2021-22 Season Recap

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
My third season in a row in the mid-teens with almost all of it overseas.

16 Ski Days
1 Plattekill, NY
1 Rothwald, CH
1 Grächen, CH
1 Unterbäch, CH
1 Bürchen, CH
1 Visperterminen, CH
1 Bellwald, CH
1 Aletsch Arena, CH
1 Bezau, AT
1 Warth-Schröcken, AT
1 Damüls, AT
1 Hochhäderich, AT
1 Wilmendingerhorn
1 Ifen, AT
1 Kanzelwand, AT + Fellhorn, DE + Söllereck, DE
1 Grasgehren, DE
 
• Day 01 - 11/27/21 - Gore Mountain 5" new snow
• Day 02 - 11/28/21 - Gore Mountain
• Day 03 - 12/18/21 - Gore Bell-to-Bell, 6 inches of new, not calling it pow
• Day 04 - 12/19/21 - Gore, 3 inches overnight
• Day 05 - 12/26/21 - Harvey Woods
• Day 06 - 12/27/21 - Gore
• Day 07 - 12/28/21 - Gore new snow overnight; Harvey Woods
• Day 08 - 12/29/21 - Gore
• Day 09 - 01/07/22 - Plattekill, 4 inches new at open, snowed most of the day
• Day 10 - 01/08/22 - Titus! First time. Low angle cut up pow, all day long.
• Day 11 - 01/16/22 - Gore. PM Nordic, pulled something. FACK no storm for you.
*** INJURY TIME OUT ***
• Day 12 - 02/04/22 - Gore Mountain POW
• Day 13 - 02/05/22 - Ski Bowl POW. Harvey Woods
• Day 14 - 02/19/22 - Titus POW
• Day 15 - 02/25/22 - Gore POW
• Day 16 - 02/26/22 - Gore; Harvey Woods
• Day 17 - 02/27/22 - Jay Peak all day sleeper POW
• Day 18 - 02/28/22 - Jay Peak morning powish
• Day 19 - 03/05/22 - Plattekill Patrol Fundraiser and Torchlight, maybe the best party ever.
• Day 20 - 03/12/22 - Whiteface POW
• Day 21 - 03/13/22 - Plattekill post pow-ish windblown, but not calling it officially.
• Day 22 - 03/18/22 - Belleayre bumps
• Day 23 - 03/27/22 - Greak Peak POW
• Day 24 - 04/02/22 - Gore Mountain
• Day 25 - 04/15/22 - Gore Mountain Good Friday
• Day 26 - 04/22/22 - Belleayre Mountain Closer
• Day 27 - 05/01/22 - Gore Historic May Close

Not done yet
 
61 ski days. Last one was yesterday at Snowbird. Spent winter in Utah, now packing to drive back to Wash DC in the next few days.
Good season for me with a few twists and turns. I skied about 40 days at Snowbird and the other 21 at a variety of places. I have a senior pass at Snowbird and an Ikon base pass.

Here's a photo blast conveying some of my season.

Nov 28, 2021, my first ski day of the season and it was at Timberline Mtn, WV. they had 4 runs open from top of the mtn with 1000' vertical. Plus, a buddy scored me a free ticket. Good first day!
tline.jpg


Mid-Jan, a friend at Steamboat. I skied one day at Copper and three at Steamboat, CO on the drive west from VA to UT. Had an Ikon base pass burning in my pocket.;)
ave pow.jpg


Following my son to Regulator Johnson, Jan 22, 2022, my first ski day of the winter at Snowbird
little cloud jan 22, 2022.jpg


Tony C in Rasta Chutes at Snowbird, Jan 29, 2022. I congratulated him on a nice job resurrecting First Tracks.


tony rasta chutes.jpg

Solitude, Feb 4, 2022, this is a Utah friend who is a fine telemarker.
dan soli summit 4 feb 22.jpg


Crazy sky over Mineral Basin, Snowbird, Feb 15, 2022
clouds snowbird 15 feb 22.jpg


To be continued... UT/CO Late Feb 2022, UT Mar 2022, UT Early Apr 2022, Mammoth Mid-Apr 2022, UT May 2022.
 
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Not a bad season at all for me, but still a ways from having a great season. I still have 2-3 months of 'stuff' left to do and coordinate with my parents estate so I figure last weekend was probably it for me this year - especially with warm temps since then and in the forecast for the next while.

Had some great powder days and some not-so-great with only 4 trails of hardpack open for more weeks than I'd like to count. Plus missing nearly a month in the middle of the season with an unplanned surgery.

Of my 36 days, 7 of them I snowboarded since so little terrain was open in the first portion of the season. That is a high mark in quite some years for sure. I also hit two new-to-me ski areas, both in opposite ends of Utah: Powder Mountain and Eagle Point.

19 days on my Ikon base pass, 10 on my Greek Peak/Freedom Pass, 7 day tickets at other resorts (4 Loveland, 3 in Utah). I count 10 days mentioning powder or leftover powder which considering all the bad early season days seems a decent ratio for the year.

By Month:
Nov 3
Dec 6
Jan 2
Feb 6
Mar 13
Apr 4
May 2
Total 36

By Resort:
Eldora 12
Loveland 4
Winter Park 3
Ski Cooper 3
Greek Peak 3
Copper 2
PowMow 2
Alta 2
Sunlight 2
Eagle Point 2
Snowbasin 1

And now the incredibly rare picture that actually shows me skiing vs me always being the photographer. These two at Snowbasin:
kevin Utah 2022 v2.jpg


kevin Utah 2022.jpg
 
those are on the Strawberry sector?

Actually on the opposite side of the resort in No Name sector. Requires a short hike to get to. Thus lots of leftovers a day after a storm is what you are seeing... Never did hit the Strawberry sector on this years trip.
 
Beautiful pix, @jimk. Next winter, feel free to post reports throughout the season so we can discuss them as they happen.
These are excellent reports. I'm tempted to split them out as TR's by location and date if jimk does not object. The separated threads will be easier to find in the future by searches on location.

I agree with jamesdeluxe that timely reports are optimal. But better late (ChrisC) than never (Patrick or the former admin).
 
Sounds fine Tony. I will try to post the last of my season recap photos in the next day or so.
 
Four of jimk's reports are split out by month in the western section. I'd appreciate the final one be done that way too.
 
AreaSum of DaysSum of Vertical (x1000)Sum of Powder (x1000)
Mt. Baldy
1​
20.9​
0​
Mountain High (West)
1​
20.7​
0​
Mt. High East (Holiday Hill)
1​
31.7​
0​
Snow Valley
1​
14.1​
0​
Mammoth
11​
245.3​
2​
Snow Summit
1​
17.7​
0​
Snowbird
5​
101.8​
9​
Alta
2​
30.2​
14​
Jackson Hole
3​
78.6​
0​
Deer Valley
1​
18.3​
0​
Timberline
2​
41.8​
0​
Brighton
1​
17.4​
0​
Grand Targhee
1​
22​
0​
Island Lake Snowcat
3​
40​
24​
Fernie
2​
39.6​
2​
Castle Mt.
2​
40​
0​
Verbier, Switz.
1​
17.3​
0​
Mt. Rose
1​
23.3​
0​
*Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
1​
19.9​
0​
*Solden, Austria
1​
26.9​
0​
*Obergurgl, Austria
1​
27​
0​
*Serfaus-Fiss, Austria
1​
28.4​
0​
*Rifflsee, Austria
0.5​
9.4​
0​
*Pitztal Glacier, Austria
0.5​
14.8​
0​
*Val Thorens, France
4​
94.8​
9​
*Meribel-Mottaret, France
1.5​
24.1​
0​
*Courchevel, France
0.5​
8.8​
0​
*St. Luc Chandolin, Switz.
1​
26.4​
2​
*Nendaz-Veysonnaz, Switz.
1​
20.6​
0​
*Les Arcs, France
1​
29.8​
0​
*La Plagne, France
1​
20.3​
0​
*SNØ Oslo, Norway
1​
3.0​
0​
*Austdal Glacier, Norway
1​
0.3​
0​
Grand Totals
57
1175.2
62

We were done with California in May, but got June/July at Timberline and August/September in Norway.

The season started early with two new calendar dates, Oct. 29 and Nov. 10, bringing my total of dates skied to 260.

December was light, as we were in Chile the first third of the month. Then Mammoth had too much severe weather while SoCal was not worth skiing until New Year's Eve. Our skiing remained local during the first 2/3 of January while pool and bathroom projects were being completed at home.

This was my third consecutive lean year for powder. We were on the road during part of the western drought in late January/early February and in the Alps during the last week+ of a 6 week dry spell there. In both cases we had the flexibility to avoid the places most severely impacted. We managed some excellent groomed corn in Rifflsee, Orelle, Veysonnaz and Les Arcs and a little bit of powder in Val Thorens and St. Luc. The western road trip (Utah, Jackson, Targhee, Mt. Rose, Mammoth demo) was in well preserved packed powder due to altitude and/or cold weather.

The powder we did get was decent but not quite up to normal standards of cat skiing in Canada. We also got some during Iron Blosam week, but I missed the key terrain openings on the second powder day there.

Vertical average of 20,600 per day is above average, mainly due to high proportion of groomed skiing. Much of that is due to the the aforementioned dry spells. Some of it may be due to age. I'm less inclined to wander off piste if conditions are not good. I've noticed my friend Garry, who turned 70 this year, is very particular in that regard in recent seasons.

This was a good year for variety. 33 areas skied is tied for 3rd highest and 15 new areas is second highest. 22 days were on Ikon. My lifetime area count is now 263 and Liz' is 198.

Liz skied 54 days, the highest proportion of my days in any season, perhaps not a surprise in view of the prior two seasons. That proportion was somewhat down in 2021 due to time spent in Florida and way down in 2020 due to her January shoulder injury.
 
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11 days at Mammoth: that's below your average?
Average since retirement is 14.3. Maximum was 27 in 2010-11 and 2016-17. Minimum was 3 in 2013-14 and 4 in 2014-15. Average since 1978-79 is 9.7. Average during family years 1984-85 to 2003-04 was 5.9. During my formative ski seasons up to 1983-84 the Mammoth average was 11.4 days/season.
 
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I'm not quite done as I have a reason to be near Auburn, ~55 miles W of Donner Summit on 5/31, and have a friend to stay with Sun/Mon nights near Truckee, so I plan to support Palisades Tahoe efforts to stay open weekends until Memorial Day by being there on 5/30 even though Siberia closed after 5/22.
AreaSum of DaysSum of Vertical (x1000)Powder Days/Notes
Mammoth
6150.23 in Nov, Dec 1, 2 in May
Heavenly10215.30
Kirkwood15318.72x7" early Spring Tuesdays
Northstar267.40
Altabird367.9Yes Powder
Alta114.0Yes, see 3-9-22 by EMSC
Snowbird125.1Some chopped up powder
Palisades5119.1Skied 17.1K on Memorial Day
Total43977.8Up from 31 & 32 last 2 years
No new areas for fourth season in a row. I could've, should've joined friends who skied Kirkwood and Heavenly between storms in mid-Dec, but I wasn't packed and got home tired evening before from celebrating my wife's birthday. I took 30 days off after 2/3 when I returned home from ski trip and my wife had complications from fall skiing on 1/13. Was able to cancel planned trip to Steamboat, Copper and Aspen including her flight to Steamboat on SW points. She plans to resume skiing next year.

Edited to add Memorial Day vertical and days skied per month. I'm done unless Mammoth extends a second weekend in June or I make it to Timberline. I skied the 1st day of every month from Dec to May, except for Jan when we had company over holidays and I didn't start until 1/3.
Nov 3
Dec 1 (only the first)
Jan 9
Feb 3 (first three days)
Mar 14 (first out of state trip since Pandemic)
Apr 8
May 5
 
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I don't keep track of my days riding, but my best guess summary is as follows.

Brundage, ID 20
Tamarack, ID 5
Mt Bachelor, OR: 2
Mt Hood Meadows, OR: 1
Timberline, OR: 1
Sun Valley, ID: 4
(Almost) 1 at Mammoth :p


It wasn't a good year for powder in these parts with the exception of a couple weeks around Christmas, which I tend to not ride much due to crowds. Even then, there was no base before the big snow month, so it took a while before it was any good. Weather: Mid December to Mid January saw a large amount of snow (like most of the west), and then it more or less stopped (only small-ish storms) until April... then, it snowed quite a bit starting right after the resorts closed, of course. It was a much more tolerable winter as far as crowds go for my local resorts, as visitor numbers seemed to be back to "normal" after the pandemic.


For next year, i bought my Brundage and Tamarack passes again, plus added on the Indy Pass. In addition, I also purchased a 4 day pass to Bachelor. Plan to go to Utah and join a friend and hit Powder Mtn and Snow Basin in Feb, and a couple "weekend" trips to Bachelor. Plus, may also do a trip to Canada or at least a couple Indy resorts in the PNW.
 
Okay, with the end of most of lift served skiing in North America done, here are my numbers so far:

Started earning turns on September 29th.
Multiday trips (3+ ski days):
1) Banff/Jasper plus (28nov-13dec): 14 ski days in 16 days at 8 areas.
2) Mont Blanc (12-14jan): 3 ski days
3) Mont Ste-Marie (9-13feb): 5 ski days
4) Eastern Townships (8-13mar): 6 ski days at 3 areas
5) NH/Maine to Saguenay/Lac St-Jean (10-18apr): 9 ski days at 6 areas.
6) California (6-13may): 8 ski days at 2 areas.

By Month:
Sep 1
Oct 1
Nov 3
Dec 15
Jan 20
Feb 18
Mar 17
Apr 12
May 9* - biggest May since 1985 (7 days)
Jun 1
Total so far: 97

By Province/State:
Québec 65
Alberta 12
British Columbia 4
Ontario 2
(didn't cross the border until April 10th)
California 8
Maine 3
Vermont 2
New Hampshire 1

By Resort:
Edelweiss QC 38
Mont Ste-Marie QC 8
Mammoth CA 5
Lake Louise AB 4
Marmot Basin AB 3
Mont Blanc QC 3
Camp Fortune QC 3
Palisades Tahoe CA 3
Parker Ridge AB 2 (earned turns)
Revelstoke BC 2*
Castle AB 2*
Mont Cascades QC 2
Calabogie Peaks ON 2
Bromont QC 2
Mont Orford QC 2
Mont Sutton QC 2
Saddleback ME 2*
Mont Edouard QC 2
Le Valinouet QC 2*
Mont St-Sauveur QC 2
Calgary Olympic Park AB 1*
Panorama BC 1*
Fernie BC 1*
Cannon NH 1
Sugarloaf ME 1
Mont Lac Vert 1*
Jay Peak VT 1
Killington VT 1
* 8 new ski areas
 
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