What Actually Decides When Huff Hills Opens This Winter

The snow on the opening-day runs at Huff Hills starts out as Missouri River water. It's pulled from a pump station at the river and pushed through a 2.5-mile pipeline to the ski area off County Road 80 south of Mandan. When that pump runs well, the snow guns run well. When it doesn't, the first chair waits.

That one piece of equipment explains more about the ski season than any long-range forecast. It also connects to a lease question that has followed the hill since 2024.

The Usual Window, and the Last Two Openings

Huff Hills' mountain information page says the area usually opens between Thanksgiving and the first weekend of December, depending on weather. This year that means Thanksgiving on Nov. 26 through the weekend of Dec. 5–6.

The last two seasons opened at the late edge of that window, then past it.

KX News reported the 2024 opening in a story posted Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. KFYR reported that roughly 500 skiers came through that first weekend. A year later, KX reported the 2025–26 season starting Sunday, Dec. 21.

The 2025 delay traced back to the hill's water supply.

Snow at Huff Hills Starts at the River

Andy Beck explained the 2025 delay in a Jan. 17, 2026 season update on the Huff Hills site. Because the water comes from the Missouri, the hill has plenty of cold water all winter. The tradeoff is that it needs a second pump station down at the river.

The plan had been to rebuild that river pump in spring 2026, after the season ended. That fall, ahead of the 2025–26 season, it became clear the pump couldn't wait. It was pulled and sent to GPM, Inc., the hill's pump vendor in Duluth, Minnesota. The repair needed parts that had to be manufactured, so Huff Hills rented a diesel-powered pump from Equipment Share and housed it in a shelter made of insulating blankets.

The stopgap worked, at a cost. It moved less water than normal, which pushed back the start of snowmaking. Staff also had to visit the pump every 8 to 10 hours to fuel and service it. Beck summed up the reasoning in the update:

"We did this because getting open was important, and snowmaking is the key to that."

The rebuilt pump went back in on Dec. 27, after the season had already opened on a few core trails in the Blue Lift area. It was also modified to take in less sediment, to cut down on the wear that led to the rebuild in the first place.

Natural snow didn't help much either. In February 2026, KFYR reported that Huff Hills was using Snow Max to help make snow and keep operating through a low-snow winter. On a hill that depends this much on man-made snow, how much water the system can move largely sets the season.

The Lines Under the Runs Are Older Than the Lease Problem

Getting water up from the river is the first step. Moving it across the hill is the second, and that system is older.

Beck wrote that the underground infrastructure is more than 35 years old and starting to show its age. Over the fall and winter leading up to that January update, crews repaired three underground water leaks and replaced almost 900 feet of underground wire. Replacing those lines is part of a larger expansion project. New pipe and electrical lines would also add capacity, so the hill could run more snowmaking equipment at once and cover terrain faster. As of January, Beck wrote that the project had been delayed by property and leasing issues.

The lease issue goes back years. In April 2024, Huff Hills announced it would close after 33 years. KFYR reported that the original lease ran 20 years with a 10-year extension, and that after 2012 the landowners would offer only year-to-year leases. Beck told the station that this uncertainty made major investment hard to justify. The Bismarck Tribune reported that Huff Hills had offered to buy the land outright and had proposed several versions of a lease.

That September, the closure was reversed. KFYR reported that the operators would open a 34th season under a one-year lease extension. Beck, identified as mountain operations manager, said they hoped to find a long-term solution.

Taken together, these explain the slower openings. The 35-year-old pipes and wires are what limit snowmaking. The plan to replace them has to wait on property and leasing questions. Until those are settled, the hill keeps patching leaks and replacing wire one section at a time, and opening day depends on how fast that patched system can cover the runs.

What Has Already Been Built

Some upgrades are already finished. The Bismarck Tribune's April 2024 report described a $1.3 million expansion project. A $650,000 state grant was to cover 49% of the cost, with Huff Hills paying the rest. The project was meant to fund a new ski rental area, expanded snowmaking through underground pipes and electrical wires, an upgraded electrical system for night skiing and snowboarding, a larger alpine race course area and a reconfigured base area.

The North Dakota Department of Commerce listed Huff Hills' $650,000 Destination Development Grant in March 24, 2026 testimony to the Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee. According to that testimony, the overall project is still underway. The grant let Huff Hills finish its night-skiing, snowmaking and tubing-area upgrades together. Night operations drew more than 600 participants in the 2025–26 season and brought in more than $15,000 in lift tickets and rentals in one month, not counting food and drink. The added evening hours also gave the youth race team more practice time.

So the lights and the tubing area are already in. The larger underground system is what Beck's January update described as still to come.

Pricing a Season Around the Water

Huff Hills' prices page lists these 2026–27 rates.

The preseason pass prices, $290 for an adult and $675 for a family, ended Oct. 1. Lifts run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and on all school holidays. Kids under 5 ski free. Every guest needs an RFID card, which costs $5 once and can be reused. Ski or snowboard rental packages are $30 a day, and helmet rentals are $5.

These numbers connect back to the water. An adult season pass at $390 costs about as much as eight and a half online full-day tickets at $46, so it pays for itself on the ninth weekend day. A $30 Thursday takes 13 visits to match the pass. If opening day lands in late December, as it did in 2025, there are fewer weekends left to reach nine. Skiers who mostly go Thursdays, or who use the $20 Night Jam on Friday and Saturday evenings, may come out ahead buying day by day.

Families have one more option. The Family Four Pack is $240 for four full-day lift tickets and four rental packages, which the hill says saves $100 off window rates. Additional family members are $60 each. It's sold only preseason, in limited numbers, for a specific day, and it can't be transferred.

Watching for Opening Day

Since snowmaking sets the schedule, these are the most useful places to watch:

1. The Huff Hills snow report, which shows open runs and lifts once the season starts.
2. The Huff Hills Facebook page, along with its Instagram account, both linked from the hill's website.
3. Cold nights in late November, since snowmaking weather was what Beck pointed to in January when he described opening more terrain.
4. The estore at estore.huffhills.com, where online tickets cost $9 less than the window price for an adult full day.

Last season's update also mentioned $30 Thursdays, Thursday night sessions, s'mores evenings around a new bonfire pit, and an Olympics weekend for kids. The $30 Thursdays and Night Jam sessions are back on this season's price list. The address for the car's GPS is 5455 County Road 80, Mandan, and the phone number is 701-663-6421.

Huff Hills sits on County Road 80 in rural Morton County, a short drive from acreage south of Mandan. If you're weighing land within reach of Huff Hills, or wondering what your place out there is worth now, Patrick Koski knows these roads and what it costs to build along them. Get a free home valuation and consultation, and plan around the first night the lights come on.