Spring skiing: Snowbird sees midwinter snow conditions — in May
Nearly two feet of snow fell on May 1, which is unusual only in that it was light and fluffy snow, and flew up like cottonwood seeds from under the tips of the skis.
It was midwinter skiing in midspring.
There is only one Utah ski resort — Snowbird — that is open where skiers are able to enjoy all the new powder.
And with the new snow came the skiers. Slopes were busy and remain busy.
"What we've found is that anytime you get powder snow, skiers will follow," said Dave Fields, Snowbird marketing director.
"The first two days of May, we had pretty exceptional skiing. There's something about skiing powder in May that makes you laugh. It's gravy on a great season. You'd think that with as much snow as we've had that people wouldn't be as interested as they are. It doesn't matter what the calendar says."
Along with the new snow, temperatures were also cold, which made for ideal skiing and snowboarding. In a random opinion poll taken on the Plaza Deck at the resort, "conditions were excellent."
Snowbird currently has a snow base of more than 10 feet, "and we're not losing it very fast," Fields said.
Plans are for the resort to remain open daily through Sunday, then open for the three-day weekends — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — through June 1, "and very likely beyond. How much longer we'll be open I can't say," he said.
The Tram has closed for service and maintenance and will be down until mid-June. Skiers and snowboarders will have to use the new Peruvian, little cloud and the Mineral Basin high-speed lifts, with access between the two through the Snowbird tunnel.
The tunnel, the only skier tunnel in the world, remains very popular and, for many, adds to the spring skiing experience.
A daily pass will be $59. Hours through May 16 will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. After May 16, hours will change to 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
With abundant snow in past seasons, Snowbird has been able to open its lifts to skiing and snowboarding up to and through July 4 twice — in 1995 and 2005.
Fields said that along with the local traffic, there is a strong showing of out-of-towners. With on-hill cameras and computer access, "it's easy for people to see we have good snow ... and we're getting a lot of interest. Our bookings in the lodges were strong all the way through April and have continued. It's a good time because we have some inexpensive packages for rooms and tickets ... and the skiing is good."
Spring is a time, too, when people have the opportunity to mix activities. That is, ski in the morning and golf, bike, hike, fish or do any number of other activities in the afternoon.
Two resorts have also announced early plans to expand skiing and snowboarding opportunities next year.
Snowbasin Resort will begin construction in June on a detachable quad lift to replace the Little Cat lift, which services beginning terrain. The bottom terminal will be located above Earl's Lodge and the upper terminal will end at the upper parking lot.
Park City Mountain Resort will put in $10.5 million in improvements for the 2008-09 season.
Improvements will include a new high-speed chairlift, terrain enhancements and renovation of the Mid-Mountain Lodge.
The new high-speed Crescent lift will replace and realign the existing Ski Team fixed-grip double chairlift. The new lift will begin near the base of the ski resort and extend to Crescent Ridge, also known as Ski Team Ridge.
It will lessen the load on the PayDay lift during peak times and provide increased access to front-side runs, which are some of the resort's best advanced ski terrain.
E-mail: grass@desnews.com
Recent comments
This story is inaccurate. There are other ski areas in Europe that...
researcher | May 8, 2008 at 9:40 a.m.
packed groomed runs with old crispy snow don't equate to mid...
Baloney | May 8, 2008 at 9:20 a.m.
