Bryan from BCC
Member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2022
Utah’s 22-23 winter season opened in unprecedented fashion, owing to unusually large amounts of snow and cold temperatures. Brighton and Solitude battled for supremacy in the first-to-open sweepstakes with Solitude announcing a very early opening date of November 18, then pushing it up to November 11 and then further for a soft opening the afternoon of November 10. Brighton jumped in at the last minute and opened a few hours earlier.
As back story, Solitude and Brighton used to battle for first-to-open status when Solitude was owned by the DeSeelhorst family and the new GM of Solitude is working to reclaim that vibe. In fact, in 21-22 Solitude had the longest ski season in Utah, as it opened in late November and stayed open until May.
Solitude is my home base, so I’ll focus on the situation here – it received more than 90 inches of snow in late October and early November and 109 inches through November. This allowed us to get several days of touring in around the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon and at the resorts before the lifts started spinning.
October 23: Touring up to Guardsman Pass between Big Cottonwood Canyon and Park City
Opening day at the resort was a full-on powder day from the earlier snows with conditions surprisingly good because the snow had stayed cold and dry. Three of the lower lifts were running and there were reasonable lines, maybe 15 minutes long on average. The next few days (Friday and Saturday) saw hordes of snow-hungry skiers and boarders flood in, creating lift lines over 45 minutes, possibly longer than I’ve ever seen before here.
Sunday quieted down a bit and for the following few weeks crowds were reasonable, especially after Alta and Snowbird opened. The snow was pretty spectacular, creating near mid-winter conditions because the pre-season storms came in without much in the way of winds, so the snow draped over rocks, logs, and saplings covering them like snow twice the actual depth. As staff came on board, more terrain opened until the entire mountain – including Honeycomb Canyon, one of Solitude’s sidecountry areas – opened by November 25. Incredible!
November 18: Early Morning Sunrise from Moonbeam Lift
Further snow was sparse until the last few days of November and the snowpack shrank from roughly 70 inches to half that depth. Then, on November 28-29, a 15-inch storm came in heavy and windy. The refresh was welcome to amp up the fun, as well as improve coverage – if not quite to the levels found during the first two weeks of operations.
November 30: Honeycomb Canyon, Open Again After the Last Storm (screenshot from Solitude FB Post)
…and we’ve received another 2 feet since December 1 with another few feet predicted over the next week:
As back story, Solitude and Brighton used to battle for first-to-open status when Solitude was owned by the DeSeelhorst family and the new GM of Solitude is working to reclaim that vibe. In fact, in 21-22 Solitude had the longest ski season in Utah, as it opened in late November and stayed open until May.
Solitude is my home base, so I’ll focus on the situation here – it received more than 90 inches of snow in late October and early November and 109 inches through November. This allowed us to get several days of touring in around the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon and at the resorts before the lifts started spinning.
October 23: Touring up to Guardsman Pass between Big Cottonwood Canyon and Park City
Opening day at the resort was a full-on powder day from the earlier snows with conditions surprisingly good because the snow had stayed cold and dry. Three of the lower lifts were running and there were reasonable lines, maybe 15 minutes long on average. The next few days (Friday and Saturday) saw hordes of snow-hungry skiers and boarders flood in, creating lift lines over 45 minutes, possibly longer than I’ve ever seen before here.
Sunday quieted down a bit and for the following few weeks crowds were reasonable, especially after Alta and Snowbird opened. The snow was pretty spectacular, creating near mid-winter conditions because the pre-season storms came in without much in the way of winds, so the snow draped over rocks, logs, and saplings covering them like snow twice the actual depth. As staff came on board, more terrain opened until the entire mountain – including Honeycomb Canyon, one of Solitude’s sidecountry areas – opened by November 25. Incredible!
November 18: Early Morning Sunrise from Moonbeam Lift
Further snow was sparse until the last few days of November and the snowpack shrank from roughly 70 inches to half that depth. Then, on November 28-29, a 15-inch storm came in heavy and windy. The refresh was welcome to amp up the fun, as well as improve coverage – if not quite to the levels found during the first two weeks of operations.
November 30: Honeycomb Canyon, Open Again After the Last Storm (screenshot from Solitude FB Post)
…and we’ve received another 2 feet since December 1 with another few feet predicted over the next week:
