The short version is that things have been brutally warm in Ogden the last week. Given the rain event that surpassed every peak in the Ogden zone, snow really took a beating. High elevation snowpack is still there--wx stations, webcams, and sat imagery verify this--but things are noticeably less white than they were even yesterday morning. Even at high elevations, some of the solar aspects are starting to become devoid of snow (this has been happening at mid elevations for a few days). The melt has been patchy, but some SW slopes in particular are completely brown even up high.
Nordic valley still isn't open. Lewis Peak has very little snow left at all. Powder is only operating Sundown, and there's plenty of grass, bushes, rocks, etc. in the periphery. Snowbasin has had ski patrol literally shoveling snow from Strawberry into giant bags so they can patch over the dirt spots in the groomer in the Needles zone, the only run they have open. Ben Lomond has dry roads on the approaches and muddy trails above the road.
Saying the "juice isn't worth the squeeze" would imply there's fruit on the tree at all. As an indicator of how "ripe" things are, I went dry tooling (again) this morning. Working on the climbing project seems like the move since the skiable snow in the backcountry requires a long hike with skis on your back. While I was out, I saw a completely dry Antelope Island and Promontory Range. The Oquirrh Mountains are nearly devoid of snow, too, with the exception of a few hundred feet of vert on N/NE terrain off the cell tower summit. The Stansbury's have a bit of white across the high ridgeline, but that's it (at least Deseret got socked in by cloud around 10am). The Burn in Taylor Canyon (on the Mount Ogden massif) is completely dry. Maybe the upper 500ft of Banana Chute (NW) would be skiable.
I'm planning to do some alpine climbing on the west side of Ben Lomond tomorrow. Depending on how that goes, I may have some updates on the snowpack itself. I figure if I keep my expectations low it will be easier to avoid disappointment.
