When do the clocks change became the question facing ski resorts after five trade groups and two companies urged U.S. senators on Sept. 10 to reject the Sunshine Protection Act of 2026. Their letter says permanent daylight saving time would take away winter morning sunlight that mountain operations need before opening.
The groups represented 115 ski areas in 10 states. They warned that ski patrollers, lift mechanics, snowmakers and groomers work for hours before dawn to prepare hills for a 9 a.m. start, and that operating in prolonged pitch-dark raises risks for those crews.
Sunshine Protection Act of 2026
The House passed the bill on July 14 by a 308-117 vote, and U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky said the vote answered a public push to change the clock system. He said, “Millions of Americans across the country have asked Congress to reevaluate the current system of changing our clocks twice a year.”
Guthrie also said, “Today’s bipartisan vote to ‘lock the clock’ is a response to the advocacy of our constituents and the evidence that year-round daylight saving time boosts economic activity and improves public safety.” The legislation would end the twice-a-year clock change and establish a nationwide standard time under the current debate over the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
Colorado Ski Country
Colorado Ski Country, Alterra Mountain Co. and Powdr joined resort trade groups in Utah, Vermont and the Pacific Northwest in the Sept. 10 letter. They said a sunrise after 8 a.m. in Colorado, Utah and Vermont, and later than 9 a.m. at resorts farther west, would create operational, economic and safety problems for mountain communities.
The letter said morning hours are when resort crews handle avalanche mitigation, lift inspection and run preparation. It said shifting that work to the afternoon could lead to a shortened, degraded on-mountain experience and that cutting resort hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. would be like losing two weeks of the ski season.
U.S. senators and Colorado
The Senate has not yet taken that step, leaving the fight to move next from the House vote to senators weighing whether to accept the same change. For Colorado and other mountain states, the choice now is between a clock system that keeps darker winter mornings or a bill that could force crews to do the same work before sunrise.
