At the first grooming of last season, in December 2025, city planners went out to North Boulder Park with the Boulder Nordic Club. They measured how wide a circle the club's snowmobile needs to turn around, and then they skied laps behind it. That measurement shaped the plan that is now moving toward construction. The large lawn between Dellwood and Balsam is set to come out of the renovation with two ski loops, both close to the length skiers use today.
The first phase is scheduled to begin in a window that runs through this winter, and it covers only the building. The lawn, the loops, the northeast hill and the trees in the southwest corner don't change this season. Whether you get to ski there this winter depends on the same two things as every winter since the club started grooming: enough snow, and a volunteer willing to tow the groomer across the park.
The bid that closes Monday
The city's procurement for solicitation 37-2026, "Restroom / Pavilion Renovation at North Boulder Park," went up on BidNet Direct on September 25, 2026. Bids close Monday, November 2, at 2 p.m. MST. The contractor for the building won't be selected before that deadline.
The pavilion going first fits the park's history. The city's project page includes a 1958 aerial photo, and its caption says baseball and community gatherings at the restroom and pavilion were the first organized uses of the park. The renovation starts with the part of the park that hosted its first programmed use.
Here is the order on the City of Boulder's North Boulder Park Renovation page, from the March 2026 update:
- March to September 2026: construction documents and permitting for the restroom and pavilion
- October 2026 to March 2027: restroom and pavilion renovation begins
- September to December 2026: site permitting
- September 2026 to March 2027: site construction documents
- April to June 2027: site bidding and negotiations
- September 2027: site construction begins
The second step is a window, not a start date, and the open bid shows the contractor hasn't been picked yet. The restroom is the part of the building most people use, so the project page is the place to check for a closure date once the city sets one. The groomed track doesn't depend on the building, and the lawn work doesn't show up until line six, nearly a year away.
What the pavilion turns into
The rendering shows a building that opens in two directions. On the east side it opens toward the playground. On the south end it opens onto a lawn, so people can move between inside and outside with the Flatirons in view. The city says the renovated space will be available for programming, rentals and events.
That south-facing lawn sits next to the main lawn, and the main lawn is where the March revisions made their biggest changes.
The lawn plan was redrawn around the things people already do there
The March 2026 revision followed what the city called "a strong community desire to preserve North Boulder Park's open, flexible, multi-use character." The city listed expansive green space, Nordic skiing and self-organized community activities as core to the park's identity. The redrawn plan keeps those uses with three specific changes:
- A walkway moved. The planned path connection now runs from Cedar and the Alley, which many neighbors treat as the edge of the open space, instead of from Cedar and 9th Street. That keeps the big lawn in one piece.
- The ballfields barely move. The first concept shifted them 510 feet south. The final concept shifts them 70 feet, which still makes room for drainage work, points one field northeast and faces the two fields away from each other.
- Paths near the play area went back to where they are now. That keeps the shaded northeast corner open for picnics, and the city says it also allows "more variations in the Nordic ski track."
The plan also adds a full basketball court and lawn space for volleyball, placed to keep as much open space as possible. The city's common questions page says every activity that happens in the park now can continue after the project, and that the amount of usable multi-use lawn for volleyball, ultimate frisbee and picnicking goes up. The city also says park hours aren't changing.
On skiing, the city's commitment is specific. The future track keeps an inner loop and an outer loop "almost identical in length to what is currently there today," and it keeps the northeast "hill" and the southwest tree skiing. The city added a Nordic ski overlay to the final concept drawing to make sure skiing can continue there.
Who actually makes the track
The city is redesigning the park, but the city doesn't groom the ski track. Volunteers from the Boulder Nordic Club do. The Daily Camera reported in 2012 that the club had held an agreement with the city to groom North Boulder Park since 1991. According to the club's listing on Nordic Pulse, the two loops run 0.86 km for the Inner Loop and 0.84 km for the Outside Loop.
Last winter shows how much the track depends on weather. The club's end-of-season report on Nordic Pulse, posted April 15, 2026, put it this way:
"Despite getting the least snowfall in a season since 1982, we groomed 6 times at North Boulder Park for 8+ skiable days, depending how much grass you tolerate."
In a very dry year, that came to six grooming runs and a little over a week of skiing. That is the starting point for this winter. The city's schedule has no lawn work planned before September 2027, so this season comes down to snowfall and volunteer time, the same as last year.
The track is easy to miss, because it only exists for a few days after a storm. Here is how to catch it:
- Check Nordic Pulse. The club posts grooming reports for North Boulder Park there, and last season's closing report went up through it.
- Know the leash rule. The city's general park rules state, "Dogs must be on a leash at all times."
- Watch the project page for the restroom. Once a contractor is chosen and a start date set, the project page is where the city has posted updates so far.
Up the hill, Sanitas crews finish their season
The same pattern shows up west of the neighborhood. The Mount Sanitas trail project is a multi-year effort, and the city's project page says the area gets nearly 375,000 visits a year. The city schedules its 2026 repairs for May through November. That means this year's crew season on the mountain ends about when the pavilion work could begin down in the park. A city news release says a $1.1 million Land and Water Conservation Fund grant and community fundraising support the work.
Open Space and Mountain Parks crews do the work alongside American Conservation Experience, the Boulder Climbing Community and volunteer groups. The 2026 list includes:
- More repairs along the East Ridge and Mount Sanitas corridors
- Closing social trails, reshaping slopes and replanting native vegetation
- Designating a half-mile section of the Cairn Trail, with official neighborhood access points at Linden Avenue and 4th Street
- More improvements to the bouldering areas
The city doesn't expect full trail closures. It says hikers may run into short delays or brief detours around active work zones, with signs posted at the Mount Sanitas Trailhead, the Lion's Lair Trailhead and the base of East Ridge. The project page still lists the Cairn Trail designation, with access at Linden and 4th, as something planned for 2026.
The new pavilion's south lawn will face the Flatirons, and it will sit beside a ski track that was planned around the turning circle of a volunteer's snowmobile.
The Patrick Brown Group follows changes like the North Boulder Park renovation block by block, because a new pavilion or a rerouted path changes how the homes around it are used and valued. If you own near the park and want to talk through how the 2027 site work lines up with your own plans, schedule a consultation.