2016-17 Utah Weather & Conditions

[Blue Streak]

Arriving home I couldn't get into my driveway for a while due to a pair of moose.

Looks like protein to me!
How about Moose Wellington?

 

[crgildart]

Utah peeps. what the hell is going on there the weekend of June 16th? Hotels within 5 miles of the airport are booked SOLID! I had to pay 3X what I paid for a similar room June 24th for a room June 16th. What's all the buzz there mid June??

 

[Mendieta]

Folks: first and foremost. I'll be there in UT this year again, yayyy

The trip is during the kids' spring-break, the week of April 3rd. We stay at the Stein Eriksen, at Deer Valley. It will be the third year in a row that we do this. It obviously became a happy family tradition.

Because my wife doesn't ski and the kids have more or less interest in skiing, I doubt we'll venture outside DV. Also, sliding from the ski valet into the lift is a convenience that is hard not to love I'll remind you closer to the actual trip date, just in case someone is around.

A few questions come to mind:

• is there any snow activity beyond alpine skiing that my wife could try in Deer Valley? The tried alpine a few times and she gets terrified. But she would like something active to do in the mountain. Snowshoeing around could be fun but not on your own. Maybe a tour? I am thinking perhaps cross country skiing could be a way for her to lose fear of the skis and some day transition to alpine. I should open a thread in Ski School perhaps. Thoughts appreciated.
  
  
• I booked the flights one day too early, accidentally. Delta will want a lot of money to change them, so we'll stick to it. The idea is to spend a day shopping around in Park City and staying there, really. We love the little town (I wish we could live there). Any recommendations for a hotel in-town, as in walk-in/walk-out to main street?

We can always call Deer Valley and try to extend the reservation an extra day, of course. I would actually love that, but it's pretty expensive and my wife isn't thrilled about too many skiing days (unless, of course, I can get the first item above going

 

[4ster]

Hard to believe we were into full on winter powder conditions just a week ago, God I luv winter!
Today it was near 60F when I got home. We are into a good corn cycle & we were able to get out & reap the harvest the past few days.

Ready to drop

Dropping

Next zone

Bluebird again for today's solo mission. My ridge hike takes me to the far point past the first peak that is in bright light

Breakfast Smoothies when I finally got there

God I luv Spring!

 

[Lorenzzo]

Wish I'd taken pics today but I didn't. We've now gotten enough refreezing and thawing that spring conditions have turned excellent at 8-10,000 feet. The day began firm and softened into corn heaven. Was all about the right place at the right time. Loving last year's Titans as a spring ski.

 

[AmyPJ]

Wish I'd taken pics today but I didn't. We've now gotten enough refreezing and thawing that spring conditions have turned excellent at 8-10,000 feet. The day began firm and softened into corn heaven. Was all about the right place at the right time. Loving last year's Titans as a spring ski.

Might be time to take a trip to one of the higher elevation resorts this weekend...

 

[4ster]

Wish I'd taken pics today but I didn't. We've now gotten enough refreezing and thawing that spring conditions have turned excellent at 8-10,000 feet. The day began firm and softened into corn heaven. Was all about the right place at the right time. Loving last year's Titans as a spring ski.

Yup, great skiing all day! Skied til 4pm again today. Even without a temperature refreeze last night, the clear skies allowed for the snow surface to firm up. Most of the true north slopes barely softened by 2pm & shortly after there was enough of a cool down to take the bit of stickiness out of the flat sun drenched aspects.

Actually there where cooler temperatures at the lower elevations this morning.

Surprised @AmyPJ didn't mention it but the new Wildcat chair & additional snowmaking is now official. I have mixed feelings about this development. Hope it works out for the best & makes life easier for the intermediate level skiers.

 

[AmyPJ]

Oh, you mean this! I know a lot of locals won't like it (have already vocalized that to me.) I like it, but hope they don't start grooming Centennial now.
https://www.snowbasin.com/blog/snow...-high-speed-wildcat-chairlift-for-2017-2018-s

 

[Carl Kuck]

Conditions were pretty nice at PCMR today until the late afternoon, did racing in the morning (more points for Team PugSki!), and the rest of the day on the Rallys...

 

[4ster]

Centennial ?, well at least not on a powder day. Beck's is the one that needs to be left to bump up .

 

[AmyPJ]

Centennial ?, well at least not on a powder day. Beck's is the one that needs to be left to bump up .

That's what I meant, Centennial on a powder day. I suppose Becks will bump up more with more skier traffic. I don't think they've groomed it all week (as we saw yesterday) and it had no bumps to speak of.

It's definitely going to be interesting to see how this new lift changes the "dynamics" out there. Will the locals line up at Little Cat on a powder day to get first tracks on Wildcat bowl now? There are a lot of them who hit Wildcat bowl first thing since it doesn't get much skier traffic right now. Hmmmm...

 

[4ster]

That's what I meant, Centennial on a powder day. I suppose Becks will bump up more with more skier traffic. I don't think they've groomed it all week (as we saw yesterday) and it had no bumps to speak of.

It's definitely going to be interesting to see how this new lift changes the "dynamics" out there. Will the locals line up at Little Cat on a powder day to get first tracks on Wildcat bowl now? There are a lot of them who hit Wildcat bowl first thing since it doesn't get much skier traffic right now. Hmmmm...

The new lift will change that part of the mountain dramatically! It's a done deal so may as well embrace it. Centennial is great for a powder run but after that because it is sun facing, no one skis it unless it is groomed. It was awesome (& groomed) yesterday!
Becks was groomed the day before & still skied great yesterday once it softened later on. It is one of the few north facing runs that was traditionally a mogul run. From my perspective once a run has been groomed even once, it will no longer form decent moguls, just scraped up piles. It should be left alone until late season like now when it gets really warm & folks need a good groomer late in the day. In recent years it seems like they groom Becks earlier & earlier each season.

Wildcat Bowl below Stewart's also forms great moguls early in the season before there is enough snow to groom. Great pitch for people wanting to develop some mogul skiing skills. Those opportunities will be over with snowmaking, just another icy groomer torn up by noon. I doubt if they will remove the park features from Blue Grouse & return it to the quiet, cruising intermediate run it used to be.

A new lift on Wildcat will spoil many of the reasons people love it now but will help alleviate some base area congestion I suppose. Hope someone makes some steps forward in the area of parking.

For me, the new lift will probably mean a few less people on JP .

 

[AmyPJ]

The new lift will change that part of the mountain dramatically! It's a done deal so may as well embrace it. Centennial is great for a powder run but after that because it is sun facing, no one skis it unless it is groomed. It was awesome (& groomed) yesterday!
Becks was groomed the day before & still skied great yesterday once it softened later on. It is one of the few north facing runs that was traditionally a mogul run. From my perspective once a run has been groomed even once, it will no longer form decent moguls, just scraped up piles. It should be left alone until late season like now when it gets really warm & folks need a good groomer late in the day. In recent years it seems like they groom Becks earlier & earlier each season.

Wildcat Bowl below Stewart's also forms great moguls early in the season before there is enough snow to groom. Great pitch for people wanting to develop some mogul skiing skills. Those opportunities will be over with snowmaking, just another icy groomer torn up by noon. I doubt if they will remove the park features from Blue Grouse & return it to the quiet, cruising intermediate run it used to be.

A new lift on Wildcat will spoil many of the reasons people love it now but will help alleviate some base area congestion I suppose. Hope someone makes some steps forward in the area of parking.

For me, the new lift will probably mean a few less people on JP .

One can dream...

 

[Carl Kuck]

At DV today, Northside / Silver Strike area was nice first thing in the morning (went there to warm up for NASTAR), but Bald Mtn. with the sun exposure was ... um ... sub-optimal (and that's being nice). I bailed about 2:00... My one take-away from the morning is that the Head iSL RD skis are more reasonable in crappy snow than my older Volkl Racetiger SLs, but in those conditions the Rallys smoke both of them (which I think is to be expected). Also, I have a couple of action shots that I'm going to look at tomorrow at the Sharpshooter store; the photog gave me a thumbs up as I went by and also told me when I saw him at the shop he thought the pics were good. It had cooled off in the afternoon so maybe tomorrow will be better. Hope so, it's the last day before heading back home.

Speaking of NASTAR, the timing failed to stop when I crossed the finish line on my first run, but I didn't really care as my first run down a course is always worse than subsequent runs. So, 5 days and 5 NASTAR results for the team. (I probably won't run NASTAR tomorrow, just wanna go out and have fun...)

And I was spared having to buy the Stockli Laser AX on sale because they didn't have the 175, only 183 and 167. *whew*

 

[Mendieta]

At DV today, Northside / Silver Strike area was nice first thing in the morning (went there to warm up for NASTAR), but Bald Mtn. with the sun exposure was ... um ... sub-optimal (and that's being nice). I bailed about 2:00... My one take-away from the morning is that the Head iSL RD skis are more reasonable in crappy snow than my older Volkl Racetiger SLs, but in those conditions the Rallys smoke both of them (which I think is to be expected). Also, I have a couple of action shots that I'm going to look at tomorrow at the Sharpshooter store; the photog gave me a thumbs up as I went by and also told me when I saw him at the shop he thought the pics were good. It had cooled off in the afternoon so maybe tomorrow will be better. Hope so, it's the last day before heading back home.

Speaking of NASTAR, the timing failed to stop when I crossed the finish line on my first run, but I didn't really care as my first run down a course is always worse than subsequent runs. So, 5 days and 5 NASTAR results for the team. (I probably won't run NASTAR tomorrow, just wanna go out and have fun...)

And I was spared having to buy the Stockli Laser AX on sale because they didn't have the 175, only 183 and 167. *whew*

Yes, that's pretty much my experience in my spring trips. Flagstaff mountain is great in the morning because it's hard pack but with lovely grooming which turns to hero snow for about 1 hour, about 10 am. So, it goes like this: a bit hard, almost icy at 9, hero at 11, soft and starting to crap out at noon. So, you grab lunch, and it's not really clear where else to go The top of Bald Mtn tends to be ok after lunch, but it's slushy towards the bottom, which is a bit challenging for my current abilities. But we'll see how it goes this year, with better boots, better skis and some more experience. Also, I had two days of skiing on sierra cement this season, which was a bit too much, but certainly good preparation for the slush ...

Looking forward to your report of today's conditions. And, needless to say, give me a shout if you'll be at DV in the first week of April. Cheers!

 

[Lorenzzo]

Fantastic spring conditions today at Deer Valley. Something good somewhere on the hill from opening until at least 2 when I departed. Corn has really set up in many places. This time I did snap a few photos. And made a Carl sighting.

 

[Carl Kuck]

As @Lorenzzo pointed out, good stuff all over; although you might have had to look around to find your preferential conditions. For me, I thought the Northside/Silver Strike area was good and also took a few runs over on Mountaineer which held up surprisingly well despite a lower elevation (possibly to the fact that area seems to get less traffic than other areas). Great skiing today for the last day of the trip, and I'm looking forward to returning next year. Aloha!

 

[Mendieta]

Day 1 at DV. I didn't think I would ski with a rain forecast and us arriving 11:30, but next thing you know we are set up and I got a half day ticket (btw, how can that cost over a hundred bucks?)

Long story short, the kids didn't want to get out but i skied until 4. Variable conditions, but I did a bunch of runs, choosing firmer snow and better vis whenever possible. Great as a warm up day.

Some pics below.

 

[Mendieta]

Day 2, quite the opposite. Bluebird day, great snow most of the day. The pictures are from Bald Mt, Sultan Express chair, about 2pm. Stein's way was holding up, up top, but boy, the middle section was mashed potatoes, a quad burner for a pedestrian skier like me.

So I went back to Nabob which was still skiing like a race course. Btw, I saw the nastar race track. It was open! I was so tempted, but I never did gates. Where is @cbk when you need him

I then went back to Flagstaff Mt. The best run was hidden treasure imho. I took it a couple times and called it quit 3:50. Full day on the slopes!

 

[4ster]

Day 2, quite the opposite

Been a lot of that going on lately.

It's been up & down, hot & cold, good & bad rain & shine up north here too.
Today was a good one! After some early rain, just enough snow late yesterday to smooth out some of the old frozen ruts & the perfect temps to keep it creamy all day today. Low Avalanche probability helped make it a go anywhere day.

Between some pretty whimpy storms there has been some great Spring conditions. Temps have returned to more average than the heat wave a couple weeks ago.
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