Utah Park City for Thanksgiving ??

[musicmatters]

I was wondering how much of Park City it open around Thanksgiving?

I was thinking about taking my 6year old to get a few days in while she’s out of school. She a beginner so we wouldn’t need too much terrain to get some good runs in.

How much has been open in years past?

 

[AmyPJ]

Not much, if at all. Quite often a WROD with man-made snow to boot.

 

[musicmatters]

What’s WROD?

 

[KingGrump]

White Ribbon of Death.

 

[musicmatters]

Ha! Copy.

I won’t tell my wife that...

 

[KingGrump]

Most areas have one or two green or blue trails with man made on it.
For most skiers, it's the first chance they can possibly get on snow after going cold turkey for the entire spring, summer and fall.
Not what I call a optimal combo.

Most lower tier season passes usually have four black out periods. Thanksgiving, Christmas, MLK & Presidents. It's nothing new. The resorts know it will be a cluster out there.

 

[SKI-3PO]

White Ribbon of Death.

View attachment 76538

Right number of people. Way too much snow.

 

[Philpug]

What’s WROD?

White Ribbon of Death.

It is great when you can get out over Thankgiving but you might need to make it an 11th hour decision where to go. I assume you have an Epic pass since you are considering Park City, if so, wait till a week or so prior and look at all your options including Colorado and Tahoe.

 

[KingGrump]

Here is a Unofficial write up on the holidays to avoid.

https://unofficialnetworks.com/2015/10/13/6-days-to-avoid-at-the-ski-resort/

 

[surfsnowgirl]

This is why we ski Canada on MLK weekend, not a holiday shit show weekend there. Crowds early season are very different from spring skiing crowds. I ski early season but am very careful. Good luck with what you decide.

 

[P-Ute]

Thanksgiving skiing on the Wasatch Front all depends on when the cold temps (for snowmaking) and snow arrives. Not a given that it will occur in time for Thanksgiving.
For early season skiing Brighton would be my recommendation. ​

 

[Bad Bob]

With their snowmaking, if anybody has groomers in Utah at Thanksgiving, it will be Park City. That is still not an assurance though.

With a 6 year old there is a lot of other stuff to do in SLC/PC other than ski. Any time you get to spend with your kids is golden.

 

[crgildart]

White Ribbon of Death.

View attachment 76538

Naw, that's WAY to wide to be a true WROD..

 

[tball]

I was thinking about taking my 6year old to get a few days in while she’s out of school. She a beginner so we wouldn’t need too much terrain to get some good runs in.

Our kids who are just a bit older have never skied before late December. I've never felt it's safe enough given the number of skiers packed on so few open acres.

 

[jmills115]

Alta opened (11/23/18) on the Wildcat side the day after Thanksgiving. I picked my pass On Halloween and they were making snow. LCC and BCC get heavier snowfall all season than PCMR and DV.
Because of this, Alta isn’t as dependent on snowmaking as Park City yet have more favorable conditions sitting 1500’ higher.
As @P-Ute mentioned, Brighton is a solid choice for early season skiing with more beginner terrain open earlier. I’m not a regular at Snowbasin but think being open to drive from SLC (50 minutes) for a day gives you more early green groomers. Deer Valley should have lesser crowds but it is still man made snow with lesser terrain open and an opening-holiday weekend.
With this season being mrsjmills 3rd, she didn’t ski until Sugarloaf (lots of blues) opened and was happier once Sunnyside (green-blue) did.
Alta opened the Sugarloaf lift on 11/25/18 and the beginner friendly Sunnyside lift opened 12/1/18.
As great of a snow year as it was, there were about 10 days in December that had me starting to wonder after solid storms through November.

10/31/18


11/1/18


11/2/18



11/3/18- Change in conditions. Quick trip to Tempe with my ASU grad wife. Her school is 2-0 when I’ve taken her to the Utah game.



11/6/18



Opening day



12/1/18 and her still talking about the Sun Devil win.

 

[tball]

A nice looking WROD at A-basin this morning.



That's before the lits open, so nobody coming down yet.

Check back here in an hour or so to see WROD chaos:
https://www.arapahoebasin.com/snow-conditions/web-cams/

 

[SKI-3PO]

I’m pretty sure that is my son walking in the green jacket there.

 

[New2]

I was wondering how much of Park City it open around Thanksgiving? I was thinking about taking my 6year old to get a few days in while she’s out of school.

If you're going to be in Utah anyway, book an extra day or two and either ski or do something else depending on conditions. Otherwise, if money's a consideration at all, do something closer to home and then travel to ski later in the season. If money's no concern, wait 'til the last minute and see where gets a lot of early snow and go there

I agree with the recommendation of Brighton as the best bet for early season in Utah, though Thanksgiving weekend will be very crowded there. In my experience, Brighton seems to be fairly conservative about opening terrain--contrast Solitude next door which will open terrain with tons of rocks still poking through. It's less of an issue on beginner terrain, though.

I’m not a regular at Snowbasin but think being open to drive from SLC (50 minutes) for a day gives you more early green groomers.

Snowbasin puts a lot of resources into getting their 2,000-vertical-foot WROD open for Thanksgiving. Yes, the bottom 150' of that can be lapped by beginners. But no, it's not worth driving much extra for (much less flying across the country).

Deer Valley should have lesser crowds but it is still man made snow with lesser terrain open and an opening-holiday weekend.

Deer Valley lists their opening this fall as December 7, 2019 (https://www.deervalley.com/about-us/faqs). I don't think they've opened early in any recent years, so I wouldn't anticipate they'll open early this year.

 

[musicmatters]

Thanks for all the info. This place is great for that

Looks like we will just watch it and make a last minute decision. I didn’t think about how crowded it could be with limited runs open. I wouldn’t want her having to deal with too many people.

We have a place to stay in PC so that’s I’m looking at that first.

If you could go anywhere in the country, what tends to have the best options for Thanksgiving week?

 

[David Chaus]

FWIW my avatar pic was taken at Whistler/Blackcomb over Thanksgiving weekend. OK, different country.

When the PNW gets normal or better-than-normal early season snow, there’s often quite a bit of terrain when a ski resort opens, and snowmaking is only needed at the base area, so most of us here have no experience with WRODs. That said, the grooming will be minimal at that point, and surface conditions will be uneven and can be challenging for beginners.