Utah’s bad snow seasons

This current snow season isn’t looking good. Even though snow began falling last October, it was in very small increments that didn’t have time to stick for very long, and if it were not for snow-making and cold enough temperature to make the artificial stuff, it would be downright catastrophic. 

What’s true is that I don’t like man-made snow, the limited area it corrals skiers into and of course the heightened collision danger. But without more natural falls, this is the only way we can slide down the hill.

There have been bad season in Utah before, like in 1948/1949 I am told, 1976/1977 when serious snow finally showed up on February 22 and when Chuck English, the former operation manager at Deer Valley remembers that he was working in Alta and had to go to the Deseret Industries Mormon thrift store to purchase “disposable” skis to slide over rocks. 

I also remember the 1979/1980 season when we had our Look national sales meeting at Park City early January. This was my very first time in what would become my real hometown. We stayed at the brand new Racquet Club Condos and couldn’t ski because there was no snow. All this reminds me that we might see a repeat of all this for 2024/2025. 

This and milder temperatures brought by climate change are not boding well at all for our ski future. Another good set of reasons for keeping my expectation very, very low and welcome a miracle if there’s one!