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Utah 2021-2022 Utah Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

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4ster

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
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Good stuff...my next question is what is significant? 3" of "old snow" on the ground? 13"? 3 feet?
3” is enough to mess it up if it stays around & forms facets but 13” would likely be more significant. Last year is a good case study of the worst case scenario. Go to the UAC site & research the chronology from early November on. The year before, 2019~20 was a stable early season & great up until around the middle of February when we had a severe rime event. Again research the chronological building of the snowpack.

There are cures but once the faceted snow is buried it often becomes more problematic.
Weather warm enough to melt the early snow completely is best.
Warmth or rain can change the structure of the snow to something more cohesive & bondable & that can improve things.
A big storm event that creates a natural avalanche cycle can clean a lot of it out & provide a reset to the snowpack but stubborn areas that don’t slide can still be outliers.
Sometimes even the weight of a ton of new snow can kind of crush the underlying weakness & strengthen the weak layers.
Once the snowpack goes completely isothermal but that usually won’t happen till springtime.

There is more to it but those are some of the possible scenarios off the top of my head.
Snow science is just that, a science but a science that is constantly evolving & fooling even the experts.
D11CA694-903A-4638-932E-CBC5678870CD.jpeg
 
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4ster

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
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Since @ss20 asked the question. 13” it is

View attachment 144724
IIRC, toward the end of October 2012 we had a couple of days with big snowstorms & skinned to ski the deep, light snow at both Pow Mow & Snowbasin. A few days later it was 70° and a week later all that snow was gone.
October 25, 2012
4F762DB7-ABF0-4170-9083-D05646BB913D.jpeg

in the fall of 2010 we had lots of storms & it just kept right on snowing into the new year & spring for one of the best seasons ever!
July 18, 2011
ED584039-30C8-459F-9955-5EBFDC04A762.jpeg
 

AmyPJ

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In other news Nordic Valley has applied for a rezoning of its properties…

https://frontier.co.weber.ut.us/p/P...DsK_2kkV4owl86YrYA2VJGkXZuYu5R0C811BaFm2FhUCo
I saw that. I just don't see NV as a destination winter place with its low elevation. Also, how many more residents can the Ogden Valley realistically support, water-wise, school-wise, and access-wise? We got stuck there after camping two weekends ago when Trapper's Loop was closed for several hours due to a fatal accident. Ogden Canyon was closed for construction (whose bright idea was it to close Ogden Canyon on a weekend?) The North Ogden Divide is way out of the way for us and traffic headed that way, as the only route out of the valley, was absolute madness. 3 mountainous passes/canyons as the only exits, with only one of them being fairly reliable, makes for a big mess when that reliable one is closed.

It's all just...unsettling. The whole Ogden area certainly isn't remotely like the place I visited in 2001 and decided I wanted to move to during that visit. It's not even the same place I moved to in 2014. The change has come so fast and furious. The mellow, solidly middle-class vibe is quickly shifting to an area of great wealth and the fast-paced rat race lifestyle that goes with it. After spending 13 years prior in the DC area and then Los Angeles, I didn't want that to follow me but it most certainly has. Now with a possible resort-style expansion at the mom and pop Nordic Valley, the old-school vibe will be completely gone. It's just crazy to me because people would raise their eyebrows when I said I wanted to live in Ogden because who the hell would want to live in Ogden? (which is exactly why I wanted to live in this area.)

As far as the Snowbasin expansion--it's being explained as the only viable way to not face an inevitable sale to Vail or Boyne or Alterra. I'm skeptical.
 

Lorenzzo

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As far as the Snowbasin expansion--it's being explained as the only viable way to not face an inevitable sale to Vail or Boyne or Alterra. I'm skeptical.
I'm skeptical too as the financial forces they describe would have them expand to get a better sales price and positioning for sale. Similar in key ways is the emerging Mayflower development adjacent to Deer Valley. It only makes sense as an adjunct of Deer Valley. 400 acres of additional somewhat low altitude skiing and an additional 6,000 plus acres of development. Does that sound lopsided? It is although added to current DV it's proportional. DV could really use another, expansive base and of course everyone wants to sell more real estate. Access easements have already been signed. It's an asset being teed up for sale and DV/Alterra is the logical buyer.
 

Daniel

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Last ski season was record setting, in terms of skier days, for Utah ski resorts. Will traffic be even worse this coming season?

 

4ster

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I saw that. I just don't see NV as a destination winter place with its low elevation. Also, how many more residents can the Ogden Valley realistically support, water-wise, school-wise, and access-wise?
I agree that Nordic is not really situated to be a skiing destination but the developers would sure like the valley as a whole to grow as a recreation destination & the county seems to always see the $ signs before the environment or sustainability. Right now where I live (Wolf Creek W&S) there is a moratorium on any new water hook-ups at least until the water situation changes. This is certainly seems contradictory to adding new development plans anywhere in the Ogden Valley!

I only read about the resort rezone basically combining 3 zones they already own to build a more aesthetic village which doesn't appear too radical on the surface.
To create a Nordic Valley Master Plan for the quaint community
and propose a Master Development Plan to consolidate the existing
zones into one zone for the establishment and the expansion of a
year-round destination resort.
Plans to create a Master Plan for the approximate 510 acres at
Nordic Valley began in the spring of 2021.

Nor does this sound like the huge expansion they asked for a couple years ago with the gondola connecting North Ogden etc., although they have cut some new runs off the new lift this summer. A season pass is now in the $700 range where if you were paying attention you could've purchased a limited pass for just over $100 last season. This alone will kill the local blue collar family faithful that have kept this hometown hill alive.
This valley is a special place & I hope any development is done slowly & responsibly with a constant eye on the future.
2nd snow 001.JPG
 

Wasatchman

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So who is skinning up/snowshoeing?? I'm staying up at PCMR using a buddies perks he is generously letting me use and I feel like a complete idiot I didn't bring any gear.

Really considering getting up on the hill tomorrow or the day after.
 

blackke17

I'd rather be at Alta
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I'm not sure I'd say they're "taking away some awesome terrain". I don't know Alta that well, but the few days I've had there, the easier part of the the blue run under Collins was crowded, and the black slopes next to it over to Collins face didn't seem to be terrain anyone wanted to ski too much... pretty empty, when I skied the stuff over to Collins face. I don't know if I skied the exact area in question though. It's just the highlghted area here I think, right?

View attachment 144317

That said... much like with roadways, widening or adding to try to relieve congestion is often a temporary fix, depending on the particular situation. Because better access or less traffic leads more people to go there. And then with more people, you're right back where you started, but with larger traffic jams.
maybe not "great terrain" but these areas were like natural halfpipes that were steeper than the old corkscrew runout . They were alot of fun at times. frightening other times but it gave people a way to get out of traffic.
 

4ster

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
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Heading out shortly.
Please report back.
Didn't realize there was that much snow in PC or are you heading to Alta?. I have to assume some wrap around, back door, lake effect shenanigans ogwink .
Definitely not enough around here, even up high.
 

Lorenzzo

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Please report back.
Didn't realize there was that much snow in PC or are you heading to Alta?. I have to assume some wrap around, back door, lake effect shenanigans ogwink .
Definitely not enough around here, even up high.
It was 3' of blower! And no one was there! Just kidding. We found turns in the Mayflower area on aspects facing towards the Jordanelle. It was probably worth the drive to the Cottonwoods but this was what the group wanted to do. Can't decide whether to call it a ski day.
 

AmyPJ

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Wasatch Snow Forecast just posted on Twitter that they don't believe that the recent snow above 8000 on north facing slopes will melt before the snowpack starts to form. I think resorts to the north like Snowbasin won't have an issue as it didn't snow much up here, but time will tell.
 

4ster

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time will tell.
Looks pretty white up there right now but supposed to be warmer over the weekend.
Problem is most of these upper elevation bowls don't see much if any sun this time of year.
MB Cirque snapshot.jpg
Like you say, time will tell :crossfingers:
 
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