Bring those rock skis. Base must be less than 12 inches.
Western North America Conditions 2025/26
- Thread starter ChrisC
- Start date
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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Hopefully you have a car for any time off to commute to BCC or LCC. Forecasters are unanimous there will be zero new snow in CA, UT or CO before then. It could be worse. Early next week it's going to rain in Washington and B.C. to over 6,000 feet.
takeahike46er
Member
Indeed it can be!
I’m glad I got out in the Baker backcountry yesterday before the snow turns to
. When the temps finally do come back down, it’s going to be an ice skating rink in SWBC and the PNW.
jimk
Well-known member
My last three ski days at Snowbird, Jan 8/9/11 have been excellent. Soft, powdery conditions prevail from the nearly 60 inches of new snow since Jan 1. Of the 14 ski days I have in Utah since Dec 5, these three were by far the best. The vast majority of the resort's terrain is now open. Yesterday Mineral opened and today it was Road to Provo and the rest of Little Cloud Bowl. All 14 lifts operational.
Notwithstanding Tony's findings indicating a lengthy dry spell ahead, right now is a special combination of good snow and low crowds at Snowbird. I can only guess that out of town visitation is way down because of the publicity of the poor early start. There is also the theory that local Ikon Pass holders are saving their LCC days for later in the season? I'm trying to enjoy the nice situation while it lasts.
More pics from Jan 9, 2026:
Good skiing off the Little Cloud chair.
Cirque Traverse leading to fluffy snow in Middle and Lower Cirque areas to right.
Jan 11 was a gorgeous, full sun day with moderate crowds, even Mineral Basin chair was light traffic. Snow surfaces excellent all over the mtn.
Good off-piste lines beside the Mineral Basin chair line:
Baldy chair ego boosting terrain
Photographed a young man hitting The Wave in Little Cloud Bowl.
Today might have been my favorite day of the season so far. Nice temps, bright sun, low crowds (I drove up at 1030am and found close, free parking on Bypass Rd), and excellent snow surfaces. It's a very nice reward after a lot of hardpack in the month of Dec. Life is good!
Notwithstanding Tony's findings indicating a lengthy dry spell ahead, right now is a special combination of good snow and low crowds at Snowbird. I can only guess that out of town visitation is way down because of the publicity of the poor early start. There is also the theory that local Ikon Pass holders are saving their LCC days for later in the season? I'm trying to enjoy the nice situation while it lasts.
More pics from Jan 9, 2026:
Good skiing off the Little Cloud chair.
Cirque Traverse leading to fluffy snow in Middle and Lower Cirque areas to right.
Jan 11 was a gorgeous, full sun day with moderate crowds, even Mineral Basin chair was light traffic. Snow surfaces excellent all over the mtn.
Good off-piste lines beside the Mineral Basin chair line:
Baldy chair ego boosting terrain
Photographed a young man hitting The Wave in Little Cloud Bowl.
Today might have been my favorite day of the season so far. Nice temps, bright sun, low crowds (I drove up at 1030am and found close, free parking on Bypass Rd), and excellent snow surfaces. It's a very nice reward after a lot of hardpack in the month of Dec. Life is good!
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It’s a business thing, doesn’t really work that way! At least some good food and I can break in the new boots on groomers.
Snowbird has very similar altitude/exposure parameters as Mammoth, and it's January with low sun angle. I have no doubt that LCC skiing over the next 10 or more days with no new snow will be just fine. However that forecast is a recipe for a nasty inversion down in SLC. That will make Jimk appreciate Snowbird even more.
tseeb
Well-known member
While snowfall may have only been 80% of normal last week and is now lower,
"Current drought maps are showing California is drought-free for the first time in 25 years."
California precipitation is far above average. However, snowfall is above average only above 9,000 feet.
To add to the challenge, I was supposed to drive to Lake Louise tonight and ski there for 2 days, however the Rogers pass is currently under extended closure for avalanche risk/mitigation with an anticipated reopening at 12:15 am. Hopefully it will reopen overnight allowing for a very early morning drive over.
Good call. This storm is so warm it is forecast even to rain halfway up Panorama and Kicking Horse. Those areas got lots of December snow when it was raining more west of Rogers Pass.
ChrisC
Well-known member
I am impressed with how BAD Deer Valley is performing with a multi-year expansion to get things 'just right'. To me, it's pretty much a fail. Only 100 out of 202 runs open, only 43 groomed, just 23 out of 31 lifts open. It's almost MLK Weekend, and Deer Valley's snowmaking system has not really accomplished much.
It is astoundingly bad that Deer Valley East has only a Gondola open (no terrain), the Keetley Express with only a few ways down, and a return chair. They cannot even operate its beginner lift.
Let's just review how many lifts, trails, and terrain pods are closed:
- 6 out of the new lifts 9 in Deer Valley East. Did they really install snowmaking? And increase capacity?
- On top of it, the Mayflower Lift is closed.
- A 'core' lift, Wasatch Express, has ZERO runs in its pod open. That's horrible and must be a record.
- Little Baldy is essentially zero percent open - a single catwalk. That's great for the $10-30M homes lining those runs.
- All Olympic runs out of Snow Park are closed. Backed out of hosting World Cup Freestyle on December 24th? So they know their snowmaking system sucked, not performing well pre-Christmas, and canceled 3 weeks before the event.
- Lady Morgan - lift and runs closed.
- Expert Terrain - almost all closed.
I was running out of Red Ink X-ing out everything that was not operational. I thought Deer Valley had better ops than Park City.....not really. Quite bad for $329/day.
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ChrisC
Well-known member
Did some lower altitude Cat operations and lower Heli-Ski terrain get impacted by this warm-up?
A 2700 rain/snowline in British Columbia in mid-January??!!
Revelstoke Snow Report from January 13th:
