Vail Mountain plans a Friday opening, and town parking stays free until Nov. 20
Vail Resorts lists Friday, Nov. 13 as the planned opening day for Vail Mountain and Wednesday, Nov. 25 for Beaver Creek. The Town of Vail starts paid winter parking a week after the lifts, on Nov. 20, with last winter's rates unchanged.
Winter starts on the calendar this week, in two steps. Vail Resorts lists Friday, Nov. 13 as the planned opening day for Vail Mountain in its 2026/27 opening dates announcement, with Beaver Creek Resort following on Wednesday, Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. The Town of Vail then starts paid winter parking a week after the mountain opens, on Friday, Nov. 20, which means the first week of the ski season is also a free week in the town garages.
The opening dates are plans, not promises. The company's announcement states that opening dates are subject to change based on weather and conditions, and it publishes no opening day lift or terrain lineup. A planned date does not say how much of the mountain will be skiable, and this newspaper does not report snow totals or forecasts as fact. Anyone travelling for opening day should check the resort's current mountain report before leaving, and check COtrip for road conditions on Interstate 70.
The calendar has already moved once this season. Breckenridge was listed for Nov. 6 in the same announcement, and by Nov. 7 the resort was describing its opening day as coming as soon as possible rather than naming the date. Vail's Nov. 13 date has not changed in the sources checked for this article, but the Breckenridge shift is the standing reminder that November dates are weather decisions, not appointments.
A free first week in the garages
The town says paid parking usually coincides with Vail Mountain's opening day, and that this winter it begins a week later instead. All town parking is free through Thursday, Nov. 19. Paid parking then runs from Nov. 20, 2026 through April 18, 2027 in the Vail Village and Lionshead parking structures, the Red Sandstone Garage, the Ford Park Lot and the Soccer Lot, according to the town's published winter parking information.
Rates and pass offerings are the same as last winter, the town says. In the Vail Village and Lionshead structures the first hour is free, then parking costs $10 an hour up to a daily maximum of $30 on non-peak days and $50 on peak days. The structures also keep the free evening window: vehicles entering after 3 p.m. and leaving before 4 a.m. pay nothing. The town publishes a calendar of peak and non-peak days, and this winter the Mondays of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents Day weekends are classed as non-peak, a small reduction in peak days.
The rest of the rate card
At the Red Sandstone Garage the first two hours are free, then a flat $10 on non-peak days and $20 on peak days. Overnight parking costs $60 at the Vail Village and Lionshead structures, charged for vehicles in the garage between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. and limited to 14 days, and $35 on levels 1, 2 and 3 of Red Sandstone. There is no overnight parking at the Ford Park or Soccer lots, and event parking at those two lots is $20 at entry during scheduled times. Parking passes for the winter went on sale on Oct. 22, and town buses run free throughout Vail for anyone who would rather skip the garage entirely.
For valley workers and residents, the practical shape of November is now set. From Nov. 13 to Nov. 19 the lifts are planned to run while parking is still free. From Nov. 20 the full winter rate card applies, at last winter's prices, through Apr. 18, 2027. What neither date settles is the snow itself, which is why the resort's own current report, and not the August announcement, is the document to read on Friday morning. Vail Mountain and Beaver Creek Resort are owned and operated by Vail Resorts, Inc. The Vail Tribune is an independent publication of Tribune Publications and is not affiliated with Vail Resorts.
