The 2023-24 Ski Season has come to an end.  There is only a two mountains left open in Utah as I write this blog post —

• Sundance – April 7, 2024 closing
• Powder Mountain – April 7, 2024 closing
• Alta – April 21, 2024 closing
• Deer Valley Resort – April 21, 2024 closing
• Park City Mountain – April 22, 2024 closing
• Snowbasin – April 28, 2024 closing
• Brian Head — May 12, 2024 closing
• Solitude — May 12, 2024 closing
• Brighton – May 19, 2024
• Snowbird — open weekends at least through Memorial Day 2024

The skis are put away.  The boots have gathered a little dust.  The winter tires are getting swapped out.  The heat cable have been turned off.  A few of the lawn chairs have come out of storage. The sprinklers will be opened in a few weeks.  I’ll start to warm up the mountain bikes soon after that. But, that didn’t stop mother nature from dropping a foot of fresh snow at our house the week of May 6th.

This past ski season was fantastic.  No complaints.  The snow came early and kept coming all season long.  It wasn’t the 2022-2023 season but I don’t think we will see a season like that for a while. Below are the season totals coming from my favorite weather app, OpenSnow — a solid season of snow.

• My home -> 209″
• Park City Mountain Resort -> 459″
• Deer Valley -> 413″
• Snowbird -> 607″
• Alta -> 667″
• Snowbasin -> 423″
• Solitude -> 573″
• Brighton -> 610″
• Powder Mountain -> 368″

My ski buddy Brooklyn and I had most of our days at Park City Mountain Resort spending many days on the Canyons side.  It’s too convenient for us.  We live only 15-minutes from the base of Canyons.  The new thing this season was paid parking on the Park City side and that put a damper on my days on that side mostly because I’m a cheap person.  I don’t like paying for parking if I don’t need to. I usually ski with a PB&J in my backpack. 

Deer Valley came in second as I maxed out my IKON days there.  Deer Valley provides a truly specular ski experience.  I’m excited for their expansion in the upcoming years despite all the locals complaining.   

Public Service Announcement: Please don't complain to me on the chairlift. I say hello and more often than not folks want to vent to me about something.  

"Vail stinks.  The Deer Valley expansion is dumb.  Parking is a mess.  Why are we stopped!  Why are these lifts not open?  The food is so expensive.  I'm a local, they need to treat me differently.  I was here before Vail was."  

Enough.  Enjoy where you are.  Shut up for a second and just enjoy the outdoors.  Skiing is a luxury, not a right.  And no, skiing can't be like how it was 20 years ago.  Time moves forward.  Life is too short.  Enjoy it or stop doing it.  

Snowbird and Alta are two of my favorite mountains but I found myself there only a few times this season.  Travel there through the little cottonwood pass is a true commitment and less interesting when there are great options closer. 

Overall, I ended up with 30-40 ski days.  A respectable number given that I am not yet retired.  I was not as adventuresome this season as I wanted to be.  I didn’t make it to any resorts outside of Utah and didn’t make it to Powder Mountain, Snowbasin or Solitude.  I definitely didn’t do any backcountry, snowcat or heliskiing which I’ve alway wanted to do.  I’ve had less interest in the more extreme skiing as I’ve gotten older and definitely since my stroke two years ago.  So much of my enjoyment is about just being outside and enjoying that with others.      

My favorite thing about the end of ski season is the end of ski season sales!  I’ve never understood paying full price for any ski gear.  Just plan ahead and wait until the season ends.  My daily ski last season was my Faction Agent 3 (106 over foot).  Flat tail, lightweight, touring ski with a great shape. I liked it so much I got the Faction Agent 4 (114 over foot) at the end of last season for those power days.  It floats over powder with ease.  My end of this season purchase was the Faction Agent 1 (86 over foot).  I wanted a shorter, narrower ski for moguls and trees.  All the above have Look bindings which are my favorite.  I also upgraded my ski pants, gloves and socks with Stio gear.  My favorite outdoor clothing brand. 

Alas, rest assured the snow will be back. Meanwhile, let the Spring and Summer begin!  

Thank you for reading.  I appreciate you! 

-rjm