You'll have to copy/paste these reports. The links are paywalled.
Western Weather 2017-18 and Later
- Thread starter Admin
- Start date
ChrisC
Well-known member
Has Solitude even completed work on the new Eagle Express 6-pack? I would email/call because that would take a lot of terrain off the potential open footprint - especially terrain that is more moderate and requires less snow depth.
Many resorts defer opening 'new lifts' until the holiday period since load testing and approvals can drag on.
Solitude has an iffy mid-December goal. Notice there are no chairs yet on the lift as of November 24th. However, it is perhaps Solitude's most important lift, so I am sure the motivation is there.
ChrisC
Well-known member
I guess whenever with Solitude & Eagle Express.....but this does not sound too soon.
BTW - Attitash was still flying towers into position this month - horrible.
Chris,
Thank you for reaching out regarding the expected opening date of Eagle Express. Unfortunately, at this time, we do not have any information to provide to the public. Once a set date has been determined, it will advertised to the general public. We apologize for the inconvenience and look forward to having you at Solitude Mountain Resort this season!!
BTW - Attitash was still flying towers into position this month - horrible.
Chris,
Thank you for reaching out regarding the expected opening date of Eagle Express. Unfortunately, at this time, we do not have any information to provide to the public. Once a set date has been determined, it will advertised to the general public. We apologize for the inconvenience and look forward to having you at Solitude Mountain Resort this season!!
Last edited:
I did not recall that Eagle Express was being replaced this season. This is one more strike against James going to Solitude.
Tracking Alta's open terrain accurately in early season has been a historically difficult exercise. Only recently has this page been available. Even here you have to go through each chairlift drop screen and add up the runs. Seven runs appear on both the Wildcat and Collins screens, so you need to avoid any double counts. You also have to check this reference during operating hours. Last night all but 6 groomers were marked closed, which amounts to being only 5% open. This morning 32% of runs are listed open due to limited opening of Sugarloaf.
SnoCountry (and its many derivative "consolidator" websites) drastically understate Alta's early season open terrain. SnoCountry currently says Alta is 2% open. Fortunately when the former admin was active on these boards, I could estimate Alta's percent open from his TRs. Late in Connie Marshall's tenure as marketing director I brought this issue to her attention, and I think it improved temporarily. But she retired several years ago, and obviously the SnoCountry report on Alta has become unreliable again, perhaps related to Alta only showing open runs accurately during operating hours. I always prefer to get this info from the horse's mouth vs. SnoCountry. Fortunately Alta is now providing it since our former admin is not.
True but Eagle is also the lowest altitude/least snowy part of the mountain and the runs are long. I doubt there is comprehensive snowmaking coverage. I would not expect Eagle to be open mid-December anyway on the current weather trajectory.
Tracking Alta's open terrain accurately in early season has been a historically difficult exercise. Only recently has this page been available. Even here you have to go through each chairlift drop screen and add up the runs. Seven runs appear on both the Wildcat and Collins screens, so you need to avoid any double counts. You also have to check this reference during operating hours. Last night all but 6 groomers were marked closed, which amounts to being only 5% open. This morning 32% of runs are listed open due to limited opening of Sugarloaf.
SnoCountry (and its many derivative "consolidator" websites) drastically understate Alta's early season open terrain. SnoCountry currently says Alta is 2% open. Fortunately when the former admin was active on these boards, I could estimate Alta's percent open from his TRs. Late in Connie Marshall's tenure as marketing director I brought this issue to her attention, and I think it improved temporarily. But she retired several years ago, and obviously the SnoCountry report on Alta has become unreliable again, perhaps related to Alta only showing open runs accurately during operating hours. I always prefer to get this info from the horse's mouth vs. SnoCountry. Fortunately Alta is now providing it since our former admin is not.
Last edited:
ChrisC
Well-known member
My pet peeve is Internet reporting of slope/piste/lift openings. Many Operations Reports show everything in real-time from ops from 5 pm to 9 am. So, things look 100% closed. Not helpful.
You have to remember to check in between 9-5 to get something accurate. How is this great? Not at all. And trails rolling up under lifts? Whistler, Vail, or Park City would require so much clicking - it's ridiculous.
Give me an open/closed map - lifts and slopes. A grooming report.
I feel like ski resorts bury 'bad conditions' in many click menus that you cannot accurately attain what is - or is not - open.
Last edited:
The Vail Resorts format has summary of open lifts/trail/terrain at the top of the page. I go through these for every season progress report I write, so I'm confident the numbers don't change based upon whether it's during operating hours or not. Usually SnoCountry will match those summary numbers.
The specific trails listed under each lift? It's possible those change by time of day but only very occasionally do I drill down that far. I have to do it for Alta because: 1) There is no summary, and 2) SnoCountry is not credible for Alta.
That would be Mt. Baldy, which only lists chairs running and a generalized paragraph narrative. Big Bear and Mt. High are like Alta, no summary but a list of every trail and whether it's open. That's easy to handle for areas of that size; more time consuming at Alta's size.
I think it's mostly variable IT design in terms of ski area website user friendliness. And I see no correlation between website user friendliness and overall snow reliability. Alta's website until recently had no trail status enumeration whatsoever, aside from the list of sectors (Ballroom, Backside, Devil's Castle, etc.) subject to avalanche control. I don't ascribe Mt. Baldy's uninformative website to its snow reliability (note Mt. High counterexample), but to its overall amateur management.
I really, really want an accurate concise summary of "X out of Y acres" (preferred) and/or "X out of Y trails" open. This gives you the big picture in seconds without much clicking. In early season when X/Y is 10% or less like it is now at Solitude
, I think that's all you need to know. X/Y < 50% at Christmas generally means high skier density and don't expect much in the way of advanced and/or ungroomed terrain.Next priority to me is a list of runs and whether they are open and/or groomed. And yes DON'T CHANGE THAT LIST when the lifts close for the day. At large ski areas it probably does make sense to group by lift or terrain sector. One nice feature on some of the Alterra pages is a filter button with an option to show only open runs. One thing that annoys me about IT designers (Tesla comes to mind with its map that automatically self centers after ~30 seconds starting a couple of months ago) is when they change things but remove prior useful functions. When in doubt give the user a choice of the prior or new functionality.
Last edited:
ChrisC
Well-known member
I no longer check too many places in the USA. But maps like this for Europe - you need to decipher closed for weather, closed for operations, pistes, etc.
What can you ski?
Assume no ski company CEO's family looks at websites. Right now - if you are a consumer - I would assume 0% of Zermatt-Cevinia is open.
This is horrible reporting....
What can you ski?
Assume no ski company CEO's family looks at websites. Right now - if you are a consumer - I would assume 0% of Zermatt-Cevinia is open.
This is horrible reporting....
I have spent decades tracking early season evolution of open terrain in North America. I've not done that for Europe or Japan because I would not consider skiing those places before January given travel logistics from SoCal.
I think this map fits ChrisC's criteria fairly well:
Val d'Isere does not open until Dec. 2.
I think this map fits ChrisC's criteria fairly well:
Val d'Isere does not open until Dec. 2.
Utah forecast for LCC/BCC is up to 30 inches.
How much more terrain this will open remains to be seen. We'll know in about a week.
How much more terrain this will open remains to be seen. We'll know in about a week.
Do they update it every day?
I remember in 2017 (I think) there was a dry spell and not much was open mid December at Alta. They got a 20 inch storm from memory and got over 80% of it open by the 22nd of December.
I was amazed at how well it skied low tide. Really impressive.
We went to Jackson and Targhee on that same trip and the base was better at both of those.
Yes, but not so much at the other Cottonwood areas
Kylie’s family is having reunion of sorts next Christmas at her aunts place in SLC (Mill creek). I hope they have a good early season next year. Will be nice to get back to Alta for a couple of days.
EMSC
Well-known member
Usually because most of it is automated, though there can be occasional unexplained gaps in updates (worst I saw was ~a week long with no updates).
https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/gis/images/west_swepctnormal_update.png
December 1 is my first progress report with tables displaying percent of normal snowfall. As I suspected, easily the worst November overall since 2007. That season turned around dramatically, and by the end of it 14 areas had set high snowfall records. However, note that 2007-08 was a strong La Nina and the current season is a moderate El Nino.
Last edited:
You haven't skied low-tide Alta until you're forced to do this (twice):
Alta, UT 12/10/11
Day 11: OK, I'll say it...we need more snow. Really. Groomers were fun in the morning (except for Low Boy, where it was downright glassy because they blew the gun too wet) but got scratchy by lunch time. Ungroomed is firm in fast in areas that have been skied, and thick unconsolidated sugar...
www.firsttracksonline.com
Which is why you should head east for better quality this time. I posted a progress report that same day 12/10/11. Alta had season snowfall of 79 inches then. That's where Alta will be next week after the weekend storm plus the 49 inches so far.You haven't skied low-tide Alta until you're forced to do this (twice):
I don’t mind an uphill hike if it’s worth it. Looks like you were very warm.You haven't skied low-tide Alta until you're forced to do this (twice):
Alta, UT 12/10/11
Day 11: OK, I'll say it...we need more snow. Really. Groomers were fun in the morning (except for Low Boy, where it was downright glassy because they blew the gun too wet) but got scratchy by lunch time. Ungroomed is firm in fast in areas that have been skied, and thick unconsolidated sugar...www.firsttracksonline.com