I believe you said that about the Wasatch, not Colorado!
If this pans out, will it be a "first in several generations" event? That's the longstanding conventional wisdom about the I-70 resorts -- that they're too high to get rain during winter.
Western North America Conditions 2025/26
- Thread starter ChrisC
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If this pans out, will it be a "first in several generations" event? That's the longstanding conventional wisdom about the I-70 resorts -- that they're too high to get rain during winter.
jasoncapecod
Well-known member
i did. i didn't have the balls to mention Colo even though the numbers looked like rain. i didn't believe it could happen.I believe you said that about the Wasatch, not Colorado!
If this pans out, will it be a "first in several generations" event? That's the longstanding conventional wisdom about the I-70 resorts -- that they're too high to get rain during winter.
Rain/snow line in Colorado today is 9,500+ today, falling to 8,000 tomorrow and 7,000 Saturday per OpenSnow. Fortunately precipitation forecast is negligible until tomorrow night. Aspen, Vail and Steamboat have purple mixed precipitation icons on their OpenSnow forecasts for today, but with low probabilities. Summit County is farther east, higher, colder and does not show the purple icons. Jackson has the purple icons today with snow level of 7,000 feet. Last week and yesterday it rained in the Tetons to 9,000+.
I was in Aspen in March 2004 at the end of a 3 week warm and dry spell. Our last night a storm came in and rained to 10,000 feet.
While Utah's main issue is drought, there has been some rain (up to 9,500 yesterday!) and almost no snowmaking opportunities below 8,000 feet. Thus the World Cup relocation announcement.
I was in Aspen in March 2004 at the end of a 3 week warm and dry spell. Our last night a storm came in and rained to 10,000 feet.
While Utah's main issue is drought, there has been some rain (up to 9,500 yesterday!) and almost no snowmaking opportunities below 8,000 feet. Thus the World Cup relocation announcement.
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EMSC
Well-known member
Probably not unprecedented, but extremely rare for Summit county colo. Places like Aspen, Vail, Steamboat it is rare for rain during winter but does happen at those lower bases and lower parts of those mtns every 5-ish years or so.
Have set new high temp records in Denver past couple of days (over 70F). Supposed to cool way down starting this weekend as a stubborn high pressure starts to move east from Texas. That high has spun warm air in and also completely blocked storm track from Colo for a couple weeks now.
I recall encountering rain at Crested Butte about 10 years ago in mid February. I think it was relatively light and not typical of a eastern soaking winter rain.
tseeb
Well-known member
Avalanche at Mammoth early on day after Christmas injured two patrollers and kept mountain closed. Mammoth's homepage: "Mammoth and June Mountains will remain closed today, Saturday, December 27, to allow mountain operations and patrol teams time to mitigate storm-related hazards."
See https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/mammoth-avalanche-injures-two-21263091.php which includes a photo of snow from 9/30/2025.
See https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/mammoth-avalanche-injures-two-21263091.php which includes a photo of snow from 9/30/2025.
EMSC
Well-known member
Mammoth sure is developing a bad rep for unsafe avi control procedures. They should have a much better system in place by now. Injuries and deaths to Patrol almost every year recently. Not good.
Recency bias due to death last February. AFAIK the only other patrol deaths this century were the three from the collapsing fumarole in April 2006. Linked article also mentions an incident in 2018 but not with major injuries. Lincoln Mt. chair 22 is surely the most dangerous area to control because of narrow fall lines and thus many more obstacles in the slide paths than in the big glacial cirques up top.
I found another interesting post about a Mammoth patrol death from explosives in 1973. Procedures and clothing restrictions to avoid static electricity were then put in place. That write-up quoted Bud Rosenberg, who was one of the patrollers killed in the 2006 fumarole.
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ChrisC
Well-known member
Stevens Pass is experiencing a significant issue due to the recent Pineapple Express. The road from Seattle collapsed into the Skykomish River.
The 5-Hour Detour is a non-starter.
The 5-Hour Detour is a non-starter.
tseeb
Well-known member
Friend who lives in Truckee and has not been to Northstar yet AFAIK as he's spending Christmas with his son in Scottsdale, AZ shared this with me.
Palisades plans to open more today and Monday, but Headwall, KT and Siberia are not yet on this schedule. (But Ops Blog link could be wrong as https://www.palisadestahoe.com/mountain-information/mountain-report#lift-and-trail-status includes Siberia.) Ops Blog also say "Ikon Base Passes are not valid December 27–31." I had full Ikon last year thinking I'd try to get some days between Christmas and New Years but didn't. I did use it at Alta, Aspen and Deer Valley which are not on the base and for a President's Day holiday at Sierra-at-Tahoe but downgraded this year to Base pass.
Palisades plans to open more today and Monday, but Headwall, KT and Siberia are not yet on this schedule. (But Ops Blog link could be wrong as https://www.palisadestahoe.com/mountain-information/mountain-report#lift-and-trail-status includes Siberia.) Ops Blog also say "Ikon Base Passes are not valid December 27–31." I had full Ikon last year thinking I'd try to get some days between Christmas and New Years but didn't. I did use it at Alta, Aspen and Deer Valley which are not on the base and for a President's Day holiday at Sierra-at-Tahoe but downgraded this year to Base pass.
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At least it would be a well organised and civilised USA style line.
tseeb
Well-known member
Some photos of Mammoth crowds have been posted elsewhere, but I think it is more important to share that patroller who was seriously injured in avalanche early on Christmas has passed away. Following is message from his family and a photo of Cole Murphy from Mammoth's FB post.
It must be cold in Whitefish with those sundog pictures; snow looks good though: 15 inches in the past week and 90% open. Fernie is up to 75% open, but Schweitzer and Red are under 25% open.
Jim Steenburgh : Is This The Worst Christmas Skiing Ever in Utah?
Answer, same as mine, only 1976-77 was worse. With the recent storm concluded, it's now officially the lowest Nov-Dec with 57 inches at Alta Collins, where records began in 1980-81, the next lowest start at 68 inches. The only lower numbers since 1946 from AltaGuard at the base are the 30.5 in 1976-77 and 48 in 1962-63.
Follow-up Steenburgh's clipped article from Christmas 1976 about Sun Valley's newfangled "Snow Augmentation System," allowing 3 runs there totaling 2,200 vertical to be open when all of Utah's resorts were closed.
Answer, same as mine, only 1976-77 was worse. With the recent storm concluded, it's now officially the lowest Nov-Dec with 57 inches at Alta Collins, where records began in 1980-81, the next lowest start at 68 inches. The only lower numbers since 1946 from AltaGuard at the base are the 30.5 in 1976-77 and 48 in 1962-63.
Follow-up Steenburgh's clipped article from Christmas 1976 about Sun Valley's newfangled "Snow Augmentation System," allowing 3 runs there totaling 2,200 vertical to be open when all of Utah's resorts were closed.
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jimk
Well-known member
28 dec 2025, I went to Southern CA for part of Christmas week and when I returned the snow was better at Snowbird, but not in a huge way, Snowbird got about a foot of new snow on Dec 26-28. They opened Little Cloud lift on the 28th. Regulator Johnson and nearby parts of Little Cloud Bowl remain the only advanced level terrain open at the resort. But now you can lap it without going all the way to tram base, More secondary trails in the lower Gad Valley side of the mountain are opening so trail traffic can disperse a bit better than before. Hopefully, Peruvian Gulch/Chips Run opens in the next few days to week? We need another couple of good dumps to get Mineral and most of the steeper mountain terrain open.
Clear visibility on Dec 28, 2025. Snowguns on all day. Finally winter temps, high of about 20 degs but felt warmer in the bright sun. Not too crowded on the 28th considering everyone must ski the Gad VAlley side of the mtn.
PS: some pics from SoCal and SoUt
La Jolla:
San Diego
Cliffside Restaurant, St. George, UT, great views from our table, close to I-15.
Clear visibility on Dec 28, 2025. Snowguns on all day. Finally winter temps, high of about 20 degs but felt warmer in the bright sun. Not too crowded on the 28th considering everyone must ski the Gad VAlley side of the mtn.
PS: some pics from SoCal and SoUt
La Jolla:
San Diego
Cliffside Restaurant, St. George, UT, great views from our table, close to I-15.
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snowave
Active member
So sad.
There was a death on Thursday off Chair 8 when someone (experienced) crashed just off the run in deep snow (head first).
Mammoth is so scary after these big snow events. I had an incident many years ago where I fell in fresh, chest deep thickish snow. Even though I was only about 20 ft off a groomed run (but out of sight behind some trees). I was in a panic because it couldn't get out for about a half an hour.
After that incident, I decided I wouldn't ride (immediately) after a storm there if there was over about 3 ft of new snow, and probably less if it was sierra cement.
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Tacos El Gordo is one of Adam's favorites. There are 3 of them in San Diego and 3 in Las Vegas. When driving from SoCal to Utah, the one on Losee Ave. just NW of the Cheyenne exit in North Las Vegas makes for a quick and tasty lunch stop. I'd call it the In-N-Out of Mexican food.
snowtrekker
New member
It was 9 degrees when I woke up yesterday in Hamilton, MT, coldest day of the season there so far. Likely colder in Whitefish which is more susceptible to intrusions from the east.
Lost Trail was 100% open and skiing great this weekend with 4-6 inches of fresh in spots. South facing bumps and the lowest groomers had evidence of last weeks warm temps and high snow levels, but that could be avoided by seeking out sheltered aspects with low traffic. At their elevation range of 6500-8200 feet, the overall snowpack is above average. It should come as no surprise that at the moment there is a huge difference between 5500 and 6500 feet.
As some of you may know I found a website in the early 2000's that recorded base depths and percent of terrain open for the Front Range Colorado areas at Thanksgiving, mid-December and Christmas Week going back to 1988. The website no longer exists but I downloaded it and update each year. I waited until this morning to update in case the weekend storm opened more runs. We know the ski areas sometimes hold off marginal terrain mid-December and save it for this week. But this year there's very little increase since mid-December. With two exceptions, every area is currently reporting the least terrain open of that 38 year database, and in some cases the difference is not close.
Area, 12/16 open, 12/29 open, prior worst Christmas Week open
A-Basin 5%, 6%, 14% in 2011
Breckenridge 17%, 19%, 35% in 1998
Copper 11%, 14%, 28% in 2012
Keystone 22%, 23%, 15% in 2021
Loveland 13%, 14%, 16% in 1999 and 2012
Steamboat 11%, 32%, 48% in 2020
Vail 17%, 27%, 20% in 2017
Winter Park 13%, 19%, 24% in 1998
This year is second worst for Keystone and Vail. I would assume 1976-77 and 1980-81 were worse for all of them due to minimal snowmaking.
For several of these areas Nov-Dec snowfall in 2011-12, 2012-13 or 2017-18 was as bad or worse than this year, but the abnormal temperatures have limited snowmaking more. This problem is even worse in Utah as the Steenburgh Christmas post mentioned.
The website also included Wolf Creek, which will open terrain in extreme low tide, but also contains base depth info. Wolf Creek's current base depth is 32 inches. 2005 and 2023 were similar while 1999 (10 inches) and 2017 (19 inches) were much worse.
For other regions I record at the end of December and have 20-25 years of info.
Area, 12/16 open, 12/29 open, prior worst Christmas Week open
A-Basin 5%, 6%, 14% in 2011
Breckenridge 17%, 19%, 35% in 1998
Copper 11%, 14%, 28% in 2012
Keystone 22%, 23%, 15% in 2021
Loveland 13%, 14%, 16% in 1999 and 2012
Steamboat 11%, 32%, 48% in 2020
Vail 17%, 27%, 20% in 2017
Winter Park 13%, 19%, 24% in 1998
This year is second worst for Keystone and Vail. I would assume 1976-77 and 1980-81 were worse for all of them due to minimal snowmaking.
For several of these areas Nov-Dec snowfall in 2011-12, 2012-13 or 2017-18 was as bad or worse than this year, but the abnormal temperatures have limited snowmaking more. This problem is even worse in Utah as the Steenburgh Christmas post mentioned.
The website also included Wolf Creek, which will open terrain in extreme low tide, but also contains base depth info. Wolf Creek's current base depth is 32 inches. 2005 and 2023 were similar while 1999 (10 inches) and 2017 (19 inches) were much worse.
For other regions I record at the end of December and have 20-25 years of info.