Weather was an unusual combination of warm but mostly overcast. Temperatures gradually increased over the 3 days, reaching nearly 50 at the base on Tuesday. Sunday was mostly packed powder, with much of the mountain softening on Monday. The north-facing steeps (which are in abundance at the Bird) remained packed powder even on Tuesday when the snow at the base was quite heavy by noon.
With snowfall at about 3/4 normal the entrances to some of the more technical chutes (Great Scott, Jaws, etc.) are blocked or very constricted. But 80-90% of the extreme terrain is skiable, albeit more carefully than in big snow years.
Sunday we spent most of our time doing tree runs off Gad 2 and never got on the tram as the line was huge. Monday and Tuesday tram lines were light, so we used it a lot to stay high in the best snow as it got warmer. There was some wind up top the first 2 days and Regulator Johnson had great cruising on the blown-in snow.
Tuesday we had a couple of runs in Mineral Basin, where the the snow was best if you traversed out to the Bookends area.
If this sounds like a mixed report, it's not. These were 3 days of excellent skiing. I'd still rather be at Snowbird in a 75% snow year with spring conditions than at any other area in North America with average conditions, and I've been to 80 of them so far.
With snowfall at about 3/4 normal the entrances to some of the more technical chutes (Great Scott, Jaws, etc.) are blocked or very constricted. But 80-90% of the extreme terrain is skiable, albeit more carefully than in big snow years.
Sunday we spent most of our time doing tree runs off Gad 2 and never got on the tram as the line was huge. Monday and Tuesday tram lines were light, so we used it a lot to stay high in the best snow as it got warmer. There was some wind up top the first 2 days and Regulator Johnson had great cruising on the blown-in snow.
Tuesday we had a couple of runs in Mineral Basin, where the the snow was best if you traversed out to the Bookends area.
If this sounds like a mixed report, it's not. These were 3 days of excellent skiing. I'd still rather be at Snowbird in a 75% snow year with spring conditions than at any other area in North America with average conditions, and I've been to 80 of them so far.