Snowbird Saturday...Way better than expected

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcmaxwell 

Snowbird should be fun well into May,

I hope you mean June ( it's already well into May and yes Snowbird is still fun with lots of snow still ).

I am planning on skiing the Bird Friday and Saturday next week.  I see that only a few lifts are scheduled to be open.  Is that because of conditions, lack of people coming to ski or manpower to run the mountain? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Walkoe 

I am planning on skiing the Bird Friday and Saturday next week.  I see that only a few lifts are scheduled to be open.  Is that because of conditions, lack of people coming to ski or manpower to run the mountain? 

I don't know the reason, but it's how snowbird always is toward the end of the season.  I was up there today and there's PLENTY of snow, and the tram was pretty full on each of my trips up except the last one at 3PM, so I suspect it's manpower to run the mountain.  You can pretty much ski the entire mountain except gad II and the lower part of gadzoom ( unless you have a way back up to snowbird center ).

Sooooooooooo?

How was it this weekend UPP?

Inquiring minds would love to know.

On friday the top of the mountain was fogged in.  The snow was good, just wish I could have seen a little better.

Saturday was sunny and beautiful but my skis weren't waxed very good and all the cat tracks felt like at random times somebody was trying to grab my boots and push my shoulders forward as hard as they could.  The skiing was good, but not being waxed correctly made it pretty taxing on the body.

Sunday was also sunny and warmer than Saturday and I was better prepared in the wax department.  BUT, URG they close at 2PM now, and I couldn't get up there until noon.  I was still able to get some good skiing in though.

They're saying snowbird could get another foot of snow out of this storm today and tomorrow.  There's PLENTY of snow up on the hill, I bet they can stay open until late June.  Time will tell I guess.

Thanks for your always honest reports....

Quote:

Originally Posted by UtahPowderPig 

I hope you mean June ( it's already well into May and yes Snowbird is still fun with lots of snow still ).

Just read Snowbird is going to try to stay open till Fathers Day.

2PM seems ridiculously early to me!

Quote:

Originally Posted by steamboat1 

Just read Snowbird is going to try to stay open till Fathers Day.

Yup, I saw that too.  There's plenty of snow up on the hill.  I'd say even more than two years ago when they stayed open until June 22nd ( I hope I'm remembering that date right ).

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHREDHEAD 

2PM seems ridiculously early to me!

I can understand them shutting down mineral basin because it's super slushy on sunny days after 12:30 or so, but there's no reason to shutdown road to provo ( for example ).  Oh well, it's time to start working in the garden on saturday afternoon's anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHREDHEAD 

2PM seems ridiculously early to me!

They are opening at 8am instead of 9.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by steamboat1 

They are opening at 8am instead of 9.

 

Yeah, that's way too early too, lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UtahPowderPig 

Quote:

Yeah, that's way too early too, lol.

lol...wish I lived so close & had that problem.

But then again I have the Atlantic Ocean.

Usually out before 7

The early bird catches the worm ya know.
 

8am is ok for the few powder days they will have left, if any.  But it's still frozen rock hard most days.

I skied there June 13 two season's ago and they closed at 4 and even that was early IMHO. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHREDHEAD 

8am is ok for the few powder days they will have left, if any.  But it's still frozen rock hard most days.

 

I skied there June 13 two season's ago and they closed at 4 and even that was early IMHO. 

Yeah, I wasn't talking about if there's powder.  But with the way the weather is lately, I wouldn't be surprised if there's powder this weekend.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHREDHEAD 

2PM seems ridiculously early to me!

This is done to minimize the damage to the slopes that happens when the slush gets deep.  Even if Road to Provo is still solid, much of the mountain is a sea of slush by 2.

Also, the deep slush increases the chance of injury to those who aren't comfortable in such snow conditions - part of it is trying to reduce the liability.

And opening at 8 is fine: rock hard snow is part-and-parcel of late-spring/early-summer skiing.  In fact, it's about the only time Utah gets anything truly resembling boilerplate ice - game on!

Exactly why they should close THE OTHER PARTS, and leave road to provo open.
 

So let me get this straight, Snowbird provides lift service to an 11,000 foot peak where people can ski off 100+ foot clifs if they wanted to, but theyre worried about slush increasing change of injury.  I seriously find it hard to believe this is the reason.
 

LOL. you don't live here do you.  Rock hard snow is not "part-and-parcel of late-spring" skiing.  I've never seen anything resembling boilerplate ice at Snowbird EVER.

All I know is the 5 day forcast today is calling for a chance of snow everyday.

That's better than my local forcast.

...UNSEASONABLY COLD STORM SYSTEM TO BRING SNOW TO NORTHERN AND
CENTRAL UTAH...

AN UNSEASONABLY COLD STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA
TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY MORNING...RESULTING IN SIGNIFICANT SNOW FOR
THE MOUNTAINS AND MOUNTAIN VALLEYS OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL UTAH AS
WELL AS SOUTHWEST WYOMING.

 AFFECTED AREA: THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL UTAH.

* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: 6 TO 10 INCHES THROUGH MONDAY MORNING WITH
  LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UtahPowderPig 

 

LOL. you don't live here do you.  Rock hard snow is not "part-and-parcel of late-spring" skiing.  I've never seen anything resembling boilerplate ice at Snowbird EVER.

I was born and raised in Utah, learned to ski there, raced there - skied more days in Utah than anywhere else, combined.  So I'm more than a bit familiar with Utah skiing conditions. 

Early mornings during intense freeze-thaw cycles (i.e. what spring skiing usually is, no matter where you hang your hat) have a high potential for rock hard, refrozen surfaces.  These are the surfaces that bring forth ego corn, so they're nothing to grouse about.  Sure, they're not the trademark Utah skiing surface, but it's part of skiing - even in Utah.

(Though in all fairness, no place in Utah gets true boilerplate ice like you see in New England.  But refrozen spring snow comes close.  I think that folks in the west typically aren't prepared for such a surface - either technically or in terms of edge prep.)

YTD... 603"

Unfortunately this week, Monday was the powder day. That's been killing me since they've closed on weekdays--gotten like two feet during the week, then it warms up well before the weekend.

Oh well, any skiing is good skiing this time of year.

Boilerplate part of skiing even in Utah. nope, not Utah, just around Park City.  I've never seen boilerplate at Snowbird, ever.  And trust me I understand boilerplate, when I lived back east I skied in north carolina.