Canyons Base 12/21

Good News: Telly and WC/Purg should get some good snow between Christmas - Jan 3rd. Looks like maybe 2 ft.

Vail/BC should get about a foot. Breck and Keystone 6-8 inches.

Bad News: Still WAY short on the season but Itll cover some bumps for holiday crowds.

Side note: Sounds like yesterdays meeting at Telly moved the needle but not enough currently to avoid a labor shutdown. If they shutdown during that snowfall, it's still gonna be Chair 1/4 just better conditions.

Fingers crossed it doesn't get there.

For UT, they should see the same Rain/Snow mix BUT around New Years temps should drop and around a foot is expected from 12:30-1:3.

There's moisture out there, it's just warm. Once the temps drop the Snow faucet hopefully picks up.

We're set to ski 22nd-28 Feb at Purg. That should be close to peak snow base, in theory. At least fully open typically.

I found some old new on package straight skis in my shed the other day I totally forgot I had bought. No bindings. I think I bought them around 2001 or so. I'll have to go dig them out for fun.

Supposed to ski Winter Park with family Jan 3/4. Considering pivoting to Stowe or Killington or elsewhere. Any recommendations?

Bayou City said:

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Canyons Base 12/21

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Not great! I have given up hope on the orange bubble being open. Even if we get a ton of snow, I doubt they will be able to groom it for skiing before we leave on the sixth.

Stowe has 30 base and 10 lifts. It's cold ass right now too.
30/50 expected over 15.

WP has low 40s through Christmas then maybe 6/8 inches through 1/3. 7% open. 18 inch base.

The family are good skiers. I don't want to spend a fortune on greens. Tough decision on what to do. Damn weather.

Stowe or Quebec. The snow in Quebec is insane.

Always wanted to try Stowe and flights aren't bad into Boston. Burlington is tough.

Looks like Wolf Creek may be pretty good too.

In the Colorado/NM area, it's sort of when in doubt, divert to WC because you know there will be something you can ski, just be prepared with good tires and maybe a set of chains for your vehicle.

Have a trip to Beaver Creek planned 1/7-1/11, should I find somewhere else to go?

Just switched bookings from WP to WC for after NY Day. Fly to Durango and VRBO between Pagosa and WC. At least the kids will have some skiing. Lodging and rental car etc is way cheaper in Pagosa than WP. But we have to eat the Ikon 2 day flex passes. Sucks. What a year.

We're headed to Wolf Creek on the 29th through the 2nd. Excited for the fresh snow but dreading that drive from South Fork to ski area if it dumps as much as they are thinking. I've gotten squirrely on that road and in the parking lots a couple times in the past 3 years since we started going there.

Before anyone gets too excited about WC.

The GFS just updated and It's a for goose egg for Colorado through 1/7.

Opensnow is seeing something they don't

Supposed to go to Copper Feb 8 to 12. I think I'm probably cancelling that.

Feb is still a long ways away. We go to Steamboat in less than 4 weeks and getting nervous.

57 degrees at base of Peak 9 Breckenridge today at noon.

Winter will eventually show up. The snow might not be epic but once it is cold enough day to day, enough base will stick to work with in the grooming, unless the season is a truly extreme outlier.

Keystone yesterday, Breck today. Texans will be fine. Snow sucks, but we had fun. A full day of skiing. 2 years ago was much worse. Upper runs are shut down. Lower mountain was open but crowded. Base hit about 50 degrees. Long sleeves more than adequate.

Not sure if serious. 2 years ago the SME was 30% higher at this point in the season. Yeah It wasn't a great year but it was a far better start than the current year. Only year worse than the current was 2018 which was the dog of all dogs.

Yep. 2 years ago was awful. My experience was in Tahoe. Should have mentioned that.

So what is the story at Wolf Creek? We are in Taos and know it will be crappy, but using our skip day to drive up to Wolf Creek. They are showing 100% of terrain open. Is this legit and just crappy conditions?

How is Taos looking?

It is all lifts open but tough conditions off the groomed stuff. A week ago when I was there you could tree ski in most of the more moderate slopes but was getting pretty crusty. Another week and a few inches more melt off and it could be pretty rough in places and a lot of the blacks and extreme terrain is sure to be roped off. There will still be 2-3 dozens of skiable runs though.

Caveat: I'm a native Texan and learned to ski in New Mexico so to me anything frozen that covers the ground is good enough.

Where ya Gonna change it to? Canada? Vermont?

Everywhere in CO is the same. UT too.

Wolf Creek has lost 25% (almost 30%) of their base over the last 7 days because of the warm temps. They are expecting highs in the mid 40s through Wednesday. Then 14-20 inches over 15.

No where in CO is gonna be "good" through Middle of January.

The storm they had pushing through Southern CO/NM has disorganized and the overall forecast has been cut in half.

Keystone / Breck now expecting 2-4 Over 14 BARF and Vail/BC around 6.

CHRISTMAS/NY along the 70 corridor are going to be atrocious.

We were there last week and won't be returning until they have a couple of MASSIVE storms. It's depressing how bare it is out there.

As of this morning, 2025/26 is tied for the lowest SME on record (2018) at this point in the season going back to 1985. So tied for worst in my life time ;(

Time to offer Rob Katz as a ritual sacrifice to Ullr….

https://durangoweatherguy.com/

Ya this is trash. We canceled for Feb 8 to 12 and going to Switzerland/Austria instead. Can't trust it at this point.