Utah conditions are a little challenging, and look to be so for the foreseeable future. I'll post pics later if any come out well.
Utah could really use a large storm cycle to build a soft base on top of the rain crust - the current and upcoming small storms sound like they won't be much more than dust-on-crust (but still welcome). Interestingly, the lower elevation resorts skied better than Snowbird.
1/28 - Canyons. Softest snow was in the woods under Dreamscape and the northern flank of 9990. Groomers were fast and hard, but predictable. New Iron Mountain terrain is decent, but the only worth-while off-trail conditions were in north-facing, heavily treed, low-traffic areas (some of the Iron Mountain slopes seem like they're nearly facing due west).
1/29 - Snowbasin. Best conditions of the trip. South facing was near-bulletproof, but North and East was firm but carve-able chalk. Chutes off of the Olympic tram held some hard snow, but turnable lines could be negotiated. North facing under Strawberry peak also held soft snow. Groomed had a few spots where you would slide, but still gave some nice high-speed turning.
1/30 - Snowbird. First run was off one of the upper cirque chutes. I figured it would ski like the Men's downhill chute at Snowbasin, but was much worse. Not quite ice, but very hard - losing an edge would likely mean a long, painful fall. South and west facing is all death cookies. North facing bowls like Little Cloud and Bookends are hard-packed with soft turns intermixed with slides on the rain crust. We managed to find a handful of actual powder turns far into Thunder Bowl, next to the boundary lines. Groomed was similar to Snowbasin, but held even more 'icy' spots.
I assume a combination of less wind, lower ski traffic and warmer air to soften the snow made Snowbasin particularly better than Snowbird. Still, this is just about as bad as Utah ever gets in mid-winter, and it's still pretty decent - a solid base with hard carving that one can negotiate rather well once you learn where not to go. Destination skiers in our group from the East and West coast were a little disappointed, but just because they have such high expectations for Utah...
Utah could really use a large storm cycle to build a soft base on top of the rain crust - the current and upcoming small storms sound like they won't be much more than dust-on-crust (but still welcome). Interestingly, the lower elevation resorts skied better than Snowbird.
1/28 - Canyons. Softest snow was in the woods under Dreamscape and the northern flank of 9990. Groomers were fast and hard, but predictable. New Iron Mountain terrain is decent, but the only worth-while off-trail conditions were in north-facing, heavily treed, low-traffic areas (some of the Iron Mountain slopes seem like they're nearly facing due west).
1/29 - Snowbasin. Best conditions of the trip. South facing was near-bulletproof, but North and East was firm but carve-able chalk. Chutes off of the Olympic tram held some hard snow, but turnable lines could be negotiated. North facing under Strawberry peak also held soft snow. Groomed had a few spots where you would slide, but still gave some nice high-speed turning.
1/30 - Snowbird. First run was off one of the upper cirque chutes. I figured it would ski like the Men's downhill chute at Snowbasin, but was much worse. Not quite ice, but very hard - losing an edge would likely mean a long, painful fall. South and west facing is all death cookies. North facing bowls like Little Cloud and Bookends are hard-packed with soft turns intermixed with slides on the rain crust. We managed to find a handful of actual powder turns far into Thunder Bowl, next to the boundary lines. Groomed was similar to Snowbasin, but held even more 'icy' spots.
I assume a combination of less wind, lower ski traffic and warmer air to soften the snow made Snowbasin particularly better than Snowbird. Still, this is just about as bad as Utah ever gets in mid-winter, and it's still pretty decent - a solid base with hard carving that one can negotiate rather well once you learn where not to go. Destination skiers in our group from the East and West coast were a little disappointed, but just because they have such high expectations for Utah...
