Lift-served acres, the largest in the Northwest
Summit, with 360-degree skiing off the top
Of groomed Nordic trails
From Bend
Volcano Skiing
Spring Corn
Nordic Center
Bike Park
Family Mountain
Bend Base
Mt. Bachelor is a 9,065-foot stratovolcano at the south end of the Three Sisters, and the ski area on it is the largest in the Pacific Northwest: 4,323 lift-served acres and, by that measure, the seventh largest in North America. What makes it different from every other big mountain in the West is the shape. The lifts wrap most of the way around the cone, the Summit chair tops out on the crater rim, and from there you can ski off in any direction. On a clear day you look across at the Three Sisters and Broken Top and down onto the Cascade Lakes, and there is nothing else in Oregon like it.
The snow is the other reason people drive over the Cascades. Bachelor sits on the dry side of the range, so it gets the storms without the coastal rain, and the season is long: the mountain targets a late-November opening and runs into late May most years, which makes its spring the most reliable in the Northwest. Last winter is the caveat. Oregon had one of its worst snow years on record and the lifts did not turn until just before Christmas. Treat any November date as a target, not a promise, and build a trip that still works if the first week is thin.
There is no town on the mountain. Bend is the base, 22 miles and about 30 minutes down the Cascade Lakes Highway, with Sunriver the same distance to the southeast. The Central Oregon guide covers the region and the Bend guide covers the town; this page covers the mountain, in winter and in summer, and it is written for the first visit.
One more thing to know before you go. Mt. Bachelor’s owner since 2001, POWDR, put the resort up for sale in August 2024, a group of Bend locals tried to buy it, and in April 2025 POWDR decided to keep it. Any page that still frames the sale as pending is out of date.
Mt. Bachelor sells its own passes and takes the Ikon Pass, and the right choice depends on how many days you will ski and whether you ski anywhere else. Pass prices change every year and rise through the fall, so the figures here are rounded; the dated sentence below carries the exact launch prices for this season.
As of September 9, 2026, the 2026-27 passes launched in March at $1,249 to renew or $1,349 new for the Full Season Pass, $1,899 or $1,999 for Outplay 365, $949 for the Midweek Pass, $419 for the 5-Day Pass, and $399 for the Nordic Pass. In round numbers: a full season of unlimited days costs around $1,300 at launch and more by fall; Outplay 365 runs close to $2,000 and adds an Ikon Base Pass, Nordic access, a bike park season pass, and a pro-shop credit; a Monday-through-Friday pass is under $1,000; five days of your choosing is roughly $400, or about $85 a day. The resort’s pattern is that prices step up through the fall, and at the end of September the Outplay 365 pass and the Kids Ski Free add-on come off sale for the season. Check mtbachelor.com for the number on the day you buy.
Kids ski free. Any adult Full Season or Outplay 365 pass can add a free season pass for a child 12 and under. For 2026-27 the add-on is available through September 30, 2026.
Ikon. Mt. Bachelor is a seven-day resort on the full Ikon Pass and a five-day resort on Ikon Base. The full Ikon Pass launches around $1,400 each spring and Ikon Base around $950. If Bachelor is your only mountain, its own Full Season Pass is cheaper than Ikon and unrestricted; if you ski elsewhere too, Outplay 365 bundles unlimited Bachelor days with Ikon Base for less than buying both.
Day tickets. Pricing is dynamic by date. Last season adult tickets ran from the high $70s in the early and late season to the $160s over the holidays, and buying in advance saved at least $25 against the window. Buy at least a week ahead for the low end. Beginner packages with lesson, rental, and a limited-lift ticket are the cheapest way onto the mountain for a first-timer.
Parking is free in all three lots and first come, first served, and on weekends and holidays the choice matters. Sunrise fills first because it is closest to Bend and closest to the Summit; Skyliner fills next; West Village is the biggest lot and only fills on the busiest days of the year. A limited number of premium spaces close to the lodges at Sunrise and West Village are sold for a fee, and trailers are not allowed in the paid rows. A paid shuttle connects Sunrise and West Village during the day.
If you are driving an RV or camping in your vehicle, West Village is the lot, with powered and unpowered overnight spots. Six EV chargers are split between the Todd Lake building and the West Village base.
The winter routing warning is real: mapping apps will try to send you to the mountain on roads that are closed in winter. Every winter route to Mt. Bachelor goes through Bend or Sunriver on the Cascade Lakes Highway (Century Drive). Carry chains or traction tires; ODOT requires them on the highway when conditions call for it, and the last miles climb.
The Nordic Center sits across the West Village lot with its own day lodge, rental shop, and cafe, and it runs one of the longest Nordic seasons in North America: 56 kilometers of trails groomed nightly for classic and skate skiing, plus 10 kilometers of signed and packed snowshoe trails, all with the Cascades in view. A Nordic season pass runs around $400 and day and half-day trail tickets are sold at the Nordic Lodge. The Nordic Lodge cafe with its fireplace is the mountain’s quietest lunch.
Free snowshoe tours. U.S. Forest Service naturalists lead 90-minute interpretive snowshoe walks from the hut near the Mountain Gateway building at West Village from mid-December through March, on a donation basis, snowshoes included. Reserve ahead.
Sled dogs. Oregon Trail of Dreams, run by Iditarod veteran Rachael Scdoris, gives sled-dog rides from the Sunrise base from early December to late April: one-hour tours around the mountain’s base and full-day trips to Elk Lake Resort with lunch. Reservations are required and holiday dates sell out.
New Year’s Eve. The Nordic Center’s candlelit Luminaria Trail, a two-kilometer self-guided loop with a bonfire and the cafe open, is the mountain’s best night.
The mountain does not close when the snow goes. From mid-June the lift-served bike park runs downhill trails for every ability off Pine Marten, with Sun Country Tours (the resort’s rafting company) running trips on the Deschutes and other rivers from Bend. The ZipTour zipline is the steepest, fastest, and highest in the Northwest by the resort’s account. Scenic chairlift rides to Pine Marten Lodge, hiking from the Sunrise side (the Summit East trail links to the Fly Creek trail below), a disc golf course, and sunset dinners at Pine Marten fill in the rest.
Summer hours drop to fall hours after Labor Day; in 2026 the bike park runs Thursday through Sunday until October 4. Snow can fall on the bike park in September, and did this year.
The Cascade Lakes Highway past the mountain is the best drive in Central Oregon; the Central Oregon guide has the lakes.
1
2
Best for: the start and end of the day
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Best for: powder, tree skiing with a partner
Our Pick
Best for: the Summit, corn, value
Best for: bikes, lakes, the view
The highway continues past the mountain to Sparks, Elk, Hosmer, and Devils lakes, open roughly June through October. The Central Oregon guide has the lakes.
From Bend, take Century Drive southwest out of town; it becomes the Cascade Lakes Highway and dead-ends at the mountain in winter, 22 miles and about 30 minutes. From Portland it is about three hours to Bend over Mount Hood on U.S. 26 and U.S. 97, plus the half hour up; chains or traction tires are required on the passes October through May. From the south, U.S. 97 from Klamath Falls; from the west, Highway 20 over Santiam Pass through Sisters.
Fly into Redmond (RDM), 30 minutes north of Bend, with direct flights from Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, and more, and rent a car there. You do not strictly need a car from Bend: Cascades East Transit runs the Mt. Bachelor Ski Bus seven days a week all season from the Mt. Bachelor Park and Ride on SW Columbia Street and from Hawthorne Station to West Village and Sunrise, every 15 minutes in the weekend morning and afternoon rush, with fares of about $7 one way and $12 round trip through the Umo app or exact change. Sunriver rental companies run their own shuttles. Everywhere else, drive.
Sno-Park permits are not required in the resort lots. They are required at the Forest Service sno-parks along the highway (Meissner, Swampy, Wanoga, Dutchman) if you park there for touring or sledding.
