Utah 2020-2021 Utah Resorts, Weather, Conditions and Stoke

[Rudi Riet]

As @Jim Kenney and @dovski know, I had to rush back to the valley at the end of my ski day to take care of family stuff - yesterday was my "hooky day" for my week here.

So today I'm posting my pix from yesterday. I said to Jim that turnabout is fair play in that he takes so many lovely shots but is rarely in the frame himself. So he will be in some of the frames below.

I started my day at the 8am bell, loading onto Peruvian, taking the Ba**hole to Mineral Basin. Given how warm it's been, the snow cover was still quite good on Snowbird's backside:




First thing in the morning there was a smooth groom on Lupine Loop.


This view of the Salt Lake Valley from the ridgeline never gets old.


Jim and Vince joined me about 45 minutes into my day (given this was my only non-coaching ski day of the season and my necessary early departure, I wanted to get in as many runs as I could - Jim and Vince have enjoyed the fruits of this season). We alternated between Mineral Basin and Peruvian for a while as the Mark Malu area of Little Cloud was exclusive to alpine racing teams until 10:30am. After a few laps of Junior's and White Diamonds, we headed over to Bookends for some creamy corn.

Vince traversing to Bookends:


Jim skiing Bookends:


We gave Dalton's Draw a try, though the dirty snow was like fly paper.



Silver Fox was much better.


We then went to Little Cloud where we met up with Dov and Raphael. Only managed some simple shots because the skiing was too much fun - especially upper Regulator Johnson, where the non-groomed snowfield was more creamy corn goodness, with some sun cups to give a bit of bounce.


Definitely a fun day out - my 26th and final ski day for the 2020-21 season, and the only non-coaching outing for me. It was worth the wait and a great way to celebrate the final day of my 47th year. Thanks to Jim, Vince, Dov, and Raphael for the fun times!

 

[Rudi Riet]

And because I respect @Doug Briggs, here's the Strava image (with the #elevationmap coloring just for fun). And yes, the vertical is off on this image - if you look at the actual activity online, the vert was 32,514 feet (or 9,910 meters).

 

[Jim Kenney]

OMG, somehow @Rudi Riet made me look competent in that pasty snow
That was early in the day, by noon Rudi and Vince had run me out of gas

 

[Jim Kenney]

May 16, 2021, possibly the last day of lift-served skiing at Snowbird!?! We'll find out probably in a few days. The region has been on a warm streak for about a week.
Today was another outstanding day of spring skiing. Vince and I were joined by @P-Ute , @dovski and Rafael on the slopes.
There were four daredevils (two on cable and two on roof) doing repairs on the tram today. It has not been operating this weekend for maintenance. They picked one of the highest spots near Upper Cirque to do their high wire act!

Pond skimming was back again today. This fellow is getting ready to snap a photo of a friend.

Vince got a nice rhythm going on soft snow in the near Bookends.

Rafael and Dov; We are encouraging Rafael to sign up to SkiTalk.com. I suggest the handle of Zoom Zoom for the way he skis and also the way he conduct business meetings, sometimes both at the same time!

Around one o'clock storm clouds rolled in with thunder, then rain. They halted all lifts shortly thereafter. We were some of the last ones out of Mineral Basin. If this is the end, it's been a wonderful ski season at Snowbird, much better than I could of hoped for a few short months ago. I so hope the world can get back to normal by next ski season!


I also have to announce the possible demise of Larry. The brown lump on the right of this photo is a porcupine that got taken out sometime before Saturday morning near entrance 1 to Snowbird. It might be the same guy known as Larry who's been hanging out around the slopes above the Creekside lodge the last few years??

 

[Tony S]

OMG, somehow @Rudi Riet made me look competent in that pasty snow
That was early in the day, by noon Rudi and Vince had run me out of gas
View attachment 133903

Your skiing has improved hugely since your retirement.

 

[blackke17]

Come on Bird, one last weekend!

Snow Report

We hope to be open for more skiing and riding at The Bird next weekend, but it will depend on coverage and the continued magic of our cat operations crew. We will update you as soon as we know more here on the Snowbird Mountain Report.

 

[John Webb]

Emergency due to drought for entire state of UT.
Northern CA/So OR may not be far behind.

Utah Governor Issues Executive Order Declaring 'State of Emergency' in Utah Because of Worsening Drought - SnowBrains

Utah’s Gov. Spencer Cox recently issued another executive order regarding the current drought in Utah. This time, the executive order puts Utah in a ‘state of emergency.’ What’s a state of emergency? A state of emergency declaration is a critical step a governor takes in the event of a major...

snowbrains.com

 

[dovski]

May 16, 2021, possibly the last day of lift-served skiing at Snowbird!?! We'll find out probably in a few days. The region has been on a warm streak for about a week.
Today was another outstanding day of spring skiing. Vince and I were joined by @P-Ute , @dovski and Rafael on the slopes.
There were four daredevils (two on cable and two on roof) doing repairs on the tram today. It has not been operating this weekend for maintenance. They picked one of the highest spots near Upper Cirque to do their high wire act!
View attachment 133907
Pond skimming was back again today. This fellow is getting ready to snap a photo of a friend.
View attachment 133908
Vince got a nice rhythm going on soft snow in the near Bookends.
View attachment 133909
Rafael and Dov; We are encouraging Rafael to sign up to SkiTalk.com. I suggest the handle of Zoom Zoom for the way he skis and also the way he conduct business meetings, sometimes both at the same time!
View attachment 133910
Around one o'clock storm clouds rolled in with thunder, then rain. They halted all lifts shortly thereafter. We were some of the last ones out of Mineral Basin. If this is the end, it's been a wonderful ski season at Snowbird, much better than I could of hoped for a few short months ago. I so hope the world can get back to normal by next ski season!
View attachment 133911

I also have to announce the possible demise of Larry. The brown lump on the right of this photo is a porcupine that got taken out sometime before Saturday morning near entrance 1 to Snowbird. It might be the same guy known as Larry who's been hanging out around the slopes above the Creekside lodge the last few years??
View attachment 133912

@Jim Kenney @Rudi Riet @P-Ute @Vince Thanks for a great three days closing out the season at Snowbird. Super fun skiing with you. Also word to the wise @Jim Kenney keeps cold beer and cookies in his car, so a full ski day with him needs to include tailgating breaks to get the full Jim Kenney Ski experience

Weather was warm and sunny all three days which made for great spring skiing. It also contributed to a lot of snow loss and three core shots to my SR95s. Luckily the head tech at the tuning shop in the Cliff Lodge made some emergency base welds for me even though the shop was closed for the season.

Looking forward to skiing Alta Snowbird in Feb over the presidents day weekend next year. Already have flights booked and planning to stay at Goldminer's Daughter with my family.

For the next few weeks I will be patching up my skis and putting storage wax on most. May visit Hood in June with my kids, but nothing planned just yet. Likely going to shift from skiing to mountain biking for the next few months and will be spending a couple weeks in Sun River at the beginning of August.

 

[Jim Kenney]

Oops, Snowbird just announced they are done for the season. The recent heatwave finished them off.

Mountain Report

View the latest, up-to-date conditions at Snowbird. Get access to Snowbird's snow report, weather, lift & trails status along with current road conditions.

www.snowbird.com

 

[Rudi Riet]

Oops, Snowbird just announced they are done for the season. The recent heatwave finished them off.

Not shocking considering the webcam views of the lower mountain. With the tram offline there's no way to download people efficiently so they had no choice.

Glad I got in a day when I did. Thanks, @Jim Kenney, @Vince, @dovski, and Raphael for a fun day at the old stomping ground.

 

[John Webb]

For the next few weeks I will be patching up my skis and putting storage wax on most. May visit Hood in June with my kids,

Note to self. Don't put storage wax on skis until really done !
Got off lift at Mammoth in June a few years and skis would not move due to storage wax layer. LOL

 

[Rudi Riet]

Note to self. Don't put storage wax on skis until really done !
Got off lift at Mammoth in June a few years and skis would not move due to storage wax layer. LOL

Just remember to scrape it off and perhaps brush afterward - all good.

Most travel/storage wax is well suited to wet, warm snow anyway.

 

[dovski]

Just remember to scrape it off and perhaps brush afterward - all good.

Most travel/storage wax is well suited to wet, warm snow anyway.

For simplicity I just use a thick coat of warm weather wax instead of buying separate blocks f storage wax. I am sure that from a purest perspective this is wrong, but it seems to work for me

 

[Rudi Riet]

For simplicity I just use a thick coat of warm weather wax instead of buying separate blocks f storage wax. I am sure that from a purest perspective this is wrong, but it seems to work for me

That's what I do, FWIW, and what I've done since my racing days. I have plenty of warm weather wax that has to get used somehow.

 

[blackke17]

Damnit, guess I gotta pull out the skins this weekend!

 

[blackke17]

probably 4 inches of fresh snow on Sunday morning. beautiful day at Alta . still some decent coverage

 

[Daniel]

The 2020-2021 season was the all-time busiest in Utah history, breaking the old record by more than 175,000 skier/snowboarder days, despite experiencing a below-average snow year.

Utah ski resorts rebound from COVID-19 with record-breaking year

COVID-19 halted the 2019-20 ski season early just before it broke the record for most skier days in Utah resort history. The 2020-21 season was even more successful, according to Ski Utah.

www.ksl.com

This was readily evident to anyone who spent any amount of time at the resorts in BCC or LCC, where the crowds reached soul-crushing levels on a very regular basis during the first half of the season. BCC was closed on many occasions by UDOT and Canyon Patrol due to "extreme congestion", when car parks (including the many backcountry car parks) reached full capacity prior to Solitude, Brighton, and the Solitude Nordic Center opening. Several thousand vehicles would then road park, many of them miles from the resorts, with skiers/snowboarders trekking up or down the canyon road to their destinations in full ski/snowboard attire hauling their gear and competing for space on the road with vehicles stopped or inching along in gridlocked traffic. At the conclusion of the day, it would often take hours to descend the canyon road down to the valley, especially if it was snowing at the time (or had been prior to the exodus of mass amounts of vehicles from the car parks). Thankfully, due to the extremely mild winter, some of the hordes of skiers and snowboarders began moving on to other recreational activities mid-season, as the valley was almost completely devoid of snow on the ground allowing them to engage in other pursuits that were absent the maddening levels of participants.

 

[blackke17]

IKON'T stand crowds!

I feel like a better human being for having not purchased one for next year

 

[Wasatchman]

IKON'T stand crowds!

I feel like a better human being for having not purchased one for next year

What pass did you get? Unfortunately I don't think there will be any hiding from the crowds next season at any of the major Utah resorts.

 

[4ster]

What pass did you get? Unfortunately I don't think there will be any hiding from the crowds next season at any of the major Utah resorts.

FIFY
Even Pow Mow with their limited pass & day ticket sales seemed crowded at times last season.
Middle of January bumper to bumper, dead stop turned around & went home.