Ski areas are closing and each has a different uphill travel policy. Remember that areas open to uphill travel are no longer doing any avalanche mitigation work and must be treated as backcountry terrain.
Alta Ski Area is closed to uphill travel this weekend.
The spring corn cycle is on.
Salt Lake City tied it's all time high of 85°F for the day (April 27th) and while the bluebird sings to the lemonade springs in the valley, the spring corn cycle is on in the mountains. Good, supportable corn can be found up to about 930 or 10am on easterly facing slopes, but be sure to continue to work your way around the compass before leaving unsightly ruts by overstaying your welcome on the quick-to-soften transitional snowpack. Settled snow depths are 30-40" along the PC ridgeline and 65-85" in BCC and LCC.
Glorious in the mountains this morning, but daytime highs reached into the mid-60s at the bases of Alta and Brighton well after we were gone.
Week in Review - week in review mostly had staff climbing in Red Rocks and Little Cottonwood, floating through Labyrinth Canyon, and skiing near Cooke City, Montana. Grading final exams and yard work rounded out the week.
Year in Review - We'll be working on our 17/18 Annual Report in the coming weeks, but a few things of note regarding this winter. According to our colleagues at UDOT Little Cottonwood where they've been keeping records since winter 44/45, the Alta Guard (UDOT LCC) currently sits at 42" of snow with 5.67" of water for April. April averages 66" with 6.65" water. (It seems unlikely that the weekend storms will put us anywhere close to that.)
For the season, the Alta Guard recorded 288" with 30.31" water. It's only the second time in 74 years of records that they did not break 300." This goes into the books as the second lowest snowfall on record (2014-15 was 274"), and third driest (1976-77 had 23.7" water and 2014-15 had 27"). If you plug April 2018 snow/water into our 74 year data set, our annual average drops to 486" snow with 45" water.
Still. Remember that days in the mountains are an absolute gift. Good winters are a bonus.
We will continue to post all observations, so please keep sending those in.