ChrisC
Well-known member
Yep. It's locals loaded up with decently priced Ikon passes. I am sure 'unlimited' Solitude might have been worse.
Western North America Conditions 2025/26
- Thread starter ChrisC
- Start date
Yep. It's locals loaded up with decently priced Ikon passes. I am sure 'unlimited' Solitude might have been worse.
Sometimes patience is in order. Mammoth’s upper lifts have not been open since before the Christmas storm. Hopefully we get a shot later this week. Anyone who follows Utah skiing should know that the recent modest storms were not going to open that much more terrain. So those lines were no surprise, and if they bother you, you should not be there.
Per Mammoth website dated 10:35AM, Canyon Lodge was not closed but chair 16 was (probably wind), forcing skiers at Canyon to use 17 and then 4 to cross the lower mountain. Chairs 1 and 2 were reported open, along with 8 and 15 going the other way from Canyon. Only these lifts open on a weekend are indeed a recipe for lift lines. Did you consider going to June?
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ChrisC
Well-known member
Tahoe (North Tahoe) was its normal Holiday Sh-tshow on Sunday, and almost the entire weekend.
Donner Pass/I-80 shut down during the afternoon/evening; some traffic was diverted to side roads, and it took everyone 6 hours to get to Sacramento or 8 to the Bay Area.
So great weekend: Saturday, rain or lifts not operating up-high at Palisades. Sunday, some snow, non-operating lifts up high - and major road closures.
Donner Pass/I-80 shut down during the afternoon/evening; some traffic was diverted to side roads, and it took everyone 6 hours to get to Sacramento or 8 to the Bay Area.
So great weekend: Saturday, rain or lifts not operating up-high at Palisades. Sunday, some snow, non-operating lifts up high - and major road closures.
ChrisC
Well-known member
I think the lines all merged together at Copper over the holiday weekend.
jasoncapecod
Well-known member
All forecast by OpenSnow and probably anyone else who looked at weather models. Even though Mammoth didn't get the rain, we wanted no part of the past week.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Oh yeah! I didn't go up / not worth it. I knew any trip would spill over into Monday for sanity's sake and because of the snow. However, Saturday was supposed to be a decent snow day, but it was not - stayed warm, some rain, and not much precip. And after 8.5k+ rain/snow line on Thursday/Friday.
Despite the new snow, the holidays were likely a bit marginal due to some high snow levels and winds/weather near the Sierra Crest.
I had one friend who kept searching for Parking Sports at Palisades for Saturday last week. Me: You are going to have 70-100 mph winds on the Sierra Crest so that things will be limited to Snow King/Red Dog and possibly KT. And that is what happened. Sometimes that's all you need in a storm, but not with holiday cowds.
However, lower/treed mountains like Homewood or Northstar were likely wet and manky - until Sunday. Sometimes, Mt. Rose can semi-operate in storms and is always above the rain/snow line, but that is not a given. Typically, I rarely try Diamond Peak/Incline, but it's a possibility.
Likely worth a visit to Kirkwood and possibly Heavenly next weekend.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Looking at SW Colorado snow conditions, I came across the variable lift ticket pricing table for Purgatory. I am a bit shocked! Daily tickets are reasonably priced to cheap on most weekdays in January.
I see $27 per day on Thursday, January 15th??!! What year? What country is this?
I see $27 per day on Thursday, January 15th??!! What year? What country is this?
Purgatory is 48% open on 32 inches season-to-date snowfall. Price sounds fair to me!
takeahike46er
Member
Bring those rock skis. Base must be less than 12 inches.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Record year in Colorado.
Summit County enters new year with lowest snowpack on record after unseasonably warm December that set records
A few storms heading toward Colorado’s mountains in the next week may help bolster the state’s scant snowpack, but another dry spell forecast for mid-January is expected to keep snow levels well below normal. Summit...
www.summitdaily.com
Cottonwood Canyons are climbing out of their hole with 40-44 inches so far in the New Year. It was a big hole, as still barely half of ski terrain is open; perhaps that will improve with control work. And less than half that much fell elsewhere in Utah with relatively high rain/snow line.
Colorado snowfall remains modest. A cursory check indicates only Steamboat has received as much as a foot of snow in the New Year.
Sierra and Utah are the winners of the New Year so far. Tetons got 2 feet, most areas farther north around a foot.
Storms continue in part of the Rockies the rest of this week. Then the forecasters say we get another dry spell.
Colorado snowfall remains modest. A cursory check indicates only Steamboat has received as much as a foot of snow in the New Year.
Sierra and Utah are the winners of the New Year so far. Tetons got 2 feet, most areas farther north around a foot.
Storms continue in part of the Rockies the rest of this week. Then the forecasters say we get another dry spell.
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EMSC
Well-known member
I'd describe Colorado snowfall season to date as Pitiful. Crazy long stretches of warm air as well so far, so tons of even snowmaking trails are not open yet. Pretty easily the worst I've ever seen it in my 27 years here. I mean Abasin has like 9 'trails' open with no new terrain coming anytime soon at current pace of snowfalls. Eldora would normally be in a good place by comparison with tons of snowmaking everywhere, but they have not even been able to make snow for most of the winter. It's Bad Bad. Avoid at all costs for now and pray for Feb or March to be miracles IMO.
jimk
Well-known member
On 8 Jan 2026 I skied Snowbird for the first time since New Years Eve. Since then the situation has greatly improved. They are reporting upwards of 50" new snow in CY 2026. About 90% of the frontside of the mountain is now open and skiable. Tiger Tail and Red Lens and other off-piste terrain to the skier's left of Gad 2 chair is not open. Mineral Basin is the last major section of the ski area not open, but I suspect it's coming soon as they are reporting 7 more inches last night.
Jan 8 was rather remarkable for the excellent quality of snow surface and small crowds. They reported 8 new inches the night before and the only lift line I waited in was a short one at 9am for Peruvian Chair (I didn't use the tram yesterday). Traffic up LCC was a breeze, meanwhile I rode bus and saw a big backup in all directions at mouth of BCC? Go figure? My guess is that many local college students are still on vacation and going to Brighton, and many local Ikon base pass holders are skiing Solitude and saving their Alta/Bird days for later??
Phone 3 shot:
Upper Chips
Middle Cirque skied great and the traverse over was well covered and not rocky.
Bottom line: if you are planning a trip to Snowbird for later this month or February, I think you're ok to move forward with plans.
Jan 8 was rather remarkable for the excellent quality of snow surface and small crowds. They reported 8 new inches the night before and the only lift line I waited in was a short one at 9am for Peruvian Chair (I didn't use the tram yesterday). Traffic up LCC was a breeze, meanwhile I rode bus and saw a big backup in all directions at mouth of BCC? Go figure? My guess is that many local college students are still on vacation and going to Brighton, and many local Ikon base pass holders are skiing Solitude and saving their Alta/Bird days for later??
Phone 3 shot:
Upper Chips
Middle Cirque skied great and the traverse over was well covered and not rocky.
Bottom line: if you are planning a trip to Snowbird for later this month or February, I think you're ok to move forward with plans.
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California percent of normal snowfall moved from 40% Christmas Eve to 71% New Year's Eve to 80% now.
Utah percent of normal snowfall moved from 32% Christmas Eve to 37% New Year's Eve to 62% now. Utah now looks similar to 2011-12 and 2017-18. The upcoming mid-January dry spell
will also be similar to 2011-12, and the Utah areas outside the Cottonwood Canyons are only 1/3 open so definitely should be avoided.Front Range/I70 percent of normal snowfall moved from 48% Christmas Eve to 47% New Year's Eve to 55% now.
Southwest percent of normal snowfall moved from 49% Christmas Eve to 50% New Year's Eve to 60% now.
Of course 62% of LCC snow is twice as much as 60% of Park City and most Colorado ski areas' snow.
Joel summed up the state of Colorado snow yesterday.
The early December analogy also fits the Front Range stats of less than 30 inch base depths, no one more than half open and the average of only third open. It's really worse than an average early December because of the upcoming dry spell and that the meager base got worked over during the holidays. Abrupt recoveries like the Sierra and LCC experienced are rare in Colorado, with the mild exceptions of Wolf Creek and Steamboat. Colorado is very unlikely to make up what will be about a 6-week deficit by Jan. 22. So beginning of March should be like an average MLK weekend.In my mind, Friday felt like a really good...December day, with low but deepening snowpack. After I got home and looked at the data, in fact, our current snowpack is about average for early December.
In other words, our snowpack is about one month behind where it should be. At least we're sliding on snow!
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