Season in Review: September/October
The 2017 season has been one of the best in recent memory. We had our first above average snow year since the magical season of 2011. Even though there are still some days left in the season, the inevitable is upon us. The snow is melting, the 9 PM daylight tells us it's summer. It is time to start looking back on the season and plan ahead for keeping my consecutive month streak alive this summer. Over the next few weeks I'll be highlighting some of my favorite moments from each month of this season. To start, let's take a look back at September and October.
I think September is probably the hardest month to make turns in. Usually it is too late in the summer to find patches of snow that haven't melted off and it is too early in the fall to get a significant snowstorm to provide enough snow to ride on. We got lucky this year with a freak storm on the night of September 23rd. Alta picked up 15 inches of snow overnight. It was just enough to make low angle grassy slopes rideable. My friend Tony Aadland broke the seal on the new season with first turns in the Wasatch around 7am on September 24. Unfortunately the temperatures warmed back up and the weather turned dry for almost a full month. Our next turns wouldn't come till October 18th.
Tony Aadland all smiles during a rare September dump
October was mostly dry and warm. Prospects of approaching storms kept fading away. A big storm on the west coast looked like it would deliver significant snow, but high pressure kept the bulk of the precipitation to our north. It seemed like we were still stuck in the same pattern that skunked us in the previous seasons. In previous seasons I have gone up to Beaver Mountain to earn turns early in the season. The slopes are very grassy so not much snow is needed to make them rideable. The owners also encourage people to earn their turns before they open for the season. On the night of October 17th, I decided it would be worth the 120 mile drive to the Beav to try and get some turns. The next morning, Tony and I made the drive not knowing if there would be enough snow up there. It looked like there might be based on webcams in the area.
Earning turns at the Beav!
To our surprise/relief, there was around a foot of settled snow on the upper mountain. The first Tourin' Tuesday of the season was a huge success. It was also the only time we were able to go snowboarding in October because high pressure kept Utah in a stranglehold for the remainder of the month. We turned the page on October and began to hope for a cold and snowy November...
I think September is probably the hardest month to make turns in. Usually it is too late in the summer to find patches of snow that haven't melted off and it is too early in the fall to get a significant snowstorm to provide enough snow to ride on. We got lucky this year with a freak storm on the night of September 23rd. Alta picked up 15 inches of snow overnight. It was just enough to make low angle grassy slopes rideable. My friend Tony Aadland broke the seal on the new season with first turns in the Wasatch around 7am on September 24. Unfortunately the temperatures warmed back up and the weather turned dry for almost a full month. Our next turns wouldn't come till October 18th.
Tony Aadland all smiles during a rare September dump Earning turns at the Beav!