Alta Ski Area and Solitude Mountain Resort are completing major upgrades in the Cottonwood Canyons ahead of the 2026-27 ski season. The work is part of a statewide push adding more than 1,000 acres of new terrain across Utah resorts.

Alta finished a multiyear renovation of its Albion Day Lodge, adding 3,400 square feet of dining space and 12 employee housing units on the building's third level, ABC4 reported. The project also includes expanded patio seating, a larger Alta Java café, new offices, lockers and a lounge area. Alta installed a 19th avalanche mitigation tower and is replacing aging snowmaking lines between Watson Shelter and the Corkscrew ski run.

For a third consecutive summer, Alta widened its Ballroom Traverse and High Traverse runs. The resort said the hand-cut traverses hold more snow earlier in the season and reduce choke points during periods of high traffic or wind erosion, SnowBrains reported.

Up Big Cottonwood Canyon, Solitude is making another multimillion-dollar investment in snowmaking after spending more than $5 million on improvements last season, KJZZ reported. New fixed and mobile snow guns will increase snowmaking capacity across the mountain.

Solitude is owned by Alterra Mountain Co.

The investments come after a 2025-26 season marked by historically low snowfall across Utah resorts during a weak La Niña year, the Deseret News reported. NOAA said in August that the chance of a very strong El Niño event during the 2026-27 winter exceeded 90%. A Sept. 10 update showed sea surface temperature anomalies had exceeded +3.0°C in the eastern equatorial Pacific.

During the 1997-98 El Niño season, one of the four strongest on record, Utah's snowpack finished at 128% of normal, according to OpenSnow meteorologist Sam Collentine as reported by the Deseret News.

The upgrades at Alta and Solitude are part of broader preparations across Utah ahead of the 2034 Winter Games. Ski Utah president and CEO Nathan Rafferty told the Deseret News on Sept. 22, "If we're going to host the Olympics in 2034, it makes sense that we get more opportunity to more people leading into those games."

Nearby in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Snowbird replaced its Chickadee beginner lift with a four-passenger chairlift and added 11 automated snowmaking guns.

Neither Alta nor Solitude has announced an opening date for the 2026-27 season.