Gear Prep Weekend
I spent the weekend over a garden wagon scraping summer storage wax off my East Coast skis and drill brushing them to perfection. It was work, but I absolutely loved it.
I have more professional setups with vises and tuning tables, but there is something nostalgic about a backyard scrape and buff to get off the wax that kept my bases hydrated for the summer. I’ll also say this: if you have never used drill brushes to finish your skis, you can upgrade your tuning experience instantly on Amazon for not much money.
I did all my edges before summer but still found a few places to clean up with a diamond stone. So I’m ready.
I asked my local shop, Sun & Ski, what their turnaround is right now. It’s still pretty reasonable, out a week or so (faster if you need them, you just need to ask), but that will change soon, so get your stuff in if it needs repair or maintenance.
Story of the Day
The Friday number went up overnight. The National Weather Service point forecast for Alta now calls for 7 to 11 inches on Friday, up from 3–7 yesterday (NWS Alta). Up top, the Hidden Peak grid at Snowbird has 3 to 5 inches Thursday night and another 6 to 10 on Friday, which adds up to 9–15 if it all lands (NWS Hidden Peak).
The forecasters writing the Salt Lake discussion still say “around 3-6 inches” over the higher ridgelines of the northern Utah mountains, mostly above 9,000 feet, so that’s the floor (NWS SLC discussion). It’s October 19, Alta opens Nov 20 (Ski Utah), and the argument is whether Alta gets 3 inches Friday or 11.
Photo of the Day
NWS Salt Lake City posted its 5-Day Outlook Sunday at 3:16 PM MDT with this caption: “We will start the week with mostly sunny skies into Wednesday afternoon. However, deep moisture associated with a weather system moving into the Great Basin region late Wednesday into Friday will bring the potential for widespread rainfall across Utah and Southwest Wyoming.” The graphic, issued at 3:14 PM, lays out highs for seven towns from Evanston to St. George, Sunday through Thursday, with shower icons on Wednesday and rain on Thursday. Salt Lake City runs 68, 70, 69, 72 and 68, and Park City goes 60, 61, 59, 63 and 58. The table stops at Thursday, so Friday’s snow isn’t on it yet.
News of the Day
Storm Watch
Utah. Brighton’s grid has 4–8 in. Friday too, with a high near 34 (NWS Brighton). OpenSnow moved up as well: Alta now shows 3, 6 and 11 in. across its three five-day windows, up from 0, 9 and 8 (OpenSnow Alta). The catch is a mild Thursday. Jim Steenburgh flags possible rain on snow to at least 10,000 feet before the cold arrives (Wasatch Weather Weenies).
Colorado and the West. The same system brings rain and snow showers to Loveland Pass and Vail Thursday night into Friday, with little or no accumulation at Loveland (NWS Loveland Pass, NWS Vail). Big Sky could pick up 1–3 in. Friday (NWS Big Sky).
The Northeast. Saturday already delivered. Hunter, Whiteface, Mount Snow and Sugarloaf all picked up the season’s first accumulations early on Oct 17 (SnowBrains). The rest of the week is sunny, with Stowe lows of 29–31 Tuesday through Thursday nights (NWS Stowe) and Lincoln, NH, at 28 this morning (NWS Lincoln).
Openings & Snowmaking
Sunday River is making snow. With temperatures in the mid-20s, it started on Locke Mountain at 7 p.m. Saturday, SnowBrains reported Sunday. There’s no opening date yet. Last season it fired up the guns Nov 2 and opened Nov 12 (SnowBrains).
Hunter and Whiteface haven’t announced opening dates either. SnowBrains says the expectation is Nov 21 for both, and Hunter opened Nov 22 last season (SnowBrains).
Sweden is open. Kåbdalis in Swedish Lapland started spinning Saturday, Oct 17, the country’s first lift-served skiing of the season. It’s running one of four lifts and about 0.8 km of its 9 km of pistes, on snow farmed from last winter (SnowBrains). Cervinia is still closed ahead of a planned Saturday, Oct 24 opening, and SnowBrains’ forecast has 19–27 cm through Thursday, heaviest Tuesday night into Wednesday, with snow levels starting near 2,600 m (SnowBrains).
Ski Utah’s 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; Brighton still TBA (Ski Utah). Killington’s 165 guns have been running on five trails since Saturday (SnowBrains), and A-Basin, Keystone, Loveland and Copper are making snow (Unofficial Networks).
Resort News
Vail’s music season. Vail Mountain goes from four on-mountain concerts last winter to seven, with two new venues. ILLENIUM plays the renovated Dobson Arena Dec 11, and Ian Asher plays Jan 16, 2027. The arena’s renovation ran more than $55 million, and it holds more than 3,500 (Unofficial Networks).
Valle Hermoso, Argentina. The group behind Las Leñas has proposed a new ski area in Valle Hermoso, about 20–30 km away, with up to 15 four-person boutique lodges, snowcat access first and lifts later. A public hearing is set for Nov 18, and nothing is approved yet (SnowBrains).
Whistler. Powder posted on Tower 5 of the new Showcase quad, which it says has “a unique, surreal design,” and Whistler Blackcomb explains why (post).
Alta parking. No change. Alta’s own page still says sales open “mid-October,” with no date posted (Alta Parking).
Racing & Events
Sölden is five days out: women’s GS Saturday, Oct 24, men’s GS Sunday, Oct 25 (Unofficial Networks). Jakara Anthony, the two-time Olympic moguls champion and reigning Crystal Globe winner, won’t compete in 2026–27. “After over 15 years of back to back winters it’s time for a break,” she wrote, and she says she’ll be back on tour next year (SnowBrains). Further out, the Killington Cup runs Nov 27–29 (SnowBrains), The Snow League comes to Park City Jan 22–23 (SnowBrains), and the Freeride World Tour opens at Val Thorens Jan 24–30 (SnowBrains).
Gear and the Ride Home
Atomic has a new easy-entry boot line, the Nexus, built on what it calls NexStep Construction to pair overlap-boot performance with step-in convenience. The lead model is the Nexus 120 BOA on a 101 mm last, and the range runs from the Nexus 130 BOA down to a women’s 95. The SnowBrains piece reads like Atomic’s launch copy, so treat it as an announcement until someone tests one (SnowBrains). Otherwise gear is quiet, with nothing new from Powder, SKI or Blister since Friday.
Unofficial Networks asked its Facebook readers about the most ridiculous things skiers spend money on. Gear and gadgets drew about 26% of the answers, food and drink 22%, lift tickets 15% and parking 8% (Unofficial Networks).
For the ride home: Powder goes behind the making of Zero G’s new indie ski movie “Low Tide,” 22-year-old Daniel Harper’s first full ski movie, shot through last winter’s Western drought and including an overnight drive from Jackson to Tahoe for KT-22’s opening (Powder). In a SnowBrains guest column, Alpine X’s Burton J. Kloster III argues skiing’s growth answer may be indoor resorts in cities, with Vail’s proxy fight with Oasis Management as the backdrop. It’s an op-ed from a company in that business, so read it that way (SnowBrains). And Blister’s podcast has “An Unexpectedly Epic Day in the Backcountry” (Ep. 22, Oct 17) (Blister).
One more number from Maine. Sunday River pushes 10,500 gallons of water a minute through more than 2,000 snowguns across its eight peaks (SnowBrains).
Four days until Friday’s storm, five until Sölden. Alta’s grid says 7 to 11, the forecasters say 3 to 6.
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Check your beacon, point ‘em downhill, and drop in.
Photo credits: 5-Day Outlook graphic by NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity), embedded from X, not re-hosted; Utah Daily Snow (@WasatchSnow); Sunday River (@sundayriver); Killington (@KillingtonMtn); Pique Newsmagazine (@PiqueNews); Swiss-Ski (@swissskiteam).
