Alta 2024-25 news, travel tips, terrain notes

[marzNC]

@marzNC you must be having a wonderful time. Got pics to post?

Where? I'm not at Alta yet. Will head that way again in early April so paying attention to weather and snow conditions in advance, per usual.

As for trip reports from Idaho, hope to get to those soon. Just got home after being gone for two weeks.

 

[marzNC]

For those who haven't skied during late season in the Rockies, here's a summary of how to plan for fun spring skiing. Having spent at least a week skiing Alta in April over the last 15 years, I was able to learn from friends, locals, and instructors where to look for cold snow or corn snow, depending on the weather. I started to pay attention to which areas were in the shade in the morning, and which had shade in the afternoon. When someone knows different areas of a mountain well, usually possible to have a good time spring skiing for at least 4-5 hours on any given day.

February 2025

Spring Skiing, Explained | OpenSnow

Spring is a wonderful time of year to hit the slopes. Base depths are near their climatological peak, while warmer...

opensnow.com

 

[marzNC]

Apparently the Mineral Basin lift repairs were finished by March 23. Mineral Basin was closed starting in early March. The replacement of a major part and other repairs took longer than expected.

Glad MB will be open for spring skiing in April. Dropping into Mineral Basin via the Alta/Snowbird connection at the top of Sugarloaf in the morning can be fun because MB softens before most of the terrain at Alta.

 

[marzNC]

Clearly a big storm this week. A friend from NC who is staying in the city this week with a few ski buddies lucked out. He was lucky last year too when I joined him and his family for a few days before heading to Alta Lodge.

Looks like spring skiing by the time I and friends from assorted connections start skiing at Alta in about a week.

OpenSnow forecast for Alta, as of March 31:

 

[marzNC]

While Alta closed on April 20 as planned months before, Snowbird decided to close on Memorial Day, May 26. Of course, per usual only a few lifts have been running at Snowbird since late April. Improving snowmaking is one of the reasons that Solitude opens earlier and stays open longer. After being bought by Alterra in 2018, Solitude has become a 4-season resort.

SkiUtah posted expected Closing Dates in early March. As with Opening Dates, updates are made as needed. Typically Brighton doesn't announce opening or closing dates more than a few days in advance. For late season, by May the closing dates are usually fairly well set. Although a snowstorm in May can make a difference.

from SkiUtah as of May 21, 2025