Utah - snow conditions?

[jaywbigred]

Anyone worried about booking Feb/March trips to Utah given the horror stories of in-bounds avies so far this year all over the West?

I'm not so concerned about the avies themselves, more about overall snow quality and the open/closure of terrain.

What does everyone think, worth the money?

Alternative is 5 days of skiing bumps at Mt. Ellen, to see if BMM is right and it truly is the Mary Jane of the East.

 

[snoseek]

High pressure from now till end of next week will calm things down i bet. Alta is sitting on a 90 inch base.

 

[Chesser]

For February and March? I don't know. But my lady friend was in SLC the last 5 days, skiing Alta, Park City, and Snow Basin without any complaints. Good snow, good weather. I'm guessing she didn't venture in to avalanche-prone terrain, so I didn't get any reports on that. Therefore, this probably isn't helpful.

 

[redalienx11]

as snoseek said, we've got a high pressure system sitting on us right now (equals no new storms). The avy danger is starting to settle out after a crazy early season. I was out in the backcountry yesterday and it was beautiful- but crusty!!

Long term models show more storms coming in so although Feb/March is pretty far out it's looking like a great season so far.

 

[poconovfr]

Just booked a week in Feb. $216 non-stop round trip out of Philly. Yeah,it's worth the gamble. You can always rent a car and drive to the Tetons.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Utah Snow

The snow is terrible, it is very cold, avi danger is very great, slopes are very crowded, you won't like it a bit. Better you all don't come! I'm so jealous about all the Pow and balmy temps you guys are enjoying in the east. I will try my best not to envy you all as I make the daily 16 mile drive from my house to Alta and Snowbird.

 

[andyzee]

The snow is terrible, it is very cold, avi danger is very great, slopes are very crowded, you won't like it a bit. Better you all don't come! I'm so jealous about all the Pow and balmy temps you guys are enjoying in the east. I will try my best not to envy you all as I make the daily 16 mile drive from my house to Alta and Snowbird.

Whatchu do with kingslug, how come he's not reporting in? Did you take him out in the bc again and pull out the banjos?

 

[tirolerpeter]

Kingslugs Fate

Whatchu do with kingslug, how come he's not reporting in? Did you take him out in the bc again and pull out the banjos?

Andy, he doesn't have his computer with him. He skied with me and the FTO crew on Sat and Sun and got some fine first tracks in knee deep powder. On Monday he and I did more Alta and worked some chutes and trees. Tuesday we did Snowbird, where we found more powder, and today we went up to Snowbasin. Snowbasin basically sucked today. The groomed was scratchy, and most areas off the trails were crusty. The only really decent run was the top 400' of the Men's downhill (Off the little Tram at the top of the John Paul lift). We were sorry we left LCC. We probably should have gone over to BCC and done Brighton or Solitude for variety. I'm sure he will report that he was introduced to some terrain (steeper slopes, tighter trees, jumps into chutes, and hairy traverses) that he would not have considered skiing on his own. We are going to wrap up his trip tomorrow at Alta because he needs to return his rentals up there. I think he has fallen in love with a new pair of skis.

 

[andyzee]

Andy, he doesn't have his computer with him. He skied with me and the FTO crew on Sat and Sun and got some fine first tracks in knee deep powder. On Monday he and I did more Alta and worked some chutes and trees. Tuesday we did Snowbird, where we found more powder, and today we went up to Snowbasin. Snowbasin basically sucked today. The groomed was scratchy, and most areas off the trails were crusty. The only really decent run was the top 400' of the Men's downhill (Off the little Tram at the top of the John Paul lift). We were sorry we left LCC. We probably should have gone over to BCC and done Brighton or Solitude for variety. I'm sure he will report that he was introduced to some terrain (steeper slopes, tighter trees, jumps into chutes, and hairy traverses) that he would not have considered skiing on his own. We are going to wrap up his trip tomorrow at Alta because he needs to return his rentals up there. I think he has fallen in love with a new pair of skis.

Cool, you should have tried Solitude, always loved that place.

 

[Moe Ghoul]

We're booked for the 2nd week in March, that's a lot of weather between now and then. Conditions can change overnite for better or worse.

 

[tirolerpeter]

We're booked for the 2nd week in March, that's a lot of weather between now and then. Conditions can change overnite for better or worse.

Last March was epic, but in reality it is simply not worth worrying about. "Bad" conditions here (based on "Local's" perception) would actually seem pretty good anywhere in the east. I hope you realize I was kidding in my prior "snow report" in this thread.

 

[lerops]

I was there second half of December where the snow levels were disappointing (!) to locals. In reality it rocked. Alta is heaven. So snowwise, there is no danger whatsoever. I guess avalanche danger depends on what you do (granted there was an inbounds avalance related death at Snowbird the day before I arrived, but supposed to be extremely rare). I don't know much about it, though.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Utah vs Sugarbush...Utah wins..