Go look at a snow stake this morning. Seriously.
Snowbird’s stake had about 10 inches of dense snow on it Tuesday morning. Collins at Alta had about 8. Snowbird’s SNOTEL logged about 7.30 inches of storm precipitation, and Wasatch Weather Weenies didn’t call it a good storm or a decent storm. They called it biblical. By 2:15 Tuesday afternoon @WasatchSnow said the Cottonwoods were “absolutely nuking,” and about 34,000 people watched it happen.
That’s mid-October.
Alta posted “From First Snow to First Chair” and the countdown says 38 days to its 89th winter. OpenSnow Utah’s Evan Thayer had up to a foot or more in the high Wasatch by the time this storm wraps up, and it’s wrapping up now. Thursday goes sunny, 41 on Hidden Peak. Clear for the weekend. And NWS already sees another system coming back by the middle of next week.
(I don’t care that it’ll settle. It’s supposed to settle. It’s October.)
Colorado, welcome to the party
This one deserves a real moment. Colorado got its first snow of the season Tuesday. Loveland said it started falling around 8 AM. Vail got nearly 3 inches, Beaver Creek a little over 1, and Crested Butte and Aspen Snowmass got dusted. Keystone reported its first flakes of the season too, right as everybody noticed it’s selling lift tickets for Saturday, Oct 24.
(Keystone says that’s not an opening date. Fine. I still smiled.)
And it isn’t done. SnowBrains has Arapahoe Basin at 7–9 more inches through Friday morning, with Loveland, Winter Park and Steamboat at 6–8. The NWS grid near Loveland Pass has 3–5 inches tonight.
The weekend is a snowmaking weekend
This is the part I’m watching. Clear skies after a storm means cold nights, and cold nights mean guns.
Vail Resorts says snowmaking starts this week at Vail and Beaver Creek. Loveland has crews on standby. In Summit County, overnight temps over the clear weekend could stay cold enough to make snow. Out in Tahoe, Mt. Rose already fired up snowmaking after its first snowfall. A-Basin, Keystone and Loveland are all still at “as soon as possible,” and with this setup, as soon as possible doesn’t sound far off.
Back East, it finally cools off
Here at home it’s been rain. That’s changing. The forecast models have a real cool-down this weekend, with nights down in the 20s at Killington and up at Sunday River, and maybe some flakes in the air Saturday. That isn’t a ski weekend yet. It’s a preview, and I’ll take it.
Killington already ran its first big snowmaking test on Oct 6, including two new fan guns on Mouse Trap and Lower Skyeburst, and says it’s ready to go whenever temps line up. Other Eastern mountains have been testing too. If these cold nights keep coming, I’d expect the first Eastern lifts to spin in the next couple of weeks.
(Nobody’s promising a date. Killington doesn’t set one. But you can feel it.)
I haven’t started covering the mid-Atlantic yet, which, honestly, is probably where I’ll get some of my best turns this year for the time I put in. It’s still a little further off. Hopefully this weekend gives us an early look at what our fall, and what comes after it, might look like.
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Old friends in the closet
This past weekend I pulled out the rest of my gear. All of it. And it really is like seeing old friends again.
The skis still have storage wax on them. A couple of things need repairs. I’m keeping the shopping minimal this year. The new DPS Pisteworks 89s are here and waiting on bindings, and the Look Pivot 15s are ordered but haven’t shipped. That’s about it.
But things are real now. The reports are real. Snow is falling. Chairs are getting ready to spin. If you’ve been putting off the final checks (boots, buckles, helmet, goggles, that binding you meant to look at in April), this is the week.
30 days
It’s 6:20 in the morning as I write this. I’ve been up for an hour and a half doing my routine, and I’ll be honest: I’m not where I want to be.
So here’s my plan, and you’re welcome to steal it. Thirty days. Get the diet right. Get the stretching right. Get the workouts right. And prep the knees, because the knees are the ones who pay for October laziness in December.
Thirty days to push. Let’s go.
Tomorrow night in Arlington
Tomorrow, Thursday Oct 15, TGR’s new film Actually, It Is Rocket Science plays the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse. Doors at 6, film at 7. (There’s a second showing Saturday at 3.) It’s the first time this season ski people around DC will be back in the same room, and that alone is worth the ticket. I’ll be there.
For now
It’s time to build the hype. Time to build the stoke. Keep an eye on the West, check the stakes, and get yourself ready.
Everything else can wait!
I write this for people who plan around the mountains instead of living in them. If that’s you, subscribe free.
The Beacon and Probe lands in your inbox before first chair. Free, honest, no hype.
Check your beacon, point ‘em downhill, and drop in.
Photos: Snowbird stake, @SLCScanner (Snowbird stake cam); Alta stake, @DanPopeWeather (Alta Ski Area stake cam); Colorado first snow, @KOAA; film poster, Teton Gravity Research (@TetonGravity); closet and selfie, Brent Gardner.
