When does ski season actually start if you live at Tamarron? Purgatory is scheduled to open Friday, November 20, a week from tomorrow. The resort's skier shuttle has a pickup in the Valley Clubhouse parking lot, and it is listed to begin December 20. Those two dates are thirty days apart.
For anyone on the US 550 side of the valley, that month is a season of its own. You drive yourself. The mountain is still building out, and the resort has scheduled a handful of events that give the weeks some structure. When December comes, a new lift opens the front side and the shuttle reaches Tamarron. Read that way, the real winter routine starts closer to the solstice than to Thanksgiving.
The Calendar From Tamarron's Side of the Highway
Here are the dated items the resort has posted for the first five weeks, in order:
| Date | What's scheduled | What it means from Tamarron |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, Nov. 20 | Scheduled opening day, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Purgatory Village Express lift | First day of lift-served skiing. You drive up. |
| Thursday, Nov. 26 | Thanksgiving buffet at Purgy's, seatings at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. | A dinner reservation on the mountain, with a drive home after dark |
| December, conditions permitting | Colorado Couloir triple chairlift debuts | Front-side expert terrain opens from the Gelande parking area |
| Sunday, Dec. 13 | Demo Days at Expert Edge, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Try skis and snowboards before the holiday rush |
| Sunday, Dec. 20 | Skier shuttle listed to begin | Valley Clubhouse pickup at 8:30 a.m., return at 5 p.m. |
Opening day centers on a single lift. The resort's event page lists the Purgatory Village Express as the venue and says festivities will be announced.
Why Divinity Matters for the First Few Weeks
The improvement most likely to change opening month is a snowmaking project, not a lift. Over the off-season, Purgatory added 13 acres of snowmaking on Divinity Trail, from the top of Twilight, Lift 4, down to its mid-station. Powder reported that the goal is to connect beginner terrain to the base earlier in the season.
That matters most to households with newer skiers, or with visitors coming for Thanksgiving week. Early-season beginner terrain that links back to the base without a download is one of the main things that decides whether a late-November ski day works for the whole group. Machine-made snow on Divinity is meant to speed up that link.
Powder also reported that Purgatory is offering lift tickets under $50 on 95 days this season, with a limited number of $9 dates. Purgatory's lift ticket page says winter prices are dynamic, tied to demand, and increase the closer you book to your ski day.
How the Shuttle Works Once It Starts
When the shuttle starts, Tamarron's stop is the last pickup on the route before the resort. Here is the full morning run as Purgatory lists it:
- Durango Transit Center, 7:50 a.m., parking by permit only
- 24th St. Durango High, 8:00 a.m., walk-up only with no parking
- PJ's Gourmet Market, 8:15 a.m., parking on the northwest side of the lot only
- Tamarron/Glacier, 8:30 a.m., Valley Clubhouse parking lot
- Arrival Court at Purgatory, 8:50 a.m.
That puts twenty minutes between the Valley Clubhouse and the Arrival Court. In the afternoon the order runs backward. The bus leaves the Arrival Court at 4:45 p.m. and reaches Tamarron at 5:00, then continues to Durango. Each ride is $20, and riders have to show a payment receipt when they board.
The resort's free shuttles are a separate service. Purgatory runs free homeowner and parking-lot shuttles from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on every day the mountain operates. The homeowner and renter service covers Tacoma Village and Engineer Village at the base, and riders book it through the Purgatory App with an access code. Tamarron is about ten minutes south on the highway, so its connection is the paid skier shuttle, and that is the piece that starts in late December.
The shuttle's timing also says something about how the season is expected to build. Purgatory's paid route starts the weekend before Christmas, when holiday traffic picks up, and not on opening day. From November 20 until then, the trip from Tamarron is a drive up US 550 and a search for parking at the base.
December Brings a New Way Up the Front Side
The other December change is the Colorado Couloir. Purgatory describes it as a fixed-grip triple chairlift that climbs 1,625 vertical feet straight from the Gelande parking area to the upper mountain. It replaces the shuttle ride that used to carry skiers out of that lot. The ride rises at a 60% grade, which the resort describes as 6 feet up for every 10 feet forward.
The terrain it serves is not for everyone. In its own construction update, Purgatory described what is coming:
"This is steep, technical, unapologetic high-alpine skiing. We're talking glades, tight chutes, and some of the most challenging terrain Purgatory has ever offered."
Powder reported that the expansion adds about 40 acres, with five new advanced and expert runs, two connector trails, and gladed tree skiing. The lift has a local backstory too. It reuses the chairs, grips and internal machinery from Telluride's retired Plunge Lift. Because the mountainside has no roads, crews brought in concrete forms and materials by helicopter. The resort traces the project to its 2008 Improvement Plan, reaffirmed in 2019, and counts it as a core part of $7 million in capital improvements at Purgatory this past summer.
The debut is set for December, "conditions permitting." For experienced skiers at Tamarron, that puts the most significant terrain change of the season in the same month the shuttle arrives. Anyone who drives up during opening month will be skiing the existing mountain.
Filling the Gap Between Opening and the Shuttle
The resort's calendar has a few fixed points inside those thirty days.
Thanksgiving at Purgy's. Purgatory lists a Thanksgiving buffet at Purgy's on November 26, with seatings at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. For a household hosting family that week, it is a holiday dinner on the mountain six days after opening, with a short drive back down the valley afterward.
Paradise Pizza returns. Purgatory's dining page says Paradise Pizza closed for summer 2026 during resort infrastructure updates and will reopen for the 2026-2027 winter season. For Tamarron owners who know the base-area routine, that is one familiar stop back on the list.
Demo Days on December 13. Expert Edge, which the resort describes as now located right in the plaza, hosts ski and snowboard demos from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. that Sunday. That is a week before the shuttle starts and lands in the same month the Colorado Couloir is scheduled to open. For anyone planning to ski the new front-side terrain, it is a timely day to test equipment.
All three fall on dates when getting there from Tamarron still means your own car. The Thanksgiving seatings run into the evening, and the 6:30 p.m. seating ends well after the shuttle's 5 p.m. return would have reached the Valley Clubhouse anyway. Demo Days closes at 3 p.m. Even after December 20, the bus suits a full ski day better than an evening on the mountain.
If you own at Tamarron and want to talk through what a season this close to Purgatory means for your property, from winter rental timing to how a resort calendar like this one figures into a listing, Jamie Novak Group offers that conversation. Schedule your concierge consultation before the first chair turns on November 20.
