Spring skiing: Some slopes stay open in warm weather

SNOWBIRD — There are a lot of reasons skiers choose to make turns in the spring, among them being that they can.

Few resorts are running lifts in late April, fewer in May, far fewer in June, and only on rare occasions will a resort stay open into July.

Currently, Snowbird is the only resort in Utah selling lift tickets to skiers. Its plans are to close on Memorial Day, but if conditions warrant, it could extend into June. Twice in the past, Snowbird has run its lifts on July 4 — 1995 and 2005.

And, what other ski resorts are operating?

According to one report, in Colorado, Loveland and Echo Mountain will stay open into May and Arapahoe into June.

In California, Squaw Valley will stay open until Memorial Day and Mammoth until July 4.

And in British Columbia, Blackcomb will stay open until May 18.

That's it.

"More Utah resorts could have stayed open. Alta closed with a base of more than 150 inches," said Nathan Rafferty, president of Ski Utah.

"Interest in skiing starts to wane long before we lose snow. The fact that Snowbird is extending, though, sends a message that we do, here in Utah, get good snow and lots of it.

"In fact, the amount of snow we received over our long-term average this season (177 inches) is more snow than some resorts get all year. We got more snow in April than some resorts get all season."

Little Cottonwood Canyon, in fact, received more than 100 inches of snow for five out of six months — November through April. This was only the fourth time this has happened in 60 years.

By the time it closed on April 18, Alta had received 677 total inches for the winter. The long-term average is 500 inches.

If Snowbird does close on Memorial Day, its season will have run a total of 191 days and covered seven months — November through May. The record is 201 days over a nine-month period — November through July — set in 2005.

Snowbird closed its Wilbere lift last Sunday. It will close Chickadee on May 4 but will leave open Little Cloud, Mineral Basin Express and the Tram. Hours will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

On May 11, it will start opening on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Memorial Day, with hours remaining from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The same schedule will be in place if it extends into June.

Given that Snowbird enjoyed its second-earliest opening in 38 years, it wouldn't take many days in June to break the record.

Last year, it stayed open through June 22, "and we have more snow (on the mountain) now than we did last year at this time, so we very well could stay open into June," said Jared Ishkanian, public relations director.