Utah 2018-19 Utah Weather and Stoke

[tromano]

Snowbasin is super quiet today and the best Vis on a powder day I have seen in a good while. Thank you blackout pass.

Good Vis on strawberry pow day unheard of.


Edit to add:
Stuff is really starting to fill in nicely. 80" base.

 

[Ogg]

All of the Utah resorts are going to shitzville that have IKON access. Alta was ugly yesterday and the snow was horrible considering the monster storm that just came through. I even found crowds in steep trees off supreme. called it early to go watch football. obviously the holiday crowd added to my misery but IKON is drawing in massive crowds regularly - its really depressing .

I apologize in advance for being part of the problem when I'm there 1/31-2/5. Seeing what this weekend looked like I'm almost hoping to not have powder days when I'm there. I rented an SUV but am considering using the bus to get up LCC and/or BCC, especially on the weekend.

 

[Daniel]

LCC, BCC, and eastbound I-80 (towards Park City) have all been closed this morning due to tremendously high rates of early morning snowfall. I-80 has reopened and it appears, from looking at the traffic cams, that lots of the thousands of vehicles clogging east bench roads near the canyon mouths are giving up and heading home or elsewhere. Eleven inches of snow at my home in Cottonwood Heights since about 4:15 a.m. and the snow continues to pound away. Couldn't motivate myself to face another day of the cluster traveling up and down canyon today and, besides, my legs are cooked from all the vertical skied and ridden the last several days. Those who made it up the Cottonwood Canyons pre-closure are having a great time but I suspect limited terrain will be available until tomorrow or, at least, until late today. Tomorrow will be stellar and with a whole lot less competition.

 

[AmyPJ]

Snowbasin is super quiet today and the best Vis on a powder day I have seen in a good while. Thank you blackout pass.

Good Vis on strawberry pow day unheard of.
View attachment 63380

Edit to add:
Stuff is really starting to fill in nicely. 80" base.

Regretting not venturing over there! Skied with my daughter today--we got untracked the entire way down Wildcat Bowl. It was her first real foray into untracked powder, and 6 inches of it on top of a groomer was PERFECT for her, despite it being heavy snow by Utah standards. We then skied all over under the Middle Bowl chair, where there was definitely a lot more than the 6 inches reported. The Devo program is making her into quite the confident little skier!

 

[Shawn C.]

Well, my season is over, unfortunately. Hit a huge snow drift which threw me into the air and it ended poorly. Visibility was so bad with the snow and high winds and I never saw it. Wasn’t skiing fast either.
Broke my right humorous at the shoulder and my left tibial plateau. Surgery on both tomorrow.
Be safe out there, folks! I’ll still be hanging out here and vicariously enjoying your adventures.

 

[BobMc]

Ouch, sorry to hear that, heal up!

 

[tromano]

Well, my season is over, unfortunately. Hit a huge snow drift which threw me into the air and it ended poorly. Visibility was so bad with the snow and high winds and I never saw it. Wasn’t skiing fast either.
Broke my right humorous at the shoulder and my left tibial plateau. Surgery on both tomorrow.
Be safe out there, folks! I’ll still be hanging out here and vicariously enjoying your adventures.

Hope it goes well with with the surgery.

 

[AmyPJ]

Well, my season is over, unfortunately. Hit a huge snow drift which threw me into the air and it ended poorly. Visibility was so bad with the snow and high winds and I never saw it. Wasn’t skiing fast either.
Broke my right humorous at the shoulder and my left tibial plateau. Surgery on both tomorrow.
Be safe out there, folks! I’ll still be hanging out here and vicariously enjoying your adventures.

Holy cow, Shawn, sorry to hear this! Hoping for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery!

 

[Wasatchman]

Well, my season is over, unfortunately. Hit a huge snow drift which threw me into the air and it ended poorly. Visibility was so bad with the snow and high winds and I never saw it. Wasn’t skiing fast either.
Broke my right humorous at the shoulder and my left tibial plateau. Surgery on both tomorrow.
Be safe out there, folks! I’ll still be hanging out here and vicariously enjoying your adventures.

That is awful news. Sorry. Heal up well and hang in there!!

 

[Lorenzzo]

Damn...who here hasn’t hit a low vis snowdrift? Heal up and better luck. Keep us posted as to how you’re doing.

 

[blackke17]

Speedy recover Shawn! that sucks

News this morning reported that at one point yesterday in the cottonwoods it was snowing 5 inches per hour! that's unheard of even for those areas.
had some friends laughing at me yesterday for having to go to work. well i got the last laugh when they got turned around and went back home when the canyons closed.
LCC had a shelter in place order in effect last night.

back to Alta on wednesday , save some for the rest of us!

by my count Alta has gotten 79 inches in the last 7 days

 

[Started at 53]

Good luck with the surgery

 

[Shawn C.]

Surgery went really well. Doc was pleased. Start PT tomorrow on leg. They are going to keep me here for a few days.
Thanks to all for the get-better wishes; very much appreciated!!!

 

[Woodsrider427]

I apologize in advance for being part of the problem when I'm there 1/31-2/5. Seeing what this weekend looked like I'm almost hoping to not have powder days when I'm there. I rented an SUV but am considering using the bus to get up LCC and/or BCC, especially on the weekend.

I am kind of hoping for the same when we go the first week of March. As much as I would like to try some real powder skiing, I'd much rather not deal with a mess of traffic my first time in Utah.

Shawn C, good luck with the PT and recovery. Sorry to hear your season is over.

 

[4ster]

Surgery went really well. Doc was pleased. Start PT tomorrow on leg. They are going to keep me here for a few days.
Thanks to all for the get-better wishes; very much appreciated!!!

Good luck, heal well !

Bluebird morning laps..

 

[AmyPJ]

Good luck, heal well !

Bluebird morning laps..
View attachment 63558

How did I just KNOW that some of those were yours I saw today at 2:30 when I finally got up there?! Did you ski Porky Cirque also? I saw a few tracks there as well.
Sitting in the office today was NOT easy.

 

[4ster]

How did I just KNOW that some of those were yours I saw today at 2:30 when I finally got up there?! Did you ski Porky Cirque also? I saw a few tracks there as well.
Sitting in the office today was NOT easy.

No Cirque for me, Considerable Avi danger & wind loading on that aspect/elevation.
If it’s any consolation, I was sitting in the dentist chair at 2:30 PM .

 

[AmyPJ]

No, that is NOT consolation! I would have gladly traded you

 

[Lofcaudio]

As much as I would like to try some real powder skiing, I'd much rather not deal with a mess of traffic my first time in Utah.

And there it is...the conundrum for tourist skiers at the SLC areas. I love skiing Utah (consider Snowbasin and Snowbird to be my favorite places to ski in the U.S.), but consider the "snow factor" to be overrated. What has actually worked best for me is to stay in the valley, wake up to see what places got the most snow...and then go somewhere else. If the Cottonwoods got hit hard, I'll drive up to Snowbasin. I just don't have the insider knowledge to be able to find the goods that will be there for more than a lap or two making all the other hassle worth it. As much as I love Alta and Snowbird, the lift-served powder gets tracked unbelievably fast. Just not worth it for a destination skier like myself to be racing the local powder junkies.

 

[4ster]

And there it is...the conundrum for tourist skiers at the SLC areas. I love skiing Utah (consider Snowbasin and Snowbird to be my favorite places to ski in the U.S.), but consider the "snow factor" to be overrated. What has actually worked best for me is to stay in the valley, wake up to see what places got the most snow...and then go somewhere else. If the Cottonwoods got hit hard, I'll drive up to Snowbasin. I just don't have the insider knowledge to be able to find the goods that will be there for more than a lap or two making all the other hassle worth it. As much as I love Alta and Snowbird, the lift-served powder gets tracked unbelievably fast. Just not worth it for a destination skier like myself to be racing the local powder junkies.

QFT^ . & not just in Utah but most everywhere nowadays. Powder "days" at ski areas are becoming more & more of a myth. Unless your timing is perfect or you get really, really lucky it just ain't gonna happen for more than a run or two.

For instance even though there has been a lot of snow recently, there has also been a ton of competition. Monday was a powder day & a holiday but anyone trying to get to Alta, Snowbird or a few others couldn't. Some of the persistent ones ended up at Snowbasin (which had about 1/3 as much fresh snow) but by the time they got there most everything was pretty skied out & they wouldn't have been able to see where to go for freshies anyway.

For me yesterday was totally unexpected, went up figuring I would ski groomers & maybe get a lap or two in a couple of zones that didn't get opened Monday. Ended up that Easter Bowl (photo in post #235 above) area had some nice snow blown back in & a few areas that didn't get skied Monday simply because people couldn't see them in the whiteout conditions. I was able to ski untracked for the first 500' vertical of the almost 3K' of each run for 4 hours straight, the remaining 2500' was on silky groomers which is often the case at Snowbasin. Granted I had to take 2 lifts & hike a few minutes each time but it was more pleasurable than the frenzy of the previous weeks storm cycle.


If I was taking a ski vacation I think I would hope for blue skies, great coverage, all terrain & lifts open without a lot of icy conditions...
...or a guide