Utah Will SLC resorts be skiable by Thanksgiving? What % of runs will be open?

[speedster]

Curious what is typical for Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, and Deer Valley by November end. Will the resorts be open, will there be good coverage on the groomed runs, and approximately what % of blues will be open in each of the resorts by then? Also, will some of the resorts above be better than the others at that time? Thanks!

 

[Josh Matta]

There is no typical.

Youd be crazy to book any ski vacation for T day anywhere ahead of time IMO, except for maybe Grand Targhee.

Also Montana already has great coverage, if had gun to my head and was told book T day ski vacation now, Id go there...

 

[Seldomski]

You can scratch Deer Valley off your list -- it doesn't generally open until the first week of December.

 

[New2]

My experience is that Park City and Snowbasin will work their snowmaking to make sure and have something open--a WROD or two; Deer Valley will just wait until December; the Cottonwood Canyon resorts will open when natural snow levels permit. And Solitude will open terrain with rocks showing through everywhere that none of its competitors would open. But that intel all predates the Ikon pass and the ownership change at Solitude... things could change.

 

[SnowbirdDevotee]

No personal experience in November but I've been there(Alta/Bird) and elsewhere a few times in December. I would wait until at least 1st week of Dec or better yet 2nd week, every day counts!. I would say it is likely that there will be a bunch of groomed runs open, maybe/probably lots of them. Could be very good or very bad, but at least not wet or icy. There's a special feeling to those early days that makes the limited terrain worth it. Stay away from Park City early unless you know it's good.

 

[AmyPJ]

Barring a crazy snowy November, there won't be good coverage on ANYTHING here in UT over Thanksgiving. Even before Christmas can be a real crapshoot.

 

[Kyle]

Of the resorts you mentioned, Alta and Brighton are likely to ski the best and have the most blue groomed terrain available. I would not expect more than 20% of that sort of terrain to be available and it could be much worse. The off trail terrain will be more limited to non-existent. Brighton tends to have the runs off Crest Express and the lower lifts that service the same terrain available. They may get some of Snake Creek Express open in an above average year. Alta will probably have limited terrain off of Collins and Albion.

Snowbird and Solitude, though they share the same weather patterns as their respective neighbors, tend to need more snow to ski well. As others have mentioned, Deer Valley will not be open regardless of how much snow they have.

You didn’t ask about these resorts but Park City and Snowbasin will likely have a couple of blue runs each open. With extensive snowmaking, they need cold weather just as much or more than precipitation to get things going.

The good news is that most of the skiing that is likely to be available will be of the green/blue groomer terrain you asked about. I enjoy skiing that time of year because it scratches a dormant itch that was last scratched in April and my only incremental cost is the gas and 25 minute drive to access it. I would not plan a trip for that time of year more than a week or two in advance.

As @SnowbirdDevotee mentions, even a week can make a huge difference. Last year Thanksgiving was very limited but a couple of big storms completely changed everything the next week if memory serves.

 

[nesneros]

Last year we had a very dry November, and the suddenly on thanksgiving weekend a huge storm came in and provided an awesome opening day at Alta on November 23. Even so, they only had Collins lift open. I don’t think they were staffed to open Albion.

This isn’t my video, but I was there and it was glorious.


And here is the Albion base when they opened that on Dec 1, 2018.



All said, it’s probably a bit of a crap shoot. Don’t expect a lot of terrain even if we get a good storm or two in November.

 

[blackke17]

I skied a foot of powder at Brighton opening weekend last year. think the 23rd was the day after turkey day. They didn't even rope off access to alot of the trees -
I'd expect Brighton to be open for sure on Thanksgiving . I've skied turkey day the last 5 years in the cottonwoods, its usually the WROD, but there's always a chance of getting dumped on. The Cottonwoods are magical like that .

the early season traffic on Big Emma at Snowbird is frightening

 

[Nathanvg]

Lots of good first hand stories above but if you're looking for data across lots of years, check out the below links. In summary, there is a lot of variation year to year but on average about 50% is open in BCC/LCC by the 4th week of Nov.

http://bestsnow.net/utahhist.htm

 

[crgildart]

In summation, don't bet on it unless you're OK with a longshot. I'd certainly not make plans to go there with skiing high on the list of priorities Midwestern 300 foot ski hills are probably a better bet than Utah before mid December.

 

[Wasatchman]

Lots of good first hand stories above but if you're looking for data across lots of years, check out the below links. In summary, there is a lot of variation year to year but on average about 50% is open in BCC/LCC by the 4th week of Nov.

http://bestsnow.net/utahhist.htm

Tony Crocker has interesting historical data, but assuming 50% open on average by the 4th week of November is a huge stretch - particularly for more modern climate conditions.

 

[New2]

Lots of good first hand stories above but if you're looking for data across lots of years, check out the below links. In summary, there is a lot of variation year to year but on average about 50% is open in BCC/LCC by the 4th week of Nov.

http://bestsnow.net/utahhist.htm

Tony Crocker has interesting historical data, but assuming 50% open on average by the 4th week of November is a huge stretch - particularly for more modern climate conditions.

There's really no good way to say yet. The past 4 years straight of <50% open at Alta is a worrying trend, to be sure. It might be the new normal and represent current "climate" relatively accurately.

Or it could be a blip. 2004-2015 82% of seasons saw Alta above 50% open fourth week in November, which is impressive compared to most of the rest of the country. That's not old enough data to be confident that it's outdated.

 

[Nathanvg]

Tony Crocker has interesting historical data, but assuming 50% open on average by the 4th week of November is a huge stretch - particularly for more modern climate conditions.

About half of years are worse than average so I wouldn't expect 50% open.

That said I have high confidence in Tony's numbers. I looked at alta's website and they list 39" base by end of Nov. on average. They also have snowfall by end of Nov for 2018 to 2009: 94, 31, 76, 55, 67, 77, 80, 77, 133, 63. Those numbers seem to align well with Tony's numbers.

 

[Kyle]

Tony Crocker has interesting historical data, but assuming 50% open on average by the 4th week of November is a huge stretch - particularly for more modern climate conditions.

Some of this may also be due to perception. Alta historically has the best or close to the best early season skiing in Utah. However, while it may be technically true that 50% of the mountain or 50% of the marked runs are available for skiing that may not mean that you are comfortable taking your new or used but still unblemished skis in the terrain that is open. You definitely will not enjoy the unfettered freedom in those areas that you enjoy later in the season. Personally, I am more sensitive than most to causing damage to my skis. For me, 50% open terrain in the early season probably feels more like 25 or 30%.

 

[Slim]

@speedster , are you within driving distance of those resorts? If not, I would think long and hard about how many trips you will be making in a season.
I, too get impatient, and am super excited for the coming ski season, but realistically, I remind myself that it’s typically poor skiing in November, as well as being expensive to travel at Thanksgiving.

If going at Thanksgiving means NOT going some other time, later in the season, I would never do it.
If you want a longer ski season, I think it’s much better to extend it later than to start earlier. Even in a lower snow year, there is still plenty of great skiing in April and May, with much more open terrain and better coverage than in November. More daylight too.

 

[Wasatchman]

@speedster , are you within driving distance of those resorts? If not, I would think long and hard about how many trips you will be making in a season.
I, too get impatient, and am super excited for the coming ski season, but realistically, I remind myself that it’s typically poor skiing in November, as well as being expensive to travel at Thanksgiving.

If going at Thanksgiving means NOT going some other time, later in the season, I would never do it.
If you want a longer ski season, I think it’s much better to extend it later than to start earlier. Even in a lower snow year, there is still plenty of great skiing in April and May, with much more open terrain and better coverage than in November. More daylight too.

View attachment 82295

Well said. To expand on what you said, I believe very early season, Brighton is the best bet for Utah. I believe Alta needs a higher base than Brighton to ski halfway decently and not worry about chewing up your skis.

Snowbird is by far the best bet late season, and the only game in town during May/June. Late March/early April in Utah can be tricky and no sure thing. Even if there is a good base, it has been getting so warm that it can just kill the skiing via real grabby snow or refrozen crud that can make anything off piste no fun at all. Last season was a good example where there was a good base going, but certain days because of warm temps just completely killed the skiing.

In fact, my view is Utah is very overrated late season versus many other places due to the warm temps. The headline snow base on the mountain can look great, but the skiing not so good due to the temperature being too warm.