Ski Season Kicks Off!

Thanksgiving weekend is the goal for most of the Utah ski resorts to open for skiing. This year is no exception; ten out of the fourteen ski areas in our state have opened for the season.  This is a good start, and with the early November snowstorms coming approximately every weekend, Northern Utah is up and running.

With the record snow amounts last season, there are high expectations for a similar year.  Alta has received 76 inches of natural snow so far, and thanks to the resorts ability to make snow they are able to have most of the main runs off of four lifts open.  As of today the settled snow depth is 28 inches. Alta is the Utah resort that receives the most snow in the state, making it the “high water mark”.

So far I have skied 5 days over the last two weeks.  The skiing conditions have gone from soft, powder skiing to hard sheets of ice.   The state hasn’t received any precipitation for the last 8 days; high pressure has made for sunny conditions with periods of wind.  Any powder that was left by the last storm has become a wind blown crust. 

This moment allows me to take a deep breath, relax and make those last minute adjustments.  Considering that the season is still very early, this is a good time to continue tuning skies and evaluating the conditions of my equipment.  Now that I have been out skiing I can prioritize the cost and time needed to make the necessary improvements to damaged or tired equipment.  When the snow begins to pile up I find that the blinders come up, and it is hard for me to make the time for anything other than getting out on skis.

Avalanche fatality

Yesterday was the first avalanche fatality in the Wasatch this season, 2011/2012. In addition to the fatality, there were approximately 10 other human triggered avalanches, with the greatest amount of activity in upper Little Cottonwood Canyon, mostly in the unopened, uncontrolled terrain of the Alta and Snowbird ski areas.

  It does baffle many skiers as to why there can be avalanche danger so early in the ski season.  This has to do with the early season storm we received in October. This month old snow that had been lingering on east and north slopes at elevations of 9500’ and higher had begun to turn into faceted snow consisting of sugary snow and weak crusts.  This past weekend the high winds and high water content of the new snow made for an unstable snowpack.

At 2:30pm yesterday Jamie Pierre was snowboarding in bounds at Snowbird ski resort.  As he triggered a slab avalanche he was swept 700ft over rocky cliffs, although he was not buried he did suffer trauma. Jamie Pierre was an extreme skier appearing in many ski movies made by Warren Miler and others.  He had set a record for the longest cliff jump after he skied off a 255-foot cliff near Grand Targhee in Wyoming in 2006.

Hope the best for his family and friends

How to Xeriscape

My website is for property owners in the Intermountain West looking for information on converting their land to a xeriscape space.  I provide facts as to why it is important to compare the high water usage of a traditional lawn and non-native landscape with the benefits of planting drought tolerant native plants.

I provide a personal perspective on removing my lawn and installing a xeriscape, as well as additional resources to help property owners plan and install their own xeriscape space.
Xeriscape site: