Alta question

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I've only been there a couple times, and looking at their website, it says that their base is 59". Isn't that incredibly short of what it 'should' be at this time of year? I would expect it to be well over 100" at this point, since they get over 500" a year
I have got to get back there, pure skiing, old school ideology...

 

[SkiDog]

yeah so far not a huge winter...I think only a little over a 100" so far this season...but I hear things are still nice...but theres nothing like Alta/Snowbird after a big dump.....

Mmmm STEEPS...


M

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Thanks. Yea, it seemed a bit shy of the normal base at this point. The more I think about it, the more I want to go.... maybe my brother still has some contacts out there...

 

[ajl50]

I'm going in March and I'm not worried. If you worry about the conditions at alta you might as well give up skiing. They have had like 150 for the season and while that is low at this point in my mind it means that when this pattern breaks they will get hammered. They haven't had a season with under 300 so 150 over feb/march/april is good stuff.
Oh yea- and lsat time i checked if we had a 59 inch base out here it would be epic.

 

[RISkier]

I've only been there a couple times, and looking at their website, it says that their base is 59". Isn't that incredibly short of what it 'should' be at this time of year? I would expect it to be well over 100" at this point, since they get over 500" a year
I have got to get back there, pure skiing, old school ideology...

Yep, they've not gotten their usual quota. We just returned (3 days at Snowbasin, 2 days at Powder Mountain, and 1 day at Alta) from Utah. Even with the relatively low snow totals we thought the conditions were very good. But right now, it's not the deep, light powder that many expect.

 

[snoseek]

i got it pretty good the first 2 weeks of jan. Yes the base is less than normal, but it still is 5 feet of natural, so the skiing will be fine with any new snow they get. also feb and especially march can be huge snow months for them.

 

[koreshot]

I was there in mid december and with the exception of some rocks hiding under the snow the skii was great. One would think that the skiing has improved since then. Even on a bad day, Alta has pretty good snow.

 

[kingslug]

It's still a blast to ski there even with low coverage. You just have to watch out for the rocks. Solitude is usualy in better shape due to less crowds and tons of trees. And they have some prety steep groomers to blast down on. More snow is on the way for them as well. March seems to be the best month.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I wasn't complaining, just curious, and hell yea, if we had a 59" base at any NH or VT area it would be a ncp dream.

 

[GrizzlyFD]

Different way of measuring snowfall

The resorts out west have a different way of measuring snow totals/base depths than we do back east. When a resort out west reports a 59" base, that is the settled snow depth, NOT the depth of the snowpack on groomed trails. Plus, it is usually measure in a wind protected area so blowing snow and snow lost to wind aren't counted. 5 feet might sound like a lot, but a lot of that terrain is very rocky, most of snowbird is a scree field and they need a lot of snow to fill in the terrain. Actually snowbird had the snow guns blasting recently mid mountain to get regulator johnson covered up. Seems crazy with 150" season total and a 5 foot base.

That said, they are definitely behind in snow this year. I saw on the UT avy report that it hasn't snowed a decent amount in over 2 weeks and the Jan snow totals for Alta are 30". They usually average 80-90" a month during the winter. Last year I think they hit 300" in January.

 

[amf]

Alta

Just returned from 4 days in Little Cottonwood... snowfall to date is definitely low... high traverse is BONY... but conditions still better than anything in the east. They had 7" on Jan 20/21, but warmed up on the 23/24th. There was still some pretty sweet soft stuff around - skiing on 1-1/2 knees, I avoid firm bumps like the plague & was not disappointed.
A little more fresh I believe is in their forecast.

 

[kingslug]

I think Aleyeska Alaska is hogging it all. 425 inches and counting so far. Might hit it in March if I can swing it.

 

[gores95]

I think Aleyeska Alaska is hogging it all. 425 inches and counting so far. Might hit it in March if I can swing it.

or Whister. We are supposed to go 4/7-4/12.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Time Travel

or Whister. We are supposed to go 4/7-4/12.

Hey gores95, I enlarged the picture of you and your daughter (I'm assuming that is you and the pink suited girl is your daughter) and it took me back around 16 years when my daughter (and my two sons) and I did a trip to Tremblant. She had a similar pink snow suit and we had a great time. She is twenty-three now, and we rarely get a chance to ski together anymore. When we do, she spends half the time reminiscing about the great times we had together since I put her on skis at the age of three. When we hit Tremblant she was around seven and by then she skied wherever I did. Back then I always let her go ahead of me for safety reasons. Now I end up "chasing" because she skiis so fast! Enjoy it now, It all goes so fast.

 

[TeleMac]

Alta's site provides a snowfall history by year and day (for the current year)

As you can see from the link, Alta is not yet getting its normal superabundance, but . . .

http://alta.com/pages/snowhistory.php

Snowfall History
Monthly Averages for 1980 to Date (27 seasons)
Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Monthly Average
Snowfall 47.47" 81.52" 87.46" 93.22" 89.40" 96.84" 72.25" 81.17"
H2O 5.49" 6.79" 6.84" 7.37" 6.79" 7.83" 6.28" 6.66"
Density 11.57% 8.33% 7.82% 7.79% 7.59% 8.09% 8.69% 8.55%
Snow on Ground 32" 34" 62" 83" 105" 124" 128" 81.14"
Avg. High Temp - 29° 26° 25° 27° 32° 34° 29°
Avg. Low Temp - 17° 13 ° 13° 14° 17° 19° 16°
Avg. Temp - 23° 20° 19° 20° 24° 26° 22°
Max. Snow on Ground 78" 49" 112" 132" 143" 211" 193" 125.29"

Yearly Snowfall Tracker 2006 - 2007 Season
Report Date 24hr
New Snow 24hr
New Water 24hr
Snow Density Storm Totals Season
Cumulative Totals Season
Cumulative Water
1/20/07 7.0" .34" 4.86% 7.0" 172.5" 13.77"
1/11/07 7.0" .26" 3.71% 7.0" 165.5" 13.43"
1/6/07 5" .42" 8.4% 5.0" 158.5" 13.17"
1/5/07 3" .12" 4.00% 13.0" 153.5" 12.75"
1/4/07 10" .61" 6.10% 10.0" 150.5" 12.63"
12/28/06 0.5" .03" 6.00% 4.5" 141.5" 12.10"
12/27/06 3.0" .21" 7.00% 4.0" 141.0" 12.07"
12/26/06 1.0" .08" 8.00% " 137.0" 11.78"
12/24/06 1.5" .13" 8.67% " 136.0" 11.7"
12/23/06 1.0" .06" 6.00% " 134.5" 11.57"
12/22/06 1.5" .12" 8.00% " 133.5" 11.51"
12/17/06 6.0" .35" 5.83% 19.0" 132.0" 11.39"
12/16/06 7.0" .38" 5.43% 13.0" 126.0" 11.04"
12/15/06 6.0" .30" 5.00% 11.0" 119.0" 10.66"
12/14/06 .50" .08" 16.00% 5.0" 113.0" 10.36"
12/13/06 3.0" .44" 14.67% 5.5" 112.5" 10.28"
12/12/06 2.5" .28" 11.20% 2.5 109.5" 9.84"
12/11/06 2.5" .25" 10.00% 12.0" 107.0" 9.56"
12/10/06 9.5" .61" 6.42% 9.5" 104.5" 9.31"
12/01/06 2.0" .20" 10.00% 2.0" 94.0" 8.66"
11/30/06 1.0" .10" 10.00% 1.0" 92.0" 8.46"
11/29/06 1.0" .08" 8.00% 29.5" 91.0" 8.36"
11/28/06 9.0" .58" 6.00% 28.5" 90.0" 8.28"
11/27/06 19.5" 1.20" 6.15% 19.5" 81.0" 7.70"
11/14/06 7.5" .78" 5.03% 15.5" 61.5" 6.5"
11/13/06 8.0" 1.12" 14.00% 8.0" 54.0" 5.72"
11/12/06 -" .-" -% 0" 46.0" 4.60"
11/11/06 10.0" .72" 7.20% 10.0" 46.0" 4.60"
11/09/06 9.0" .89" 9.88% 9.0" 36.0" 3.88"
11/04/06 3.0" .30" 10.00% 3.0" 27.0" 2.99"
10/25/06 14.0" 1.35" 9.64% 14.0" 24.0" 2.69"
Pre 10/25/06 -" -" -% 10.0" 10.0" 1.34"

Have fun.

 

[Robert Goulet]

Considering I live in Alta, I guess I'm in a unique position to post on this thread. According to a cook here at the Alta lodge, this is the "lowest snowpack year" he has seen in over 20 years. We have not really had any snow since mid december. an inch here or there. The 7 inches they reported for last weekend was more like 4. Maybe 7 in wind deposit areas. The 56" base is BS. There are a lot of roots, stumps, bare spots etc. Some of the groomers are still fine due to heavy snowmaking for a month in November and December. North aspect trees still have decent cover. Snow here is still softer with a chalky feel rather than a hard icy feel. Anything near High Boy is still good. South aspects are not advisable. if possible, stick to Northeast aspects. These aspects barely get sun and get wind deposit snow. There are huge bare spots on south aspects across the road in Cardiff bowl and Flagstaff with probably 5inches to 1 foot of cover depending where you are. No snow in sight for the next seven days other than a possible dusting. Praying for snow right now. If I sound a little pessimistic right now, it might have something to do with the fact that we are under 50% snowpack and total snow compared to last year and the year before. But whatever. It's still better than most places out east. If you are going to spend money on a plane ticket though, go to Baker or Crystal or BC. They are getting dumped on.