Antelope Butte wraps-up winter season, sets sights on future

The Antelope Butte Mountain Recreation Area wrapped up their 2025-26 ski season this past weekend, dubbing it their March Madness free-for-all. It was a fun ending to another record-breaking season for the local ski hill despite having to close two weeks earlier than planned. 

“Rather than rolling the dice with the weather versus snowpack scenario and scratching our way through our typical mid-April closure, we decided to close out the winter season in style this past weekend,” said mountain manager John DeVivo. 

Saturday and Sunday was jam packed with an expanded terrain park, Easter egg hunts, live music, and free skiing for all ages. Over 850 skiers and riders showed up for AB’s March Madness weekend. 

A highlight of the weekend was the pond skim. Contenders were challenged to ski, snowboard – or even kayak – down a hill and successfully make it across a man-made pond, carved out of the snow and filled with the water from Granite Creek. A thrilling event to watch and even more to compete. The chilling knee-deep water did indeed swallow a handful of competitors and their gear.

Ski culture was on full display: a shark shredding the slopes, someone dressed as a chicken, children wearing bunny ears, Jesus on a snowboard, Hawaiian shirts in every direction. Outdoor recreationists didn’t seem to mind the melting snow, navigating bare spots and the mud. 

Last season AB saw 150 inches of snowfall from Halloween through April. This year, they only saw 109 inches from Halloween through this past weekend. 

“We dealt with the backyard effect: don’t worry about what’s in your backyard, and come up to our backyard,” DeVivo said referencing the regional lack of snow in lower elevations.  

“People were impressed with what we were able to pull off with less snow than usual. We saw people from everywhere in the region, folks out of Montana and the Dakotas and even Missouri,” he added. 

Two seasons ago, AB’s average was 400 skiers and riders per weekend day. Last season saw 651 guests as a high mark, this season the new mark was set at 822 during Christmas break. “That crazy day set us up for success the rest of the season,” said DeVivo. 

With AB’s continued mission to nurture the younger generation through free season passes, lodge numbers have drastically increased. Weekend lunchtimes found standing room only on most days. “With an eye towards the future we are looking into reconfiguring our basement level to add more seating capacity,” said DeVivo. “Possibly adding another Yurt or building to house our rental shop.”

Additionally on the horizon for next season, AB is looking to name its trail network both east and west from the existing named terrain. Another round of trail naming will be offered to the public. 

Other upcoming changes include recontouring the bunny hill, Happy Trails, and possibly moving the Pole’R Express Conveyor lift. 

“More of a necessity, we want to change the angle on the Happy Trails slope,” said DeVivo. “It’s difficult to learn on and difficult to teach on. We talked with a contractor last Fall, but we need some permitting and possibly bringing in foreign material. In order to make a difference we need earth to lift that up. The Forest Service doesn’t want foreign material brought in, so we need to work that out,” he said. “Our goal would be to change the pitch and put the lift closer to the creek which opens up more space and a better angle.”

Another goal in AB’s future planning is applying for a grant through the Wyoming Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Trust Fund (ORTTF).

“We are looking into procuring a winch cat groomer to dramatically enhance our grooming capabilities and improve accessibility to more of our terrain for intermediate level riders,” said DeVivo. “We are going after $500,000 from ORTTF.” 

This would entail drilling into the granite for anchor points to winch the groomer. It’s a cable driven winch and steel boom designed to safely groom extremely steep slopes. Something AB’s current groomer machine cannot do. 

“Imagine if we could regularly groom Last Tango from top to bottom, including Heaven’s Door and Scott’s Bluff. This would lead to more return visits which enhances the local economy,” DeVivo added. “This is a transformational item, just like the magic carpet was for us.”

The ORTTF fund is designed to help communities enhance public access to outdoor recreation opportunities while strengthening Wyoming’s outdoor recreation and tourism economy. Something DeVivo believes aligns with AB’s vision for adding a winch cat to the groomer arsenal.

The Achilles heel for AB is the need for more intermediate terrain, which DeVivo believes can be achieved through winch cat grooming or a new lift. Looking further into the future, DeVivo talked about reclaiming the “Fun Valley” terrain on the West slope of the mountain and installing another chair lift. This would expand AB’s terrain to include even more intermediate level runs to complement their extensive offering of advanced single and double black diamond runs that dominate the lion’s share of existing terrain. 

AB’s mission remains the same, “To provide affordable and accessible outdoor recreation opportunities to the children and families within our region, with an emphasis on youth and beginners,” said DeVivo. 

The weekend’s overarching message was one of thankfulness. DeVivo led the charge by personally greeting guests in the parking lot and in lift lines. “We can’t do this without our amazing guests,” he said. 

Discounted adult season passes for 2026-27 are on sale now. For the third season in a row, AB will be offering free season passes for riders 17-years-old and under. The age limit is calculated by the day you obtain the season pass. Meaning if you’re going to turn 18 years old during next ski season, get your free pass now. 

Locals have asked whether AB will once again offer non-winter programming like they’ve done in the past. While the Antelope Butte Foundation Board of Directors is open to running summer festivals again, “we need to finish the fiscal year at the end of this May before we can start talking about it,” said DeVivo. “Stay tuned.”