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The monthly snowfall data I collect at the end of each season from about 85 locations.

AltaGuard UDOT data was just posted this week. It includes total precipitation as well as total snowfall. The driest years: Season Snow Precip Ratio 1960-61 326 28.7 8.80% 1976-77 314.5 23.7 7.54% 2011-12 329.5 32.6 9.89% 2014-15 276.8 26.99 9.75% 2017-18...

Somebody likes to ski powder in Gstaad. :icon-lol: How old were those tracks? Looks ideal for James or me; not steep enough for avy risk, no guide needed to search out a nice line.

Yes terrain looks way more interesting that the one we used at Courchevel in 2024. The Larch forests are way better for tree skiing. With the conspicuous exception of Steamboat, I find most Colorado forests way too tight for comfortable tree skiing. You mostly need to be in a subalpine...

The deep dive into age/retirement related issues is moved to a prior thread on the subject. As for the season recap, please note new areas skied this season if not already posted.

Patrick got last October at Landergraaf, Netherlands, reputedly the largest (though not tallest ) indoor ski area in the world. He was in Zermatt/Cervinia late November/early December. I expect upcoming July to be at Avila on Canada Day, which he has done 7x already.

"Old Solitude" had two key attributes: elite snow conditions (top 5 in US) and lack of crowds. Ikon and Utah population growth destroyed the latter. Targhee actually improves his snow conditions profile. As for crowds, Targhee is one of the few areas with recent data in Stuart's last week...

Yes it did. But if scheduling before the start of ski season I'd be a lot more concerned about rocks and sustained dry spells in Banff than rain reaching the Whistler alpine. Perhaps @takeahike46er can tell us how often and when the Whistler alpine had poor skiing due to rain and periods...

While on a roll here, I'll comment on Jimk's DCSki article. Introduction +10 to that. My concessions to age over the past 4 seasons have not been enough to change that. Drastic terrain limitations or the number of hours per day I can ski could eventually erode the fun factor. Since...

Everyone knows about the people skiing into their 80's or 90's. The unusual situation with Jimk and MarzNC is that they are skiing in their 70's better than when they were younger than that. Though I started skiing seriously at age 26, there is little doubt that my peak was the start of...

I'll edit the above tables as more data comes in. I got Sunshine Village this morning. It had its 5th highest season in 2025-26 and moved the interior Canada average from 96% to 101%. Its record high year was 2011-12, another dismal one in the U.S. as noted above.

When I was on my my ski streak in Aug/Sept of 2011 I drove out to Saddleback Lake and observed that there is long approach to False White. It is a testament to Mammoth's microclimate that when I had to use AT to keep that streak alive, the Mammoth ski area had the most approachable snow with...

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% 42% 47% 60% 80-81 71% 58% 101% 69% 59% 45% 42% 96% 57%...

That was my first trip to the Alps, August 1999 right after my first total solar eclipse in Hungary. It rained the entire two days in Hallstadt. I was strangely unaware of the Austrian glacier skiing then. I did visit the Dachstein Ice Cave though. Later we took a scenic tram up the...

It's interesting that end of February is cheaper than January. It's logical in terms of snow conditions because the Arlberg has so-so altitude by Alps standards and not great exposure. But late February is still in the school holiday period for a few countries. Still a great catch by James...

James is correct. The snowfall was below average in February but skiing was still good with cold weather. The rain and thaw events were frequent only starting in March. I have tracked Vermont conditions by weekend since 2000. There have been 5 good late Decembers before this year, the most...

I knew the Northeast season tailed off on the back end, but I didn't realize how much. I have all my Northeast data for 2025-26 now. The Northeast was 119% of normal at the end of December and 125% at the end of January but ended up at 97% for the entire season.

If you're analyzing total $$$ of investment, the big resorts are going to drive that comparison. Many large western resorts run lifts in summer too. The issue is what portion of revenue comes from non-skiers. I think Ober Gatlinburg is an outlier significant year round resort that happens to...

I commented before the season started that 70 was unrealistic unless the Sierra had an extended season like 2017, 2019 or 2023. Tseeb's record is 65 days in 2018-19. However, his 56 days is the only time he has exceeded my total since we met in 2011. :eusa-clap: AreaSum of DaysSum of...

The steepest terrain needs more coverage to be skiable. That's why it's typically the last terrain to open and why it's so problematic at places like modest snowfall but expert-oriented Taos, A-Basin and Crested Butte. Once coverage is adequate, exposure becomes the driving factor. North...