Utah 2018-19 Utah Weather and Stoke

[RJS]

@blackke17 great pictures! I was at Brighton yesterday too and had a fun day. I almost never shared a chair with anyone, it's the least crowded that I have seen Brighton. I spent a lot of time skiing the terrain in the last picture that you posted, along with some stuff just out of frame to the right. I didn't ski this area last year, but I did ski Milly Bowl last year and this year and boy is it so much easier this year with all of the snow! I remember being intimidated by the little entrances/chutes part way down the Scree Slope trail last year and decided not to try them. This year with all of the snow - not bad at all ! Maybe we'll get lucky and have another great snow year next year too.

 

[Daniel]

Some great skiing at Brighton yesterday! - 6" of fresh greeted us in the morning. and the parking lot was Empty at 9am. This was the view from my spot next to Milly lift

You don't mention the visibility and your photos generally make it appear as if it was reasonably OK, at least at times. Yesterday at Soli, visibility was very challenging for the first several hours of the day. Higher elevation was your friend and the Summit lift was the place to be until things began to gradually clear out around mid-afternoon.

taking the boots off around 4pm. I found out I skied the entire afternoon in Hike mode!

I've done that a time or two in my life!

 

[Started at 53]

We did not ski yesterday as the conditions would have been poor, several lifties asked today if we skied yesterday and we replied no, the ALL said smart more. One guy said at times he could barely see his feet.

 

[blackke17]

You don't mention the visibility and your photos generally make it appear as if it was reasonably OK, at least at times. Yesterday at Soli, visibility was very challenging for the first several hours of the day. Higher elevation was your friend and the Summit lift was the place to be until things began to gradually clear out around mid-afternoon.

I've done that a time or two in my life!

alot more tree runs to hit at Brighton than Soli -there were areas and times of really poor visibility trust me .


headed back up to Soli or Brighton tommorow. havent decided yet .

 

[4ster]

Some great skiing at Brighton yesterday! - 6" of fresh greeted us in the morning. and the parking lot was Empty at 9am. This was the view from my spot next to Milly lift
View attachment 70440
lots of great runs of untracked off Milly in the morning . such a fun area! there was some fog banks in Milly bowl for a while so we rode the rope line towards Solitude.
View attachment 70444
alot of fun features at Brighton to launch off and the tree skiing is tremendous. We hit a chute into the rock garden we have been looking at for a few years that was finally filled in enough to get into the rocky entrance. Huge base opened up more terrain than usual off Western as well. View attachment 70446
taking the boots off around 4pm. I found out I skied the entire afternoon in Hike mode!

more goods on the way tomorrow.

Sounds similar to our day at Snowbasin on Wednesday except I would add WET as a major descriptor for our conditions. With rain on the bottom 1/3 of the mountain it sure helped to keep the crowds away. It was another morning spent exclusively on JP & the tram with the lack of crowds it made for a solid 4 hours of untracked.
Yes, it was heavy but 6" of surfy creme cheese for the top 2k' vertical made the poor visibility more than worthwhile.
Yes, it was wet & I had to change gloves twice to tolerate it but that was enough to keep me out there.
Yes, the only way to survive the bottom was to cut out to the groomer but the snow there was surprisingly silky, smooth & fast. It ended up being a "Strangely Good" day & will be a memorable one during a very memorable season.

Yesterday I teamed up with my video/photographer pal Chris Morgan for my first day at Powder Mountain in 2 years. I forgot how much I love this place! How much, you may ask? So much that I left with a season pass for next year! !

Although it wasn't a work day for Chris, he couldn't resist getting a few shots & I can't resist posting a few...

Gargantuan views


#pugski #prethelmets

Port


& Starboard

 

[Daniel]

Story on KSL's news website about crowding in the Cottonwoods this season: https://www.ksl.com/article/4652508...ge-the-skiing-experience-in-the-wasatch-front

Solitude's Director of Sales and Marketing states that Solitude's parking lots have probably overflowed 12 to 15 weekends this winter thus far. The resort will be open for 20 weekends this season and two have yet to occur. Of the remaining 18 weekends, I'd estimate the upper end of his range is most accurate.

 

[HardDaysNight]

^^^ No doubt! But the crowds aren’t at all related to the Ikon pass. That only accounts for 6% of the people. It’s just because the snow’s been good. In fact this is the first year there’s ever been decent snow in the BCC

 

[Brian Likes Pow]

The masses are gone and the weather's looking good this week

 

[4ster]

What a grey-ate day today!

Finally a decent freeze last night allowed for much outlying terrain to open that hasn’t been open since the last snowfall due to wet slide concerns. This led to smooth backcountry type conditions that with the cloud cover & a breeze lasted all day.
The best of this was out the sisters gates in strawberry. Sadly, today was the last day of the season for the strawberry gondola but it sure was a good one.

 

[Philpug]

Thank you Utah for a great last trip. You really showed your charm with great spring conditions during the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame week. We started the week at Powder Mountain. PW was such a pleasent surprise, I have read @4ster's praise but until we got there, we really didn't have an idea how big it was. We will be back, Oh, the prime rib sandwich in the downstairs bar is killer.

Snowbird and Alta had some visability issues but the skiing was great. We ran into @KingGrump along with our buddies from K2 testing some 20/21 skis...I wish I could say more about them but I can't...soon.

At Deer Valley we skied with such giants as Susie Chaffe, Alan Shoenberger, "Bad Bob" Salerno, Dave Ingemie and 2019 HoF inductee Tom Kelly. Of course we also skied at Park City/Canyons and that was skiing very well on closing weekend.

 

[4ster]

No real freeze last night but with a clear night we were pleasantly surprised to find some pseudo-corn skiing this morning.

Still frozen on the west facing aspect during the hike and traverse


Morning view looking across the bowls, great basin, antelope Island and Salt Lake.


My friend Wes approaching the top of the run I call the ice cream cone.


Me dropping in looking north across the Ogden Valley towards James Peak and powder mountain. Almost looking straight back at the gargantuan view shot I posted last Thursday. Today is the first day that the ice is all gone on Pineview reservoir.


After I dropped off the ice cream cone smoothie, Wes went out a little further and Skied the bowl on lookers left.


Almost 70°F on my way home this afternoon but the National Weather Service has already posted a winter storm warning for Wednesday!

 

[Phelmut]

Looks like another great trip Phil & Tricia. Utah never disappoints. 4ster, those pics are incredible, especially Wes at the top of ice cream cone. Life is good

 

[blackke17]

someone's not too happy about PC closing so early! this is a sign in Park city

 

[Brian Likes Pow]

yeah...they all went home

 

[Ryan Dietrich]

Son of a gun... Alta got 22 inches today, and I'm stuck at work. My beloved new powder skis are crying in the garage.

 

[blackke17]

Solitude was a blast yesterday - place was empty for about the first hour or so . fresh tracks for about 8 runs sure was a nice change of pace!

 

[Daniel]

Solitude was a blast yesterday - place was empty for about the first hour or so . fresh tracks for about 8 runs sure was a nice change of pace!

Definitely agree! Today was a different story with the car parks filling up in the morning. Road parking was minimal though. Solitude surpassed 500" for the season today for only the third time since and including the 2010-11 season. Checking Alta's snowfall history, we're about 57.5" behind the 2010-11 season at this point and 58" ahead of the 2016-17 season.

 

[RJS]

Definitely agree! Today was a different story with the car parks filling up in the morning. Road parking was minimal though. Solitude surpassed 500" for the season today for only the third time since and including the 2010-11 season. Checking Alta's snowfall history, we're about 57.5" behind the 2010-11 season at this point and 58" ahead of the 2016-17 season.

One thing that surprises me a little bit is that Alta is reporting 585" for the season, while Snowbird is reporting 626". I would love to hear some commentary on this from folks who know more about snow science than I do, but I'm curious if this is genuine difference in snowfall between the resorts, or if this is more a function of where exactly on the mountains their snowstakes are and what the measurement techniques between the resorts are. If I recall correctly, Tony Crocker has said that historically Alta gets a little bit more snowfall than Snowbird. Not that 585 vs. 626 matters - they're both very high numbers !

 

[Brian Likes Pow]

One thing that surprises me a little bit is that Alta is reporting 585" for the season, while Snowbird is reporting 626". I would love to hear some commentary on this from folks who know more about snow science than I do, but I'm curious if this is genuine difference in snowfall between the resorts, or if this is more a function of where exactly on the mountains their snowstakes are and what the measurement techniques between the resorts are. If I recall correctly, Tony Crocker has said that historically Alta gets a little bit more snowfall than Snowbird. Not that 585 vs. 626 matters - they're both very high numbers !

Im told alta reports from opening day vs first snow.

 

[4ster]

NW flow Usually leaves snowbasin on the dry side & Wednesday was fun but still lots of dust on crust/coral reef. Thursday was better with another 4 or 5 inches. Nothing compared to the cottonwoods with their feet of snow but still some great terrain and hours of untracked runs.

I was planning to pack today for the migration to Tahoe but woke up to this on the snow stake.