I'm trying to plan a trip Tues-Sun next week. Too many good options. This seems like it would be a good season to hit up Taos area but S. CO is looking good as does Mammoth. Great problem to have, normally the choice is easy to make.
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Arizona/New Mexico 2018-19 Four Corners Weather, Conditions & Stoke
- Thread starter Core2
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I was there on Friday and it looks like the rain went up to midway. The snow above was pretty good but not 9 inches. Agassiz opened late and they didn't open Grand Canyon until around two. The amount of rain in town overnight was significant, too bad the storm wasn't colder.
Yeah, that fog was blinding. I could only see reflective marker posts at points and that was unnerving.
Monday is looking good except for the holiday so I'm guessing it will be a zoo. Any advice? Be at snowbowl road at 8? I don't think I've been there on a holiday.
Yeah, get up there around 8 or 8:30 and you should be fine. It may or may not be crazy, if it snows good in town and on I-17 it will keep some people from getting up there. Have fun!
Looks like snow levels will come quite low so I guess I'll go up today as I-17 will probably be a disaster tomorrow. Time for some storm skiing.
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Saturday was the wind buffed love, ski as fast as you want kind of day and today was that Utah fluff. We did two laps and then headed out. I was on the first chair on the GCX so went right for Casino. Next lap I got on Agassiz and went down to WL, it looked like ski patrol and earlier Ag riders already had their way with it so I went over to Flat Iron trees to see if one of my favorites was still fresh. It was so I dropped in and my god was it deep. Those trees are tight and a many seconds in the white room over the head blinding face shot just before a tree pinch scared the crap out of me! It was too deep to ski it the way I really like to and I had to hit the brakes for a second!
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Deep and refreshed throughout the day on Monday with little crowds, especially for a holiday. Couldn't really ask for a better day....that is until Friday it seems.
Yes... or the Colorado thread. Purgatory, Wolf Creek, and Telluride fit in either.
Really nice day at ski SF... reported 2" at 5 am but then it began to snow in earnest. so by quittin' time there was a decent powder day on top of the 8" the other day. No one on the mountain too. and it seemed very little usage over the holiday weekend of the steeper terrain so the trees were deep. not the huge storm predicted, but very, very nice.
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Yes, drop it in here! It often feels like it’s just a couple of us knuckle heads that are basically talking to ourselves.
Just back from a 3-day visit to Purgatory with the Alpine Ski Club. Pictures in the previous post from Monday's powder day.
Friday AM departure, stoked by the report of 17" of new snow from Thursday's storm, but glad to see a break in the weather for our travel day. Clear and dry roads up to Flag and across the Four Corners. Talking to some folks at dinner, we received reports that the warm nature of the storm left a very wet and heavy snowfall and Friday's conditions were described as difficult. Minimal grooming was encountered.
Wife and I are returning to skiing after a short, 28 year break.
Five days in Utah last February was our "get back in the saddle," and this trip would be our first for this season. We are rusty intermediate skiers, so we picked Purg for this year's first turns, remembering the fun had years ago on the long rolling groomed blue runs on the backside served by lift #3.
Saturday morning with just a little dust, we found no groomers and the lack of some smooth corduroy to get our legs back was a bit disappointing. Wife was struggling so we ended up staying mostly on the front side greens. Weather - overcast with a few flurries.
Sunday was mostly sunny and dry, found some corduroy but it was the exception. A good day of skiing. A morning lesson has me on my way to learning how to actually use my ski edges to turn. My old school parallel style has been rendered mostly extinct with the newer equipment. Didn't take long to get the basic gist, and quickly realized how efficient the carved turns can be and how a lot less energy is used. This will be good!
Monday morning greeted with 4-5" of true light powder. Again, no active grooming was noted but the few that were done Saturday night were delightful. I skied by myself, working my way up and down the backside and was virtually alone on the blues off of chair 8. Everything was cut up by mid-morning but then it began to snow hard. By lunchtime another 4" had fallen starting to fill-in the tracks and just making for a superb last few runs before boarding the bus for the tense trip down the highway. Picked up the weenies that chose to stay back in town and headed off for the long drive back to AZ.
All said, a great time!
You may have noticed, I made mention of the scarce grooming several times. It turns out, I was not the only one wondering. It seemed to be the topic for many in our group as well as in conversation with random chair riders and lunch counter/bar occupants. One local seemed to summarize it by saying "I guess they have decided not to do grooming this year..."
Don't know what to think, but with the bad season last year, maybe they have had to cut back on staff? All facets of the facility seemed understaffed. there were long waits for everything, understandable with the holiday weekend, but factually, it wasn't really all that crowded. Daily grooming reports were just total bullshit. I assume they consider a 3-4 day window ok to designate a run as "groomed." Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this or maybe we hit an unusual weekend? Not complaining but more curious.
Purg is not really a destination resort, more of a four corners locals place and one of my favorite long weekend visits. Had been watching the live mountain cams for the month preceding my trip, and had noted that the place is typically deserted weekdays, and with sparse crowds on the weekends. Truly hoping that this season is a good one for the resort.
Friday AM departure, stoked by the report of 17" of new snow from Thursday's storm, but glad to see a break in the weather for our travel day. Clear and dry roads up to Flag and across the Four Corners. Talking to some folks at dinner, we received reports that the warm nature of the storm left a very wet and heavy snowfall and Friday's conditions were described as difficult. Minimal grooming was encountered.
Wife and I are returning to skiing after a short, 28 year break.
Five days in Utah last February was our "get back in the saddle," and this trip would be our first for this season. We are rusty intermediate skiers, so we picked Purg for this year's first turns, remembering the fun had years ago on the long rolling groomed blue runs on the backside served by lift #3.
Saturday morning with just a little dust, we found no groomers and the lack of some smooth corduroy to get our legs back was a bit disappointing. Wife was struggling so we ended up staying mostly on the front side greens. Weather - overcast with a few flurries.
Sunday was mostly sunny and dry, found some corduroy but it was the exception. A good day of skiing. A morning lesson has me on my way to learning how to actually use my ski edges to turn. My old school parallel style has been rendered mostly extinct with the newer equipment. Didn't take long to get the basic gist, and quickly realized how efficient the carved turns can be and how a lot less energy is used. This will be good!
Monday morning greeted with 4-5" of true light powder. Again, no active grooming was noted but the few that were done Saturday night were delightful. I skied by myself, working my way up and down the backside and was virtually alone on the blues off of chair 8. Everything was cut up by mid-morning but then it began to snow hard. By lunchtime another 4" had fallen starting to fill-in the tracks and just making for a superb last few runs before boarding the bus for the tense trip down the highway. Picked up the weenies that chose to stay back in town and headed off for the long drive back to AZ.
All said, a great time!
You may have noticed, I made mention of the scarce grooming several times. It turns out, I was not the only one wondering. It seemed to be the topic for many in our group as well as in conversation with random chair riders and lunch counter/bar occupants. One local seemed to summarize it by saying "I guess they have decided not to do grooming this year..."
Don't know what to think, but with the bad season last year, maybe they have had to cut back on staff? All facets of the facility seemed understaffed. there were long waits for everything, understandable with the holiday weekend, but factually, it wasn't really all that crowded. Daily grooming reports were just total bullshit. I assume they consider a 3-4 day window ok to designate a run as "groomed." Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this or maybe we hit an unusual weekend? Not complaining but more curious.
Purg is not really a destination resort, more of a four corners locals place and one of my favorite long weekend visits. Had been watching the live mountain cams for the month preceding my trip, and had noted that the place is typically deserted weekdays, and with sparse crowds on the weekends. Truly hoping that this season is a good one for the resort.
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