Utah 4/13-4/17/21

[Zand]

Resort or Ski Area

Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude

Date

Apr 13, 2021

Snow Conditions

1. Dust on Crust
2. Ice

Tuesday report: Snowbird and Alta

First day out for the trip was quite frankly the lousiest day I've skied this year. Unfortunately the recent warmth and sun was replaced by clouds and much colder temps, rendering the ungroomed terrain unskiable and the groomers sporty at best. I actually ended up riding every high speed quad between Snowbird and Alta today. Plan was to stay at Snowbird but the groomers were frozen coral in a lot of spots and the flat light was a killer. I figured Alta might be a little better and it was. A little less exposure over there and the groomers were a little better. Managed 16 runs between 11:45 and 3:00 before I had enough. Really need this snowstorm tomorrow to overperform, probably gonna need at least 8" to make things skiable again.


Road to Provo...check out that flat light. Basically seeing stars by the time that run is over.


Mineral Basin...if I could see as good as my camera, things might've gone better but yeah...not fun.


Chip's Face...a sheet of ice. Lower Bassackwards did soften up below the midstation so at least 1 trail out of hundreds turned out good.


A little jaunt across the gates to Alta. A little better but just barely.

Not sure where I'm going to end up tomorrow. Top choice is Alta but if theres less than like 6" might just go to Brighton.

 

[thetrailboss]

Ouch. I figured it would be a rough day up there. Having the high winds does not help. No new snow...yet. This system is a bit too far west right now. Hope it will turn around. I am surprised that there were not lift holds.

I just took a look out over the Wasatch from my place. Looks like it may be just starting to snow...at least the clouds are dropping up there.

 

[Zand]

Ouch. I figured it would be a rough day up there. Having the high winds does not help. No new snow...yet. This system is a bit too far west right now. Hope it will turn around. I am surprised that there were not lift holds.

I just took a look out over the Wasatch from my place. Looks like it may be just starting to snow...at least the clouds are dropping up there.

Yeah the winds were pretty brutal on Little Cloud but weren't quite wind hold strength. Probably just felt real cold because I'm used to 60s now and was dressed for 30s. Wind chill was probably somewhere near zero.

 

[jimk]

Snowbird 13 Apr 21, the bad news = light low, snow firm, good news = NO PEOPLE.
Yeah, not a good day for the offpiste, but groomers were fun esp when sun peeked out. Tomorrow and Thurs should be much better with the new snow.

 

[thetrailboss]

Dirty Harry Forecast

Yes, I know the wind is blowing, but my time this week is limited and I'm more interested in whether or not I can have another powder day th...

wasatchweatherweenies.blogspot.com

 

[Zand]

Dirty Harry Forecast

Yes, I know the wind is blowing, but my time this week is limited and I'm more interested in whether or not I can have another powder day th...

wasatchweatherweenies.blogspot.com

This storm has been all over the place since I started tracking it last week. At this point, I don't care if I get a deep powder day. Just want the fun stuff to be decently skiable. I think we need at least 6-8" to cover up whats there now. The natural stuff looked like the snow on the inside of a freezer.

 

[thetrailboss]

So it looks like the flow is SW at the moment. I'd say Brighton is probably the best bet. They do better with a S/SW flow. Plus lifts at Snowbird are closed--Mineral, Baldy, etc. according to an update I just got. There may be some thunderstorms too.

As you said there are a lot of moving parts. Jim is clearly excited!

What a Mess!

Quite a mess of a storm right now over northern Utah. I'm not sure where to start, but maybe a look at some of the observations is a good p...

wasatchweatherweenies.blogspot.com

 

[Zand]

So it looks like the flow is SW at the moment. I'd say Brighton is probably the best bet. They do better with a S/SW flow. Plus lifts at Snowbird are closed--Mineral, Baldy, etc. according to an update I just got. There may be some thunderstorms too.

As you said there are a lot of moving parts. Jim is clearly excited!

What a Mess!

Quite a mess of a storm right now over northern Utah. I'm not sure where to start, but maybe a look at some of the observations is a good p...

wasatchweatherweenies.blogspot.com

Yup...still at the hotel trying to figure today out but I was leaning BCC and you just confirmed my decision.

Only problem is Great Western is closed but not a big deal. I'll probably venture over to Solitude for a bit too. My favorite stuff off Powderhorn into Honeycomb is closed but looks like they still have a few fun options.

 

[thetrailboss]

Snowbird just announced that Mineral Basin is closed for the day. Be careful out there--crazy winds. I-80 WB is closed at Parley's due to a flipped semi.

 

[Zand]

Snowbird just announced that Mineral Basin is closed for the day. Be careful out there--crazy winds. I-80 WB is closed at Parley's due to a flipped semi.

On the bus now. Gonna start at Solitude and probably go over to Brighton in a couple hours. Expectations are kinda low to start but hopefully it keeps dumping!

 

[thetrailboss]

On the bus now. Gonna start at Solitude and probably go over to Brighton in a couple hours. Expectations are kinda low to start but hopefully it keeps dumping!

Looks like maybe 6-12" between now and tomorrow night.

 

[Zand]

Its absolutely thumping out there so far. Easy 8-12" at the top of Powderhorn. Less snow and much wetter down low. Very tough visibility, definitely a slow go.

Also, currently in the Moonbeam lodge and there are like 10 high top tables and no chairs. WTF? Is Covid gonna spread more if you're sitting down rather than standing around the table?

Update: BCC Road just closed. I think this is my first Cottonwood road closure!

 

[Zand]

Wednesday report: Solitude

Kind of a delayed start for me as I was determining where to go. Trailboss said wind should be lighter in BCC, so I hopped on the BCC bus and headed from spring in the valley to winter at Solitude.



Arrived around 10:45 and it was absolutely nuking at the ski area. The snow down low was very wet, but Powderhorn was the place to be. Took a couple runs in the thick of things, but visibility was awful and my goggles got so wet on the inside that I had to take a break after a few runs.



Went back out around 12:30 and took a couple more Powderhorn runs before heading to the top. Honestly that lift is useless when Honeycomb is closed. Skied Headwall Forest, then tried going down Solbright to move over to Brighton but it was closed just past Headwall Forest to had to ski that again. It was a fun area to ski but the insane runout was not worth it at all.



After a run powdery line off the top of Apex, spent the rest of the afternoon skiing untracked off stuff like Paradise and Vertigo. Incredible runs and tiny crowd allowed for fresh tracks up to 3:00 when my legs had enough.



Went down under the Moonbeam to get to the bottom and the snow was incredibly sticky. Amazing the difference 1000 feet makes. Apparently the base got 8", wouldn't be surprised if the summit got 15-20". He'll, they got 4.9" in one hour.



Looks like another big band is moving through tonight, maybe some more powder tomorrow? Hoping today's snow bonds well to the old surface. Could still feel it underneath. Overall, just a legendary day and somehow absolutely zero wind while some nearby parts of Utah were gusting over 80mph...good call Trailboss!

Planning on Snowbird tomorrow. Might be just as Epic. Never made it over to Brighton today, oh well. Probably sticking to LCC the rest of the week. No matter, Solitude was good on its own!

 

[thetrailboss]

That looks like a night/day difference compared to yesterday. Nice.

 

[jimk]

Happy for @Zand . This storm delivered nicely and could still add some nice inches for tomorrow. Snowbird was quite good today, Apr 14. Wet snow, but any new snow is good at this time of the year. A friend took this photo of me at the top of Big Emma
Snow was like cotton candy by 2PM esp when sun peeked out briefly, but it was better higher and earlier in the day. Very light crowd for a pow day. I'll be up there again tomorrow with my son.

It was nuking at times, a friend:

 

[Tonyr]

Wow, what a day!

 

[thetrailboss]

Snowbird is reporting 17”

 

[eatskisleep]

Nice stuff!

 

[Zand]

Today is off to a bad start. Went to the bus stop at the bottom of LCC but apparently the bus doesn't stop there anymore. Twitter said the road was just wet, so I decided that in order to get first tracks I would drive my shitty Fiesta up the canyon. Naturally, a snow squall hits on the way up. The bald ass tires started spinning almost immediately and I knew I wouldn't make it. So I pulled over at the top of a side road and got stuck for about 20 minutes before someone helped push my shitty Fiesta out and I slowly made my way back down.

Traffic is backed up to the bottom of the canyon so I headed back to the hotel to cool off for a bit. Try again around noon, and hopefully I'll find a bus stop where the bus actually stops.

 

[thetrailboss]

Today is off to a bad start. Went to the bus stop at the bottom of LCC but apparently the bus doesn't stop there anymore. Twitter said the road was just wet, so I decided that in order to get first tracks I would drive my shitty Fiesta up the canyon. Naturally, a snow squall hits on the way up. The bald ass tires started spinning almost immediately and I knew I wouldn't make it. So I pulled over at the top of a side road and got stuck for about 20 minutes before someone helped push my shitty Fiesta out and I slowly made my way back down.

Traffic is backed up to the bottom of the canyon so I headed back to the hotel to cool off for a bit. Try again around noon, and hopefully I'll find a bus stop where the bus actually stops.

Ugh. I think I know what stop you are talking about. Yeah, they ended loading there last year IIRC. Due to traffic I think. Makes no sense in my mind as there is a large parking lot there. That sucks about the road.