Utah Feb 2-9, 2024

[jimk]

I just finished an epic week of Utah skiing. Some resorts in the Wasatch Mtns of Utah reported more than five feet of snow between Feb 2-9, 2024. Friends visited during the week and I skied a variety of resorts with them in fabulous, stormy snow conditions.

2 Feb, Solitude, 4-6" new snow. My friends took some photos of me this week and I'm including a few like this one. You'll note, I'm better behind the camera, than in front.

4 Feb, Snowbird, a beautiful day with one+ foot of new overnight snow. This was the last sunny day until a weak sun peeked out late in the afternoon of the 9th. It was a max capacity day at the Bird, but we took what the mtn gave us. Most of the crowds flocked to Mineral Basin leaving the frontside not too busy.

A friend on Pucker Brush slope in Little Cloud Bowl:

Lower Tiger Tail full of snow.

Me, late in the afternoon, heading down a not yet fully tracked out area called Bass Benches.

Good times at Snowbird.

5 Feb, Solitude, another stormy day. We spent a lot of time in the trees around Headwall Forest. Not many people.

6 Feb, Deer Valley, 10" new snow. A lady friend showed us around the mountain where she instructs.

The ceiling was fairly high early on, this view from top of Empire lift.

Beautiful snow conditions.

I went over to the Daly Bowl/Chutes area a couple times before visibility got low. Scoping out the cornice above the Daly Chutes. Guy in green is an instructor.

Chute survivor.

7 Feb, Alta, a truly epic storm day. One to two feet of new snow all over the mountain. AND lift lines were moderate to small. They closed the LCC access road from 1-3 PM for plowing and avi mitigation, which chased away some early birds and blocked some late-nicks.

My son Vince going steep and deep.

Again; skiing dynamically on fat skis (124mm underfoot) while the snow was dumping.

Blurry photo, but shows what a crazy day it was.

I took a photo of this friend getting a belly shot in Catherine's Area.

He obliged with one of me in same area.

8 Feb, Brighton, by this point in the week I was getting pretty leg weary and took an easy day. 4" new overnight and maybe another 3" during the day.
Beautiful, gentle intermittent snowfall. Cruising the tree lined runs is very nice at Brighton in such conditions.

9 Feb, Solitude, another deep powder day with moderate crowds. They dropped the rope to Honeycomb Canyon after a while and we had a ball in there. Believe the hole in the mtn in this shot is an old mineshaft.

Powder to the people.

Subliminal message, top of Honeycomb return lift bullwheel looks like Pizza Bianco.

So for lunch we enjoyed fresh baked pizza at the Stone Haus in Solitude Village.

This photo of a friend on a fabulous powder Friday at Solitude proves the dream is still alive in UT: great snow and moderate weekday crowds.

Wow, what a week! Now I'm resting for a couple days. Are the photos fully visible in this post?

 

[Tony Crocker]

Those are some mighty fine pics.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

And the early-season drought is forgotten!

 

[jimk]

A few photos from the second half of February in Utah. BTW, Snowbird is nearing its record for the most ever snowfall in the month of February. It's been very snowy out here lately and more fell today.

Feb 13 Snowbird, yours truly way out on the Cirque Traverse:

Same day, a friend in the steep trees of STH at Snowbird:

Feb 14 making the hike up to High Baldy Traverse at Snowbird:

Same day/area, coming down:

Same day, beautiful Mineral Basin at Snowbird:

Feb 15 powder day at Solitude, UT:

Feb 20, only about 4 or 5" but I got it untracked in the Bananas Trees at Snowbird:

This is a Utah friend who's a fine telemarker, Feb 22, Solitude:

Same fellow on Feb 23 on Middle Slope at Solitude:

Feb 24 Mushroom Land at Snowbird, the entire base area can be seen below:

Edit: the 27 Feb 2024 storm underproduced a little bit, but with 13 new inches of snow Snowbird reports that they passed 400 inches of snowfall for the season that day. Also, It's the third snowiest February in history, with 137 inches of snow this month alone. That's 55 inches more than their average February and 43 inches above last February. Next snow not expected until March 1, but could be a pretty big storm.

 

[kingslug]

Cant...wait..

 

[ChrisC]

Can I ask a couple of questions?

Utah SLC seems ruined to me:

• How are you parking?
• How are the new population hordes doing?
• Is it fun anymore?

I don't really spend money on West Coast skiing anymore. I loved being in Seattle and SF, but drives to/from Tahoe....I am still trying to see the benefit. Again, if I refrain from having a ski house - no drives, no lift tickets, and no random expenses of the hot tub for 1 week = it equals skiing in Alaska.

I go to Telluride (thank you, PayPal, the late 1990s/00s craziness) and just up to British Columbia. And Europe. I really love open powder fields, couloirs, and sub-alpine. I am losing my enchantment with the American West.

I will likely get a chalet with many friends in Val d'Isere next year (it's really inexpensive if you can fill the house - $1000-1500 for a week and chalet guys/girls cook breakfast and dinner for you - so meals included).

I don't want to pay much money to ski trees in BC; I am not into it. Nothing moves me internally..... oh great, 10" didn't hit anything, and the trees were widely spaced.

I'm into Valdez, AK, St. Anton, Val d'Isere, Vebier.... Telluride has open alpine, and so does Palisades Tahoe. Why trees?

 

[kingslug]

Val d' isere....interesting place to hang out.
Was there last year....some scary shit off the face!
Utah...nah...never be ruined...crowded for sure.

 

[Sbooker]

Can I ask a couple of questions?

Utah SLC seems ruined to me:

• How are you parking?
• How are the new population hordes doing?
• Is it fun anymore?

I don't really spend money on West Coast skiing anymore. I loved being in Seattle and SF, but drives to/from Tahoe....I am still trying to see the benefit. Again, if I refrain from having a ski house - no drives, no lift tickets, and no random expenses of the hot tub for 1 week = it equals skiing in Alaska.

I go to Telluride (thank you, PayPal, the late 1990s/00s craziness) and just up to British Columbia. And Europe. I really love open powder fields, couloirs, and sub-alpine. I am losing my enchantment with the American West.

I will likely get a chalet with many friends in Val d'Isere next year (it's really inexpensive if you can fill the house - $1000-1500 for a week and chalet guys/girls cook breakfast and dinner for you - so meals included).

I don't want to pay much money to ski trees in BC; I am not into it. Nothing moves me internally..... oh great, 10" didn't hit anything, and the trees were widely spaced.

I'm into Valdez, AK, St. Anton, Val d'Isere, Vebier.... Telluride has open alpine, and so does Palisades Tahoe. Why trees?

By the sounds of it you've done a lot skiing and a lot of that high quality. If you hadn't done anywhere near as much you'd likely be thrilled just to be on snow......anywhere. I kinda hope I get to the point of being choosy about where I ski. For someone my level the American west has lots to offer. Generally good snow a fully controlled mountain so I can safely ski off the groomers. But there is an ambience of sorts that the European Alps has that is unique.....
Has the parking situation in the Cottonwood resorts changed that much. Is it as simple as making sure you're there by 8am to get a decent park? Or is there some booking/payment system now?

 

[jimk]

@ChrisC good questions esp. considering all the negativity circulating these days about Utah. I'll try to give a thoughtful reply.

Telluride, BC, Europe, Alaska all sound like great, aspirational places. I've skied a little bit of the first three. I'm a mid-level US Govt retired pensioner and not wealthy, skilled, or young enough to get my money's worth in Alaska

But, I am lucky enough to have a son who lets me camp out in his basement all winter and it's 20 mins (on a good day) from Alta/Bird and Sol/Bright. This is the sixth consecutive winter I've spent 4-5 months in Utah. I've had a season pass at Snowbird each year and I usually get to ski several other nearby resorts each winter, especially Solitude (with Ikon base, or in 2020 I had an epic pass for PC). I have developed some local's knowledge about when and how to optimally ski the mtns here.

I'm also easy to please. I skied the puny, snow-starved mtns of the mid-Atlantic for 50 years before switching mostly to Utah. I've skied nine ski areas in Utah (and about 100 total in North Am and Euro). I love them all. Snowbird is my son's favorite mtn in UT and I gyrated towards it too.

Parking: the simple solution, at least for Snowbird, is to go early. Thing is, I almost never do because I know where to finagle a spot even on crazy-busy days. I ski weekdays and weekends about 4-5 days per week. Today (Wed Feb 28, 2024) was quite busy, first sunny day after one foot of snow. I arrived at 9AM and squeezed in on bypass road for a nice, free, unreserved ski-in/ski-out parking spot. I used the singles line to move quickly through a big back-up at the Peruvian Chair. I was among the first to get into Mineral Basin when it opened on my second ride up Peruvian. Got two good powder runs there. The huge front side of the mtn goes empty after about 1030am on a sunny day when the tourists flock to Mineral and 45 min lift lines. I got two nice runs off the upper cirque including one down Great Scott.

I left the mtn a little after noon because my non-skiing wife wanted me to accompany her to Home Depot. She enjoys planning and doing a lot of fine home improvements to my son's house. We stay in a basement in-law-suite she designed and acted as general contractor for in his house. I enjoy skiing partial days. It keeps me from getting over tired. I like the idea that the mtn is my gym for a few hours, several days per week.

The horde of population doesn't both me too much. 80% of all weekdays are still great crowd-wise. On the busy weekends I have a mellow attitude because I get to ski with my son and I know I have more quiet weekdays coming up. We also have strategies for staying away from busy chair lifts, so I rarely wait in a lift line more than 10 minutes even on big days. Most of the time it's five or less. Most weekdays it's ski-on. It's those quiet days when I'll ride the tram. BTW, April is the best out here! No traffic, no lines, friendly weather, great spring skiing. I also eat a home made bag lunch almost every time I ski a full day. I rationalize that it pays for next year's season pass.

I have developed a nice posse of geezer ski buddies here in UT. I often ski with one or more friends. There is safety and convenience in numbers. Some give me rides to Solitude so I've only paid to park there once in the last ten years. I also use the bus on occasion although it's not a great alternative. There's a stop about 3 blocks from where I stay. However, they killed the line I used to get to Alta/Bird. Only once in ten years have I been shut out from parking at Snowbird in hundreds of visits. It was last year on a huge weekend day. There were 3 of us in the car and my daughter volunteered to drop my son and I off while she drove the car back home. We later caught the bus down the hill. Twice this year I've had 90+ minute drives down LCC, but both were on big powder days - so kind of worth it.

All this is to say, yes it is still fun for me. The crowds and traffic are tolerable/manageable in my situation. It's actually heaven. Now if you ask a tourist who flies across the country to ski two crowded weekend days he may have an entirely different opinion because he got caught in bad traffic, saw nothing but big lift lines, ate cold $25 chicken fingers, and never fully adjusted to the altitude before he went home

 

[Sbooker]

@jimk good info. How early is early to get a park on a weekend?

 

[jimk]

If you hit the mouth of LCC at 730am you should be good. From here on out the weekend surge should gradually lessen. For example, a month from now you can probably hit the mouth at at 830 and ski at 9am (when lifts start). Other general strategy for lift line avoidance at Snowbird is to ski Mineral ASAP, then about 10-1030 am go to front of mtn and ski there until 230pm, then return to Mineral if desired.

 

[kingslug]

Can't wait to be able to do this!
It's been years since I skied alta/bird...since ikon took over..and pandemic changed things.

 

[ChrisC]

Can I ask a couple of questions?

Utah SLC seems ruined to me:

• How are you parking?

The parking was my lift ticket 20+ years ago.

Charging $20+ .... ruins a ski area for me.







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[kingslug]

30 at stowe fri,sat,sun.....

 

[Tony Crocker]

Thankfully our timeshare week at Snowbird avoids the traffic/parking hassles of skiing LCC.

Unlike Jackson, Snowbird's lift capacity has kept pace with its growth in visitation over the past 20 years. Peruvian is a safety valve for the tram, never necessary to wait more than 2 buckets if you don't want to. As Jimk notes, being caught in Mineral Basin's peak late morning is the only chronic lift line concern.

Powder day competition may be a casualty of age for me. Sustained high effort at 10,000 feet is not working for me without rest breaks since turning 70. And you don't want to take those breaks on an LCC powder day. So the attraction of cat skiing is as strong as ever.

I don't want to pay much money to ski trees in BC; I am not into it. Nothing moves me internally..... oh great, 10" didn't hit anything, and the trees were widely spaced.

What I liked particularly at Mustang is what I call the subalpine. Widely scattered stunted trees provide enough orientation to ski deep snow in bad visibility with most of the freedom to make most turns where you please as in the alpine. Best of both worlds IMHO.

I'm into Valdez, AK, St. Anton, Val d'Isere, Verbier.... Telluride has open alpine, and so does Palisades Tahoe. Why trees?

I share ChrisC's preferences for the high alpine. In North America Whistler is clear cut #1, very similar overall in scale, vertical and high alpine to many Euro areas. Next is Mammoth, which is basically Whistler without the big vertical below tree line. Then in no particular order, AltaBird, Jackson, Palisades. Some others that come to mind with lots of wide open spaces: Castle, Lake Louise, Crystal, Bachelor's Summit when open.

Alaska yielded perhaps the best powder day of my life. That was misleading. It induced me to return 3 times more, none of which had good snow. Alaska is about the steep terrain much more than the powder.

Telluride has open alpine

The San Juan alpine is spectacular, but nearly all of it is above the lifts. Look at the full size trees here at 11,885 feet.

Telluride's top lift service at Revelation is only 733 feet higher. Only hard core locals are capable of running laps up into that San Juan alpine. Most places in Colorado the tree line is over 11,000, which plays a role in most of my western preferences being elsewhere.

 

[Skieric]

I always find it tough to ski in the alpine if the light is flat. Even my 80% VLT yellow goggles dont negate this. Is this an issue shared by others?

 

[kingslug]

Not a fan of flat light...worse is freezing mist, a Stowe speciality. I just take the goggles off...and freeze my poor eyes.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I always find it tough to ski in the alpine if the light is flat. Even my 80% VLT yellow goggles dont negate this. Is this an issue shared by others?

As mentioned in one of the Euro threads, ChrisC and I have above average tolerance for bad visibility. Flat light is OK if the snow surface is consistent with having just a few stunted trees or large rock features for orientation. But no one can ski off the groomers far above tree line with fog or heavy snow. I've known since being a beginner that at Mammoth you have to accept that the most intense weather days can be no ski days. So I also accept that at most places in the Alps.

I hear the argument, "Oh no, those are the best powder days in the trees!" That is true for some places (interior NW in both US and Canada best region IMHO), but the reality is that at many places in North America (again I cite Colorado, Steamboat being the conspicuous exception) you only get ~500 vertical or so of decent tree spacing between no trees above and too tight below. And even if you're a great tree skier, the skiable lines between trees are more limited and they can get bumped up and unpleasant in fairly short order. This is one of my critiques of Revelstoke. It's also the reason that tree skiing from the cat or heli is so much better than at most lift served resorts.

 

[Skieric]

This year, I found that the Beavers at Arapahoe Basin now has some excellent trees with nice wide open spacing and lower skier density. However top of the zone is subject to wind.

 

[EMSC]

I cite Colorado, Steamboat being the conspicuous exception) you only get ~500 vertical or so of decent tree spacing between no trees above and too tight below.

True, natural conditions, I think the vast majority of Colorado this is accurate with the exception primarily being human thinned glades. Again a couple of exceptions to that rule but not many. Colorado gets plenty of summer afternoon thunderstorms and monsoon moisture to keep trees and shrubs growing in the non-alpine.

I have historically had an above average tolerance to flat light too, though I feel like that is starting to wane somewhat. It also helps to have good goggles. Not just the % of light let though, but the various colorations can make a significant difference IMO. In my experience it is different color lenses for different people. So yellow for example may or may not be the right lens for a particular person for example.

Having grown up in the east and also having slalom as my best event as a racer back in the day, I'm generally quite comfortable in tighter tress than most.

you have to accept that the most intense weather days can be no ski days

Which is not true really in Colorado if you are comfortable in the trees. Storm skiing I find to be some of the best skiing. Great conditions and it often drives others into the lodge or to home, so much less competition for the new snow.