Story of the Day
The guns are on. Killington fired 165 of them Saturday morning, two weeks earlier than last year, and fifty are on Superstar alone. Those fifty have a job: the Killington Cup slalom and GS run there Nov 27–29, and Shiffrin has said she’ll race both. The rest are spread across Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall and Upper Great Northern in the North Ridge area. Tickets are on sale, and there’s no opening date yet (SnowBrains).
New Hampshire is spending its money on water. Pats Peak is building a 21-million-gallon summit reservoir and adding 3,000 gallons per minute of pumping, taking it to almost 8,000 gpm and from about 100 guns running at once to about 200. Gunstock spent $4.5 million on lifts, snowmaking and equipment as phase 2 of a $9 million plan (Unofficial Networks).
Out West it’s a roll call. A-Basin, Keystone, Loveland and Copper are making snow, and Copper and Breckenridge are targeting Nov 6 (Unofficial Networks). Winter Park joined Thursday night (SAM), Breckenridge started Friday morning (Summit Daily), and Purgatory fired up late Wednesday into Thursday (9News). Taos Ski Valley got its guns going Thursday morning (SAM). Arizona Snowbowl has been making snow since Oct 13 and is targeting Nov 20 (Unofficial Networks). Mt. Rose – Ski Tahoe was first in Tahoe, starting overnight Oct 11 on its Kit Carson opening route, and is aiming for Nov 6 (SAM; SnowSports News).
Ski Utah’s opening dates haven’t moved: Brian Head Nov 6; Alta, Park City and Solitude Nov 20; Snowbasin and Snowbird Nov 27; Deer Valley Dec 5; Powder Mountain Dec 11. Still no snowmaking reported in the Cottonwoods (Ski Utah). Arizona is making snow before Little Cottonwood.
Photo of the Day
Killington’s snowguns firing Saturday morning. The resort posted it at 7:37 a.m. ET with the caption “Woke up to a lil’ somethin’ somethin’❄️. Our snowguns are officially out of hibernation.”
Video: Killington Resort (@KillingtonMtn) on X.
News of the Day
Storm Watch
The Wasatch storm moved up a day.
The Salt Lake NWS office moved the start of next week’s wet stretch up to Tuesday and trimmed the snow. The discussion now calls for 3–6 in. above about 9,500 ft Thursday into late Friday, down from 4–8 in. yesterday. But about 55% of global ensemble members keep cool, unsettled weather over Utah into next weekend (NWS SLC discussion). And the Hidden Peak grid didn’t get the memo. It has 4–8 in. on Friday alone (NWS Hidden Peak). The forecasters’ discussion and the summit’s point forecast disagree. I’m siding with the summit, and I reserve the right to be wrong.
The Cottonwoods
Utah starts the week sunny and warm. Hidden Peak is partly sunny and 49 today, 47 Monday with a 20% chance of rain and snow after 3 PM, and 45 Tuesday with a 40% chance of rain, snow and storms. Wednesday is a sunny 48 intermission. Thursday brings showers and storms, and Friday has rain and snow before noon, a high near 36, and 4–8 in. possible (NWS Hidden Peak). Yesterday that grid had 3–5 in. Thursday night and 1–3 in. Friday, so up top, the number went the right way.
Alta: 51 today, 49 Monday, 47 Tuesday (40%); Friday rain and snow before noon, high near 36, 3–7 in. possible (NWS Alta)
Brighton: 55 and 52; rain and snow Friday, high near 37 (NWS Brighton)
Snowbird base: 56 and 55; Friday near 41 (NWS Snowbird base)
Park City base: 61 today and Monday; Friday rain to showers and storms, high near 46 (NWS Park City)
The forecasters’ story: remnants of Tropical Storm Simon bring isolated showers to southern and central Utah today and Monday. A closed low forms off the central California coast by Tuesday, and precipitation chances return as early as Tuesday through Friday, with Wednesday a possible lull. The low crosses Utah Friday, and moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Trudy may join in. Water totals land around 0.50–1.50 in., locally about 2 in. in favored high terrain. Snow levels could drop to about 8,000 ft late Thursday into Friday, though some solutions keep them above 9,000 ft. The NBM model blend shows 2–7 in. on ridgelines above 9,000 ft. After Friday, the GFS favors a trough parked over Utah into next weekend, and the European model is drier. No headlines yet (NWS SLC discussion).
@WasatchSnow says the 15-day precipitation anomalies look “very El Niño-like across the West” (post). @NWSSaltLakeCity has a band of light rain moving north this afternoon into early Monday (post). The Utah Avalanche Center still shows “No rating” for every zone because it’s pre-season (UAC). No rating means no forecast. The hazard is still there.
For the weather nerds: Jim Steenburgh at Wasatch Weather Weenies says NOAA’s new RRFS model has been pushed back again, to Nov 3, to fix precipitation-type output that overforecasts freezing rain and underforecasts ice pellets. The NAM, HREF, SREF and HiresW retire at the same time (WWW). He also notes the national centers lump graupel in with sleet. In fairness, so does my face.
Colorado and the West
Colorado has 0 active alerts now that Saturday’s freeze warnings are gone (NWS alerts). Loveland Pass is mostly sunny and 47 today, with a 40% chance of snow showers Monday afternoon and likely rain and snow showers Friday, high near 42 (NWS Loveland Pass). Vail is 63 today, with rain likely Thursday night into Friday (NWS Vail). Big Sky turns to rain and snow Friday, high near 40 (NWS Big Sky), and Jackson is near 61 today with rain Thursday night and Friday (NWS Jackson). The whole West gets wet on the same Friday.
The Northern Greens and the East
Stowe is cold and clear, with a low around 25 tonight and sun through Friday, highs of 49–60 and lows near freezing (NWS Stowe). OpenSnow Stowe shows 0 in. across all three windows, 1–15 days (OpenSnow Stowe), and Vermont has no active alerts (NWS alerts). Lincoln, NH, woke up to a low near 20, with sun all week and highs of 46–58 (NWS Lincoln). No natural snow. But in the East, cold nights are the forecast that matters, because cold nights are what the guns eat.
Resort News
Alta parking. SnowBrains has the full 2026–27 rules. Reservations are $25, online only, and next week’s batch opens every Sunday at 3 p.m. Each account can hold four active reservations, and same-day bookings don’t count toward that. A first no-show is a warning, each one after that is $100, and Alta’s own page says parking without a reservation costs $150 (Alta Parking). No reservation needed from opening day through Dec 10, on non-holiday Mondays through Thursdays, after 1 p.m., or Apr 5–24. You do need one every Friday through Sunday from Dec 11 to Apr 4, Dec 18–Jan 3, Jan 18, Feb 15, and 8 a.m.–1 p.m. on closing day, Apr 25 (SnowBrains). Alta’s own page still says sales open “mid-October,” with no firm date (Alta Parking). If you fly in for a weekend, book the parking when you book the flight.
Sugarloaf dropped its plan to reuse Big Sky’s old Six Shooter six-pack for Timberline and is going with a new detachable quad. At its Oct 10 Homecoming meeting, the resort said the six-pack had more capacity than Timberline needs and would mean a wider cut through upper-mountain forest (Unofficial Networks). Smaller lift, more trees.
Arapahoe Basin turns 80. In 1946, two 10th Mountain Division veterans put their savings into a single rope tow beyond Loveland Pass, and the area has events planned all winter (SnowBrains). Happy birthday to the Legend.
Avalanche deaths. A slab avalanche near Laguna del Inca, close to Ski Portillo in Chile, killed three people Saturday afternoon. Four injured people were taken to a hospital in Los Andes. Officials said the group were Chilean day visitors climbing near the Tres Hermanos peaks, not resort guests. Portillo has been closed since Oct 11 (SnowBrains). In New Zealand, a man died in an avalanche on the east face of Mount Dixon in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park on Sunday, local time. The forecast there was moderate danger (SnowBrains). Our thoughts are with their families and friends.
Titlis. A fault stopped the new Titlis Connect tram between Stand and the summit on Saturday, and about 200 guests came down by helicopter. The operator says the cabin was empty and in the station when the fault started. It’s repaired and running again (SnowBrains).
What a lift ticket really costs. SRG Skiing argues the $300 window price isn’t what most skiers pay. He cites Vail data from December 2025: nearly 75% of visits were on Epic products bought ahead, fewer than 2% were window tickets, and the effective price for 2025–26 was about $135 (Unofficial Networks).
Catching up on yesterday? There’s Toggenburg’s sale and 2027–28 reopening plan (Powder) and Killington’s ten-year plan (Powder).
Racing & Events
Sölden is six days out: women’s GS Saturday, Oct 24, men’s GS Sunday, Oct 25 (Unofficial Networks). @MikaelaShiffrin’s “T-minus 1 Week” post drew ~11.2K views and 750 likes (post). The women’s tour has 40 races at 20 venues, Worlds in Crans-Montana Feb 1–14, and finals at Sun Valley in March, in the World Cup’s 60th season (SnowBrains). Further out, The Snow League comes to Park City Jan 22–23 (SnowBrains), and the 2027 Freeride World Tour opens at Val Thorens Jan 24–30 (SnowBrains). Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is out with an Achilles tear (Ski Racing).
Gear and the Ride Home
Rossignol’s Soul 102 is back for 2027 with exactly one change: it dropped “Sender” from the name. Powder’s review gives it 135–102–125 with a 17 m radius and 2,150 g at 180 cm, plus tip rocker, camber underfoot and a fairly flat tail (Powder). Same ski, humbler name. I can relate to the name part. Otherwise it’s quiet: SKI’s last gear post was Friday’s H-POWER 89 piece (SKI H-POWER 89), and Blister’s Oct 16 newsletter had no new ski reviews (Blister).
For the ride home: Powder’s “Nearing 60, This Skier and Filmmaker Still Drops Cliffs. Here’s Why,” on Scott Gaffney’s latest edit (Powder), which I’m choosing to read as a how-to. On Skiing Is Believing, Belgium’s Sam Maes talks about his new setup after Team Global Racing folded and getting ready for Sölden (Ski Racing). And if you missed them, Blister Podcast Ep. 415 with Marcus Goguen (Blister) and Storm Skiing with Nub’s Nob GM Ben Doornbos (The Storm).
From the Collective
The new site is live, and so is the Medicine Cabinet
The new Savage Mountain Collective site is up at savagemountaincollective.com.
If your ski feed has gone sick, I have a cabinet for that.
The Medicine Cabinet is up on the new Savage Mountain Collective site. It’s a list of more than 120 accounts worth following, sorted into 14 prescriptions. Each prescription starts with a symptom. The Weather one says, “You are making travel decisions from one blue snowflake icon.” I felt seen, and not in a good way.
Here’s how it works. Open the prescription that matches what ails you. Each one has a short set of directions and a stack of accounts: the platform, the handle, one line on why they’re worth your time, and a button to follow or subscribe. That’s the whole thing. Nobody’s going to quiz you about your feelings.
The prescriptions are Skiing, Mountains, Freeskiing, Worldwide Skiing, Weather, Ski Tips, Resorts, Travel, Photography, Ski Brands, Utah, Colorado, Ski the East and The Savage Cocktail. That last one is the house blend, and yes, it’s mostly me. I’m aware.
There are no affiliate links, and the page says “0 paid placements” because that’s the real number. If a brand is on the list, it’s because its feed is good. If it stops being good, it comes off.
If you want somewhere to start: Wasatch Snow for the Utah forecast you check first when the Cottonwoods start stacking up, Mad River Glen because a skier-owned single chair belongs in everybody’s feed, and Lift Blog for anyone who has strong opinions about haul ropes.
The list will change. If I missed someone who belongs in there, hit reply and tell me. I’ll probably agree with you and be annoyed I didn’t think of it first.
The Algorithm, Part 4 of 4: The Weird Corners and the Hills We Actually Drive To
Mid-Atlantic hills, racers to watch, avalanche centers, and a couple of accounts that’ll make you yell at your phone.
This fall I cleaned up what my phone shows me, and I’m sharing the list: 100 Instagram and X accounts in four parts. This is the last one.
Missed the first 75? Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 are here. Here’s part 4.
76. Jim Steenburgh (X @ProfessorPowder) University of Utah atmospheric scientist, author of Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth, and the guy behind the Wasatch Weather Weenies blog. When he gets excited about a storm, I clear my calendar.
77. Utah Avalanche Center (X @utavy_ · IG @utavy) Read the forecast before you leave the groomers. They’ve been at it 43 years, per their bio, and they still have to remind us.
78. Snowbasin (X @SnowbasinResort · IG @snowbasinresort) Ogden’s Olympic hill. The 2002 downhill ran here, and somehow it’s still underrated.
79. Jackson Hole (X @jhski · IG @jacksonhole) Corbet’s Couloir lives here. Watching people drop in is a hobby. Doing it is a decision.
80. Steamboat (X @skisteamboat) They trademarked “Champagne Powder,” so they take the snow more seriously than I take anything.
81. Palisades Tahoe (X @palisadestahoe · IG @palisadestahoe) Two mountains, 6,000 acres, and a bio that claims Lake Tahoe’s longest season. The spring posts will ruin your April.
82. Marco Odermatt (IG @marcoodermatt) The Swiss guy who keeps winning. Instagram only. I couldn’t find an X account that’s actually him.
83. Henrik Kristoffersen (X @H_Kristoffersen · IG @h_kristoffersen) Norwegian tech racer who won giant slalom gold at the 2019 Worlds in Åre. Never short on opinions, which is half the reason to follow him.
84. Ryan Cochran-Siegle (IG @rc.s) Vermonter from the skiing Cochrans and the Beijing 2022 super-G silver medalist. Instagram is where he posts.
85. Jessie Diggins (X @jessdiggs · IG @jessiediggins) Olympic gold in 2018 and the happiest person in skiing. Cross-country counts. I will die on this hill, and it’s a gentle one.
86. Alex Ferreira (IG @alexferreiraski · TikTok @alexferreiraski · YouTube @AlexFerreiraSki) Aspen halfpipe skier who finished his Olympic set at Milano Cortina: silver in 2018, bronze in 2022, gold in 2026. He’s also the guy under the gray wig in the next entry.
87. Hotdog Hans (IG @hotdoghans · TikTok @hotdoghans · YouTube @hotdoghans) Alex Ferreira’s alter ego, a crusty old ski bum who wanders into the terrain park and shows up the teenagers. Ferreira says he based Hans on his own grandfather.
88. Stowe (X @StoweMtResort) Mount Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak, with a ski town attached that knows exactly how pretty it is.
89. Stratton (X @StrattonResort · IG @strattonresort) Southern Vermont, and one of the first ski areas to let snowboarders on the lifts. It hosted the Burton U.S. Open from 1985 to 2012, so it’s earned some credit.
90. Whiteface (X @SkiWhiteface) Lake Placid’s Olympic mountain. Their bio claims the biggest vertical drop east of the Rockies. Locals call it Iceface. Dress for both.
91. Wintergreen (X @WintergreenVA · IG @wintergreenresortva) Virginia’s Blue Ridge, and the closest real vertical for a lot of DC people. The X account does golf reports in summer, so you know winter’s here when those stop.
92. Massanutten (X @massresort · IG @massresort) Shenandoah Valley. Night skiing after work, if your boss is the understanding type.
93. Wisp (X @WispresortMD · IG @wispresort) Western Maryland. Yes, Maryland has skiing. Their bio calls it Maryland’s only four-season recreation destination, and I’m not going to argue with Maryland.
94. Canaan Valley (IG @canaanresort) West Virginia state park skiing at elevation. It gets real snow, and the drive in will tell you so.
Weird Corners and Rage Bait
95. Stio (X @StioMountain · IG @stio) Mountain apparel, and somehow it took me until #95 to get here.
96. United Airlines (X @united · IG @united) Official airline of U.S. Ski & Snowboard through 2027, so they’re the ones flying the team to races.
97. PistenBully (IG @pistenbullyworld) The groomers that lay down the corduroy. My retirement plan is to drive one of these. I’m not kidding.
98. Deer Valley (rage bait) (X @Deer_Valley · IG @deervalleyresort) Skiers only, corduroy you could iron a shirt on, and an expansion they say will double the size of the resort. Ask about snowboards in the comments and grab some popcorn.
99. Steven Kotler, author of Gnar Country (X @steven_kotler · IG @stevenkotler) Gnar Country: Growing Old, Staying Rad (2023) follows Kotler in his fifties as he decides to get better at skiing instead of slowing down. This book fuels my aging soul.
100. Swain Resort (X @SwainResort · IG @swainresort) Swain, New York, in Allegany County. Where I got started skiing and instructing. So it gets the last word.
That’s the full 100. If I missed your favorite, reply and tell me. I’ll probably agree.
Fifty guns on Superstar in October, so the best skiers in the world can race that trail in six weeks. I’ll take it.
The Beacon and Probe lands in your inbox before first chair. Free, honest, no hype.
Check your beacon, point ‘em downhill, and drop in.
Photo credits: Shea Hunter Belsky / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
