Snowbird, UT 5/5/12

"Day 67: Losing my motivation.

Yep, it's happening again this year. It seems to happen earlier and earlier each season. I couldn't even bring myself to head back up today.

That's not to say that there's anything wrong with the skiing. Thanks to a cold front Friday night that froze everything up solid and a socked in mountain on Saturday morning, I didn't get up there until 10:45 when the sun finally broke out. The timing was perfect as things were just softening to perfection. Everywhere but below Rothman Way on the front side is wall to wall. Below that, there are some bare spots poking through although for the most part it doesn't restrict skiing where you want to. This will likely, however, be the final weekend to ski down to the Tram from the Bypass Road.



I'm just not feeling it anymore. I'm ready to move on to summer activities: hiking, backpacking, kayaking, canyoneering, climbing, and even the odd foray biking. Yet I still have this sense of obligation to myself to keep skiing until it's really done. I'm torn. I had lunch Friday with Jessica of Ski Utah and she just shook her head when I answered her question as to whether or not I'd be skiing this weekend. People around here move on to other things once the season starts winding down, and after a disappointing snow season that failed to hit the 400-inch mark that's happening earlier than normal this year.

Speaking of the Bypass Road, as well as folks moving on to summer activities earlier than normal this year, I said in the Western Weather topic thread that Snowbird's early closure on May 13 this year has more to do with ticket sales than cover. You've seen the cover above, here's the Bypass Road parking lot at noon:



I rest my case. The Entry 2 lot was barely filled past the curve separating the main lot from the mid-winter valet area. Tram cabins were, to quote Bobby's phrase, "dancin' trams" with maybe 30 passengers in the 125-person cabins.

Everything but Baldy, Blackjack and the Gad 2 terrain was open on Saturday, with the closures due to wet slide concerns, not snow cover. Running lifts were the Tram, Little Cloud and MBE. Bobby was talking about heading over to "Snowbird East" (a.k.a Alta) around 2 p.m. but I didn't feel like sticking around that long. AmyZ, Bobby Danger and Telejon were up today, and likely rdwore too as he's leaving Utah sometime this week for the summer. He doesn't even have his flight reserved yet, and isn't even sure of his flight's destination -- must be nice to be retired! The bastich. :lol: I woke up on time but farted around the house all day. I just didn't feel like trudging up LCC today for a few more runs.

it really never got good till closing time 2p.m. , but it did start getting really good in mineral basin around 11 a.m. . the morning temps were just colder than 20degrees . peruvian gulch stayed frozen to the bottom of the hill till 12:30 ish so the window of really good coooooorrrrrrnnnn was in the afternoon . i'm a bit dissappointed in the bird for not being somewhat flexible with closing times on colder days in the spring , certainly there couldn't have been much ave danger , every aspect was frozen solid deeply to the base of the mtn. , and even at 2:30 the shadows were still frozen at the bottom of the mtn. . 1/2 to 1" of corn on lower chips face on the last run . upper silver fox never softened off the peak , morning temps and clouds never let the sun hit it, and last run i checked and got right back on chips switch back road . sunday was even better , just as cold as the morning before without the clouds. L.T.D. on sunday

BobbyDanger":1odbzmq2 said:

I'm a bit disappointed in the bird for not being somewhat flexible with closing times on colder days in the spring

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Is Mammoth the only late spring ski area that gets this concept? Bachelor deserves the most criticism here, shortening hours in mid-April when it's often still full-on winter. Even in spring mode weather is variable and sometimes the skiing is better early in the day, sometimes later.

FYI Mammoth hours are currently 8:30-3:00, will change to 7:30-2:30 starting May 14.

Tony Crocker":2x88mklp said:

BobbyDanger":2x88mklp said:

I'm a bit disappointed in the bird for not being somewhat flexible with closing times on colder days in the spring

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Is Mammoth the only late spring ski area that gets this concept?

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Really? Mammoth adjusts their hours daily depending on sun, temperature, wind, etc. that day?

No, I didn't think so.

admin":1nmuwsnh said:

Really? Mammoth adjusts their hours daily depending on sun, temperature, wind, etc. that day?
No, I didn't think so.

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Not daily, but if you're open longer hours there's more flexibility for skiers to catch the window of optimal snow conditions. And the date at which hours are shortened or move earlier does vary by season. The move to the 7:30AM start to 2:00 or 2:30 close occurs after Memorial Day in big years like last year. Actually I've seen a couple of Memorial weekends with 4PM closings when there's recent fresh snow.

Tony Crocker":1rlhmvot said:

Not daily, but if you're open longer hours there's more flexibility for skiers to catch the window of optimal snow conditions.

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Interesting that admin would repost that picture, since we know from last year that if it were overflowing with parked cars and the tram line were a full maze and across the plaza, Snowbird would still not adjust either hours or lift operations in any way.