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Here's are the worst western seasons through January: Nov.-Jan. Percent Normal California Pacific Northwest Interior Canada U.S. Northern Rockies Utah Northern & Central Colorado Southern & Western Colorado Northeast US West West All 76-77 38% 19% 72% 61% 28% 52% 55% 154%...

Definitely drought in 1976-77. There's no dramatic split between higher and lower altitude places like you see this year. In 2025-26 Colorado was the only region where it was primarily drought, and even there the SWE numbers are more than in 1976-77 even if the snowfall numbers are not.

More details on Utah 2025-26 vs. other seasons here.

This reinforces my view that the first step toward cult area status is an imbalance in expert vs. intermediate terrain. As a well traveled skier I see Whistler as a notch tougher for intermediates than the gold standards of Vail and Mammoth. But takeahike46er's local view and skier visit...

Mammoth just announced it will stay open another week to May 31. Here's Mammoth's lean season history: snow Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May max base 75-76 27.00 14.50 13.50 54.00 50.00 38.50 6.00 203.50 65.00 76-77 0.00 0.00 26.00 27.00 37.00 0.00 40.00 130.00 36.00 86-87 0.00 0.00...

I'm still waiting on some 2025-26 data to finish out this exercise for California and Utah. Alta/Snowbird: alta snow Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. max base 60-61 75.00 40.00 1.00 62.00 113.00 35.00 326.00 62-63 31.00 17.00 85.00 39.00 93.00 136.00 401.00 76-77 13.50 17.00 50.50...

That's an interesting point. When the areas were separate there was some Alta vs. Snowbird type rivalry between them. I'll concede that Alpine was the one closer to an Alta vibe even though it's much more intermediate friendly than Squaw. I think Squaw and Snowbird have always been close...

It's not the "most expert terrain," it's the proportion of expert vs. intermediate terrain. Strong cults don't form around areas that have wide appeal to intermediates, period. I challenge James to name one. I only saw a little bit of Sugarbush, but I'll bet it has way more intermediate...

I suspected as much, but as I've never skied Whistler after early April, I've waited to hear local confirmation. With latitude adjustment Mammoth and Whistler are not that different in terms of conventional March/April snow preservation, but I think there's an absolute altitude effect where...

That's a very detailed summary from Alta. But I think the headline has it right: In my detail tracking since 2005, this season is about on a par with 2017-18 as Alta's worst. 2014-15 may have been the other one with the least snow, but it had more early snow for some decent skiing in...

Plenty expert, but: 1) How often are they open? and 2) How many runs in those sectors can you get in a day when they are open? It is a more extreme version of the Big Sky tram situation. Both Big Sky and Sunshine are overall heavily intermediate ski areas, meaning they fail the prime criterion...

What season is that quote from? Probably the same 2023, as closing date April 9 is a Sunday in 2023. This the :rotfl: part of that blurb.

Mammoth also has advanced/intermediate chair 3 and mainstream intermediate chair 1. Groomers on both of these are salted, so as the season pushes way late intermediates as well as experts are accommodated. I think Emerald would be mostly likely to play that role at Whistler, though Harmony...

I don't think we have to worry abut it raining on Kachina Peak! So you have to make the case that New Mexico's climate is getting drier, even though SoCal and Arizona are not. TaosAZ snowbowl 18-19 237.00 346.00 19-20 245.00 243.00 20-21 250.00 224.00 21-22 206.50 191.00 22-23...

I think Mammoth gets adequate business on weekends until they close. Midweek, they try to keep the race camps booked.

berkshireskier: Since I had to contact Sunshine for snow data, I asked and got this response: I looked up a map and found this: Goat's Eye and Continental Divide both have almost exactly west facing orientation. My impression of snow preservation comes from Goat's Eye having a lot of steep...

Kicking Horse absolutely has the terrain profile. But does it have a cult following? I think the issue here is that other regional areas also have some of that profile. Expert Calgary skiers can and do patronize Lake Louise, Fernie, Castle and even Revelstoke as well as Kicking Horse. I...

I'm sure it did but the percent of terrain open has remained below 10%. I'll agree with MarzNC that in that condition A-Basin is mainly a social event. Meanwhile Mammoth is twice as big and 43% open. :smileyvault-stirthepot: Note that in the cult thread I recalled being at A-Basin at about...

More support for the prime criterion of a cult ski area. I think Alan Henceroth is quite zealous about maintaining A-Basin's culture. Stuart interviewed him not long ago, and the only hint I heard about Alterra interference was removing A-Basin from Mountain Collective.

Many SoCal skiers have Mammoth car stickers. I couldn't resist getting this one when Mountain Monster was handing some out at a spring chair 2 tailgate a couple of years ago.