I was at Snowbasin on 12/27. They had just opened Strawberry for the first time and it was pretty low tide. Groomers were in good shape and they were still blowing snow. We were able to get the first rope drop of the day (of the season?) on the upper DeMoisy gate that wraps around the mountain. That traverse was super bony, but I'm on a board, so I struggle with traverses like that. However, the resulting run on Arrowhead was fantastic. Hit one rock in there at high speed, but snow was really good. Also, almost nothing off John Paul was open, but with this latest storm, I bet there's enough for it to be open. Same thing goes for the area under Sisters off Strawberry, bet it will be good with this new snow. I think Snowbasin will be worth a visit for sure.
I was at Solitude on 12/26. Back then, the West-facing side of Honeycomb was pretty bare. They had the gate at the top of Powderhorn open into Honeycomb, but we boot-packed back out once we saw how sparse it was. The East-facing (far) side was great. Again, being a boarder, I can usually only traverse out to Voltaire, but I had a completely fresh line to myself, and coverage wasn't an issue. In general, the Powderhorn terrain was the sketchiest non-Honeycomb terrain, but there were plenty of lines.
Overall, I bet you can't go wrong with any place during this storm. It seems to be a doozy. I'll be hitting the Bird tomorrow, probably, after I drive up from Vegas tonight. Hope the crowds aren't too bad, and hope the canyon's open.
