A dachshund named Noodles won Girdwood's fall season this year. At Girdwood Brewing's third-ever wiener dog race, about 100 damp spectators stood around a short track lined with bunting on part of the brewery parking lot. Race Marshall Tim Ball ran preliminary heats and two semifinals before Noodles edged out Ferdinand and Ronnie in the final. Ball's own dog, Dunkel, went out in the prelims after stopping at a pile of spilled french fries near the starting line.
That race was the last big crowd of summer. The next one comes on November 28, when Alyeska opens for the 2026–27 ski season. The weeks in between get called the off-season, but the calendar shows something more specific. With the mountain shut, the buildings and meeting rooms that usually serve visitors fill up with local business, and some of the decisions that shape next summer have deadlines in October.
Two Closings Start the Clock
The first marker has already passed. Seven Glaciers, the restaurant at the top of the tram, closed for fall on October 3 and is scheduled to reopen December 4.
The tram itself runs a little longer. Alyeska's 2026 schedule has summer operations ending October 4, a maintenance closure on October 5 and 6, and a final summer closing day on October 12. The resort's calendar lists that Monday as Tram Closing Day & Canned Food Drive. So if you want one more ride up to 2,300 feet before winter, October 12 is the day.
The work done during the closure ends up in the winter experience. The off-season list Alterra published on September 24 for Alyeska includes hydraulic modifications to the tram, replacement of the bullwheel bearings on Ted's Express, fresh paint on the Chair 7 terminals, a new PistenBully 600 Winch, and new snowmaking pipe, guns, pumps, and controls. None of it is a new lift or new terrain. It is maintenance that matters most on the cold mornings in December.
The Ski Buildings Host Other Events
With the mountain closed, the base area is still busy. The fall events calendar is mostly the same rooms skiers use in winter, booked for other things.
The Sitzmark has been closed as a bar and grill since April 27 and expects to reopen for the 2026–27 winter. It opens its doors for single events in the meantime:
- Friday, October 9: Free line-dancing lessons for all ages run from 6 to 9 p.m. The Jerry Wessling Band starts at 9 p.m., when the room becomes 21+.
- Friday, October 30: The Young Dubliners play a ticketed, 21+ Halloween show. Doors open at 9 p.m. and the show starts at 10.
The Daylodge takes on two different jobs. On October 23 and 24, Challenge Alaska turns it into a drive-in movie fundraiser, with Teton Gravity Research at 7 p.m. and the Northern Aspects Film Festival at 10 p.m., plus food trucks and a beer garden. On Saturday, November 7, it hosts the Four Valleys Community School sports swap from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The swap sells used ski, snowboard, and outdoor gear to raise money for school programs. Three weeks before opening day is a sensible time to check whether last year's boots still fit.
Down the road, Girdwood Brewing has an outdoor show by Hope Social Club at 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 10. Tickets are $20 and food trucks are planned. The brewery's October 2026 food-truck calendar lists vendors through Halloween.
The Trail Decision Due Before the Snow
While the base area hosts events, the Girdwood Community Room hosts the civic calendar, and one item there has a deadline.
The Girdwood Trails Committee plans to apply this fall for a Recreational Trails Program grant to restore the Beaver Pond Trail to the Class 3 Hiking Trail standard. The proposed work includes restoring the existing trail, brushing, maintenance, adding culverts and gravel, and restoring water crossings along the route. Public comments are due by October 30, 2026.
There are four ways to comment:
- In person: at the Trails Committee's regular meeting on October 6 at 7 p.m. in the Girdwood Community Room
- By phone: 907-343-8373 or 907-343-8374
- By email: [email protected] or [email protected]
- By mail: Girdwood Trails Committee, PO Box 390, Girdwood AK 99587
The comment period and the grant application both happen in the fall, which means the trail work itself would come in a later building season. If you walk the Beaver Pond Trail through the mud, the next few weeks are when your input counts.
The same room fills on other October nights. The GHEC committee meets October 7 at 6 p.m. The Land Use Committee meets October 12 at 7 p.m., the same day the tram closes, in person at the Community Room at 250 Egloff Road or through Teams. PSAC meets the next evening, October 13, at 7 p.m. The Girdwood Food Pantry keeps its usual schedule at Girdwood Chapel on Timberline Drive: Wednesdays from 4 to 6 p.m. in the second and fourth weeks of the month, including October 14.
The Seward Highway Works at Night
The busiest crew on the Turnagain Arm this fall works while most of the valley sleeps. The state's FY2026 budget lists the job as the Seward Highway Milepost 90-99 Pavement Preservation project. In its September report, Turnagain News said traffic stops every night at 8 p.m. to wait for a pilot truck, and paving crews from contractor Granite Construction are finishing up by about 6 a.m.
DOT spokesperson Justin Shelby said the work will continue through November, stop for winter, resume in May, and finish next summer. The nightly pilot-car schedule therefore runs until about the time the lifts start turning. Late drives home from Anchorage, like the 10 p.m. drive-in screening or a Sitzmark show, fall inside the work window, at least for anyone driving in from town.
Much of the work is hard to see from the car. Shelby described one piece of it this way:
"One notable improvement that may not be visible to the traveling public is repair work at the coastal ends of dozens of culverts that go under the highway. The coastal ends of these culverts were found to be deteriorating due to tidal action and pressure."
Three other projects are on different schedules. The McHugh Creek turn lane was finished this summer. Slope stabilization to keep rocks and ice off the road will continue into next summer. Repairs to the Gird-to-Bird pathway are expected to last through the rest of fall and likely into parts of next spring. The pathway is being rebuilt where landslides and saturated subgrade have damaged it, with excavation and better ditching to move water away. Turnagain News points travelers to Alaska 511 for current traffic impacts and construction updates, which is worth checking before any late trip.
Downtown Changes More Slowly
Two projects in town have longer timelines than the shoulder season.
Outside Glacier City Hall, a 28-foot undulating wooden sculpture went up this summer. Organizer Tommy O'Malley, known in Girdwood as Tommy Salami, said the most common question from people walking by was "What is it?" The answer is the body of a dragon. It is the newest public art at Girdwood Park. Earlier pieces include a kids' mural from the early 2000s and the Rotary-supported First Amendment Chalkboard. A Girdwood resident erased the chalkboard from time to time, while another resident donated the chalk anonymously.
Next to the Mercantile, a stand of cottonwoods was cleared to make room for Trevi Flats. Builder Eric Trevithick plans to start construction this fall and expects to finish in August 2027. It is his first mixed-use building, with a rooftop designed for the park views and the snow load. The project includes a 1,500-square-foot commercial building that could hold up to two businesses, and no tenant had claimed it as of the September 20 report. So the business that eventually opens beside the Merc is still unknown, and it is at least a winter and a summer away.
How the Gap Closes
The quiet stretch doesn't end all at once. Venues reopen one at a time over about four weeks:
- Thursday, November 26: Alyeska's Thanksgiving buffet costs $99 per adult, with seatings at noon, 2:30, and 5:30 p.m.
- Saturday, November 28: Opening day for the 2026–27 season.
- Friday, December 4: Seven Glaciers reopens. High Step Society plays the first of two ticketed, 21+ nights at the Sitzmark.
- Saturday, December 5: Ullr Fest comes before the second High Step Society show.
- December 11 and 12: Anchorage jazz-fusion and funk band Powerplay plays two ticketed, 21+ Sitzmark shows.
- Sunday, December 13: The free Nordic Noël Market runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with local artisans, crafts, and family activities.
- Wednesday, December 23: The free Girdwood Santa Fire Truck Parade starts at 6 p.m.
If you ski a few days a season rather than every weekend, Alyeska's Peak Pass ties into those December dates. It gives 25% off holiday and prime lift tickets and 35% off midweek tickets, with no blackout dates for 2026–27, and new this year it can be preloaded with 3, 4, or 5 days at 35% off. Buying it by December 4 adds 10 ski days from December 4 through 14.
Fall in Girdwood is a good time to think about what you want from the valley next year, whether that's a different trail, a different street, or a place closer to the Daylodge. If those thoughts are turning into plans, Emma Shibe knows how Girdwood's seasons affect timing on both sides of a move and is glad to talk it through at whatever pace suits you. Let's Connect.
