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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. 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.

The new picture at the top of this Forum page was taken that same day after skiing as I was driving north for whitewater rafting the next day.

Confirmation of the prerequisite criterion of a cult ski area. The recurring poor snow seasons can't be helping the situation there. Strongly disagree. Avid skiers from outside the region flock to these places after mid-April precisely because the quality of skiing remains high after most...

Did you have to download the tram? Third pic looks like groomed Chip's mid-mountain. No pics from Little Cloud?

It has dawned upon me that all the areas on the SnowBrains list, plus others cited here like Taos, Jackson, Snowbird, Red Mt., Whitewater, Fernie, Castle and Aspen Highlands, are noted for abundant expert terrain and more modest quantity or quality of intermediate terrain. Also Mt. Baldy...

That sounds like agreement with Mammoth could be considered a fail by that standard, though James disputes that we SoCal regulars are local. Time will tell where Ikon adds significant more people, especially from NorCal, to that fanbase. Recall also that Mammoth’s access from points east is...

In terrain scale and quality (also snowfall, though Taos suffers in bad years more due to its rugged terrain) there's a big gap in New Mexico between Taos and whoever you want to call #2. It's not as extreme as the difference between Mammoth and the SoCal locals, but the same principle...

was listed along with Kirkwood as #7in the SnowBrains article. Excellent points, and I should have thought of this due to Paul Kulas being a firm member of that cult. He regularly commuted from Eagle to ski Highlands Bowl and rarely patronized the other Aspen areas. Paul also had an A-Basin...

That was my reaction too (see Chris Steiner of ZRankings). Whistler is another glaring omission (see Larry Schick and @takeahike46er, and I'm sure they are far from the only PNW skiers with that loyalty). Palisades and Whistler are probably home to the largest number of elite level...

For destination visitors, more compressed than that: Stick to January and first half of February. But that compression is why the powder probability during that time window is so much higher than anywhere else. Some ski regions like the Alps and most of western North America have almost...