Pulling Plug of a Utah trip?

Is it too soon to pull the plug on a planned Utah trip for January.  We planned to stay in Eden and ski PowMo and Snowbasin.  The PowMo web cam paints an ugly picture as there is much more snow in my yardthan there.

Targhee has a 6’ base already and is only about 4 hours north of SLC airport.  That looks like my best alternative.  I love that place and Driggs along with Eden are on my retirement list so it would be cool to stay in town as in the past I always stayed up at Targhee itself.

I have a 30 day cancel window so I have several weeks to make up my mind.

Exactly when in January?  Big difference between the first and last week of the month.

There is good reason why PowMow doesn't open until much later than the other ski resorts near SLC.  GT is known as a good place to go over Christmas vacation if looking for early season powder and not too many people.

The Pines Motel in Driggs is a fun little family-owned place.  Easy walk to all the restaurants in town.  Right across the street from the supermarket.

I wouldn't panic yet... even though January is usually a dry month in SLC..

Classic Jason comment

How much snow has Snowbasin had and how much does it take to really open it up?

I don't know the answer but this same thread is popping up all over the internet.

The next two weeks looks to be very warm out west...
Snowbasin has a fair amount of snowmaking..But it needs a good amount of natural snow to open everything up..

Harvey wrote

Classic Jason comment
.

Lol. Yep.

I'd roll the dice with Utah. I'd bet that it will be as fun as Targhee.

Also, I didn't spend a ton of time in either, but I think I like Victor better than Driggs. Closer to the pass, more of a "downtown" (even though neither town really has that). Better views in Driggs, though.

Harvey wrote

How much snow has Snowbasin had and how much does it take to really open it up?

I don't know the answer but this same thread is popping up all over the internet.

I wonder if that's because Snowbasin is on the MCP for the first time.  Could mean that people who haven't ever been there are hoping to go for a day as part of a trip to SLC in early Jan when airfare and lodging are cheap.  Southwest is having a 3-day sale this week.

I've skied Snowbasin in low snow conditions in Jan.  Also with spring conditions in early Feb or mid-March.  As long as there is good visibility it's fun for a first look.  It's more than big enough so that it's possible to find some part of the mountain that's fun on groomers or off-piste.  But if there is wind hold that closes Strawberry or the upper mountain stays icy all day, then not as much fun.

One year I was with friends staying in Eden in late Jan.  The first couple days there was good visibility but uninteresting snow.  Plenty of coverage, just not the powder that people fly out west to ski.  Then a major snowstorm came roaring in.  The two days my friends skied at PowMow were bottomless powder, 12+ inches.  Unfortunately for me, I had to leave a day before the storm hit.

I don't know Coach, everything can change with one system, heck everything could change over one night up there in LCC. It sure does feel weird out here this year though. It's eerily dry and warm and to be honest I'm not complaining, the mountain biking and hiking has been awesome this fall, I'm totally having fun with it. I did go skiing the other day on a thin strip of man made but after one lap I was over it.

Further north of SLC does seem to be a safer bet these days. Sadly the Wasatch just isn't the old reliable that it used to be.

I just moved to Utah a couple months ago. It’s pretty grim out here right now. Almost no snow other than high north facing stuff and apparently not much hope of a pattern change till mid-December at the earliest.

jj is the move "permanent" or for one season or...?

Based on the refund date on the condo we booked with some friends we have to make a decision in about a week or so.  Becuase it’s not solely my decision and the others voted to pull plug lookslike we are going to ski a day in Utah right after arriving and before departing and do 4 days at Targhee. Kind of hedging our bets this way.

Permanent move. I’ll be out east for a week around Christmas but I don’t think I’m bringing the ski gear home. I’m definitely going to miss skiing in the Adirondacks though :(

Looks like our next hope for a pattern change out here is mid December at best. From what I hear from locals often once it starts coming down it doesn’t really stop. Right now I think there’s more powder in Vermont than in the Cottonwoods! Further north I hear they’re doing a lot better right now.

Z wrote

Based on the refund date on the condo we booked with some friends we have to make a decision in about a week or so.  Becuase it’s not solely my decision and the others voted to pull plug lookslike we are going to ski a day in Utah right after arriving and before departing and do 4 days at Targhee. Kind of hedging our bets this way.

I hear the mountains around Logan are doing a lot better than everything to the south.

4 days at the ghee? No day trip to the Village? I don't know man, that just sounds crazy to me. The Ghee gets real boring quick without fresh snow.

Questions and issues:
1) Is the Utah trip early January or late January?
2) Snowbasin/Powder Mt. and Park City do not have the blue chip snow track record of the Cottonwood Canyons.

Average Cottonwood snowfall during the second half of December would result in decent skiing in early January.   It will take more than that for the other places.   If you can pull the plug on the lodging and go to Targhee/Jackson in January you should do it.  Jackson is only 25% open now but has an above average base so a normal December would make that 90+% for January.  If you think Targhee is boring, Jackson assuredly is not.  And Jackson is a good value for lodging in winter because it's mainly a summer resort.  

TonyC wrote

Average Cottonwood snowfall during the second half of December would result in decent skiing in early January.

But what about the January drought that locals are always complaining about?

Last year’s January was far from a drought.



Last year also started dry just like this, but anything could happen.

tbatt,

Great photo, did you take it, or are you the ski model?  At any rate, great to hear you're back East bringing CHAMPAGNE powder with you.  Well, we can always hope, dontcha'know.

All the best, ski you on the hill @ Gore.

64ER

I’ve skied about 20 Days total at Targhee
I may have been lucky but only about 3 of those days were non pow or within enough time of a dump where you couldnt find fluffy stuff if you sniffed around.  
It’s on my short list of places to retire and I want to experience the town a bit more.  If it doesn’t snow we can always hop in the car and hit JH for a day.

tBatt wrote

Last year’s January was far from a drought.

Sorry for not explaining -- that was referring to a long-running disagreement on another forum about January being the month to avoid booking destination trips to Utah.