All summer, a block of winter sat at Soldier Hollow under foam boards about two and a half inches thick. Crews piled the snow in March, roughly the size of a football field and about 25 feet deep, and covered it with insulating mats over a geotextile layer. It took them about a day. July brought several days over 100 degrees. By mid-October, the Nordic center estimated that roughly 75 to 80 percent of the pile was still there, KSL reported.
That pile is the earliest part of Midway's 2026 winter, and it shows how the season is shaping up. The attractions built around warm weather are on track. The ones that need a long cold stretch, or a construction crew, are not.
A Pile Built for a Warm Year
Snow farming is common in Scandinavia, and Soldier Hollow had been considering it for several years before trying it. The plan was to pull the tarps in the weeks after mid-October and use snowcats to spread the saved snow onto the cross-country trails. Bodensteiner, Soldier Hollow's general manager, explained the goal to KSL:
"The idea is to have a training facility and be able to get the ski season started about two weeks earlier than we might normally ski."
The two published targets differ a little. In October, KSL said Soldier Hollow hoped to start skiing by mid-November. The Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation's pass page projects early-season skiing to open November 5. Either way, Midway's Nordic season should start weeks before Thanksgiving, on snow that fell last winter.
The test reaches past this season. According to KSL, the snow-storage experiment is also preparation for the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Who Gets On the Early Snow, and When
One stored pile is a small amount of snow for a whole valley of skiers. Soldier Hollow handles that by splitting November access between high-performance and public sessions. The early-season schedule runs like this:
| Day | Public session | High-performance session |
|---|---|---|
| Weekdays | 10 a.m. to noon | 8 to 10 a.m. |
| Weekends and holidays | 8 to 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. to noon, teams included |
Public sessions are open to Premium Annual Passholders. They can add high-performance access for $25 a day, or $85 for four or more days. Skiers in a high-performance session who aren't on a team need a bib, which carries a $15 deposit.
Regular passholders and day-ticket buyers start on November 30, the Monday after Thanksgiving. The price gap between the two passes is smaller than the three-week head start might suggest, and the regular pass costs less if you buy it before November 15:
- Regular adult: $235, or $185 if bought before November 15
- Regular youth: $115, or $90 before November 15
- Regular senior: $135, or $110 before November 15
- Premium adult, youth, and senior: $265, $130, and $170
Before the November 15 cutoff, a Premium adult pass costs $80 more than a regular one. After the cutoff, the difference drops to $30. Both passes cover trail use through October 31, 2027, including summer roller-ski, biking, and hiking access, rather than running a year from the purchase date.
Tubing runs on its own calendar. Soldier Hollow lists December 18 as opening day, depending on weather.
The Other Soldier Hollow Attraction Stopped Over Weather
The snow pile and the Ice Castles share a venue. Ice Castles' Utah location sits at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center and had operated in Midway since 2011. It skipped the 2025–26 winter after warm weather closed the castles early the season before. In a social media post, the company said it was pausing "to thoughtfully rework our build process and better adapt for future weather conditions," TownLift reported.
TownLift updated the story on October 22, 2026: Ice Castles had not announced a return to Midway for the 2026–27 winter. Unless that changes, this will be the second winter in a row without the castles. On the same property, snow kept from last March held up through a hot summer.
Town Square Rebrands the Holidays
In town, the season opens on November 28 at noon with Christmas on the Square, which Midway City describes as "a new way to bring together the traditions our community already loves with a few new activities and experiences." It begins with the traditional tree lighting on Town Square. The city's event page says more details on events and the schedule are still to come.
A week later, on December 5 from 2 to 8 p.m., Homestead holds its own tree lighting outside Virginia House, with carriage rides, carolers, and seasonal food and drinks, according to Go Heber Valley.
Café Galleria offers another way to sit out the cold. Its private, heated Alpenglobes seat up to eight diners. First seatings began Saturday, October 17, and the season runs through May 2.
Getting to the square should also be easier. In Midway's October newsletter, UDOT said the River Road and Main Street traffic signal project was in its final stage. Crews were restoring landscaping and adjusting signal timing as needed, and expected to be "completely finished up in the area by the end of the month."
The Dates, in Order
- November 5: Projected opening of early-season skiing at Soldier Hollow for Premium passholders
- November 14: Last day for the lower regular annual pass prices, which apply to purchases made before November 15
- November 28, noon: Christmas on the Square begins with the tree lighting on Town Square
- November 30: Regular passholders and day-ticket buyers can ski Soldier Hollow
- December 5, 2 to 8 p.m.: Tree lighting at Homestead, outside Virginia House
- December 18: Soldier Hollow tubing opening day, weather dependent
The Rink That Was Supposed to Be New This November
The Town Square ice rink is the one item that was planned for this month and won't be ready. In the grant documents included in the city council's August 18 meeting packet, the city described a rebuilt rink with a retractable awning from ShadeFX Canopies Inc. and a new building and warming hut designed to match the Swiss style around the square. It said it expected "the project to be completed in time for skating to begin in November 2026." According to the same packet, the rink has been part of Town Square since 2000, and the upgrades have been in the city's plans since 2022.
The project hasn't kept pace with that date. At the September 1 council meeting, the draft minutes show the city had $600,000 for a building and $250,000 for the rink. Council members agreed to put the rink first, along with a functional building for rentals, concessions, equipment storage, and rink operations. They voted to form a steering committee and seek proposals from an architecture or engineering firm. The minutes, still marked draft, also record a December 15 deadline on the building grant and a request to extend it to June 15, 2027.
The grant plan also set a sequence for the work. The contractor would remove the old rink at the end of winter, once it gets too warm for ice, usually around April 1, and the full rebuild would take 12 to 14 months after construction starts. The city's Town Square page still describes a skating season from Thanksgiving weekend through March 15, weather permitting. For now, Christmas on the Square is the city's most recent word on Town Square this winter, and it says the full schedule is coming soon.
Knowing which part of the valley you'll actually use most is one way to choose where to live in it. If you're thinking about a home close to the Nordic trails, Town Square, or somewhere in between, Ski Resort Property Group can walk you through the Heber Valley one season at a time. Schedule a consultation with our team.
