Snowbird 12/23/2024

S

Sbooker

Well-known member
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Today was Snowbird’s 53rd birthday!
I don’t have a lot to say really. People from Brisbane are happy to be on a mountain and Snowbird is some mountain even at extremely low tide.
The kids haven’t been on snow since January 2023 in France. It’s like riding a bike I guess. The local’s probably decided it wasn’t worth skiing. We skied onto every lift.

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^^Tom with a busted ankle ligament.

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Emily on my old Rustler 9s. She loves them.

We rode every lift open including the tram, Gadzoom, Mid Gad, Wilbere, Peruvian. The top of the tram was extreme low vis so we picked our way down Regulator Johnson which was actually ungroomed despite being labelled groomed.
The best snow was in the gullies beside the main thoroughfares. Windblown snow I guess.
A couple of random pics below.

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^^ Emily on the tram with the Thredbo helmet sticker.

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^^ Tom who is too cool for photos on the tram.

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^^ And the ski bag carousel at Utah airport.
 
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Sbooker said:
The local’s probably decided it wasn’t worth skiing. We skied onto every lift.
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Probably true. And the big tourist crunch doesn't start until Dec. 26. I skied one day at Snowbird during that 1986-87 Christmas Week. You couldn't get down the lower third of the mountain without hitting some rocks.
 
Weather is showing 3ft of snow for the Cottonwoods by New Years. Mammoth should get a foot or so which honestly for the family is probably better. Kids can ski well, just not so much in deep snow, yet! We have had quite the intersting "luck" in the past few years. I can't remember the last nice sunny day we have had to ski. Either blizzards, week of interlodge, or all the lifts closed at Mammoth (2 seperate trips). I'm hoping we just get some clearish weather to let the kids actually ski some of the tougher stuff in easier conditions.

Happy with our choice and it looks like coverage should be fine for MLK at Snowbird.
 
socal said:
I can't remember the last nice sunny day we have had to ski. ....... all the lifts closed at Mammoth
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Yes, in retirement we aim for the clearer, calmer days at Mammoth like last Thursday/Friday. I think over my first 10-15 seasons skiing advanced scheduled weekends at Mammoth, the top was closed about 1/3 of the time.

Next week's weather looks quite complex per OpenSnow. There are 4 storms in succession with varying strength and temperatures. However they turn out will be a vast improvement over December up until now.
 
Tony Crocker said:
Yes, in retirement we aim for the clearer, calmer days at Mammoth like last Thursday/Friday. I think over my first 10-15 seasons skiing advanced scheduled weekends at Mammoth, the top was closed about 1/3 of the time.

Next week's weather looks quite complex per OpenSnow. There are 4 storms in succession with varying strength and temperatures. However they turn out will be a vast improvement over December up until now.
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Monday and Tuesday sound sunny so hoping for some nice soft snow under sunny skies those days.
 
kingslug said:
Even in retirement I seek out the banged up stuff...
Hate groomers...
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I think that’s the case for most skiers with some experience under their belt.
I’ve mentioned before that my then 12 year old daughter commented after an overnight snow storm in Austria some years ago “why did they flatten all the nice soft snow”?
 
kingslug said:
Even in retirement I seek out the banged up stuff...
Hate groomers...
Click to expand...

For the more remote areas - yes. But you can join groups at St. Anton, Chamonix, Engelberg, Val d'Isere, and others to decrease the price. Verbier surprisingly does not have groups except Wednesdays if they have enough interest.

Otherwise, you can be strategic. Look at Avy rating .....a 2 or 3 out of 5 is safe enough for me. Snowfall - keep it under 8-10".

Also, the ski patrol has to protect the pistes, so skiing near or above one is Okay-ish.

Low-angle stuff is a no-brainer; Euros won't touch it. So it's easy safe pickings.

You want proper equipment.

You can also sometimes tail guided groups but wait well behind. I've seen our guide in Val d'Isere pause and let skiers who were too close/free-riding go ahead.
 
I hopped in a group at val d'isere...guided..no idea what level...found out the hard way. Total whiteout blizzard..right down the face.
Absolute insanity...one..and done.
But it was...fun...
Europe can be nuts..
 
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