned it after reviewing submissions from 27 artists and paying three finalists to develop designs. The mural's bold colors and imagery celebrate the park's outdoor activities, its visitors and its wildlife. The town said it will become part of Frisco's public art collection, with the council handling long-term maintenance.

Thanksgiving morning doesn't need the snow guns

One Nov. 26 plan doesn't depend on the overnight lows. The 13th Annual Frisco Turkey Day 5K starts and finishes at the Old Frisco Community Center, 110 S. 3rd Ave., at 9:30 a.m. The route follows the Summit County Recreation Path and Frisco side streets, and Colisco Wearables presents the race. The course is 3.0 miles with 123 feet of elevation gain. The town warns that snow and ice may be on the course, which is plowed as conditions allow.

Two days later, Wassail Days begins its Nov. 28 to Dec. 6 run with a 6 p.m. tree lighting, carolers from 5:45 to 7 p.m., and Santa visits that evening. Breakfast with Santa and storytime with reindeer are scheduled for Dec. 5. Last year, Dec. 4 was the rescheduled tubing and Nordic opening. This year that date falls in the middle of the Wassail Days run and is the beginner hill's target. Up-to-date openings are posted at FriscoAdventurePark.com and on the town's Frisco Nordic Center page.

Krystal Knott and Brett Rudolph follow Frisco's seasons closely, from the first snow guns on Recreation Way to the last kilometer of groomed trail in spring. If you own near the Peninsula and want to know what your home is worth going into winter, Reside In Summit can put together a free home valuation that reflects how Frisco really works year-round.