NO NEW SNOW FOR 72 HOURS
LOBO MID MOUNTAIN BASE DEPTH 24"
Good morning skiers and snowboarders, this is Mario with your SnoFax report for Saturday, November 30th, 2024. Opening weekend is offically upon us. It seems we're going to have to milk everything we can out of this snow, but given some of the footage I have seen coming from people skiing in Big Sky, there's still some great soft turns to be found in the trees. Not sure when we can expect to see more terrain opened up, but it wouldn't surprise me if the resort was keeping something in thier back pocket for the opening weekend. Personally, I am the most excited for Elk Park Ridge and Bighorn, but Liberty Bowl would be a pleasant surprise as well.
WIND AND TEMPS: Today's temps are expected to range between 16°F and 28°F under mostly cloudy skies for most of the day, and winds are expected out of the West at 10-15mph.
TODAY'S SKIING: We can look forward to crispy groomers, and relaxing bump skiing today for the average skier. But ski considering that those same moguls with grass poking through are going to be left untreated by snow for at least a week if the forecast is right. It's my opinion that if everybody skied like me, there'd be less moguls and more snow.
These first few days have already felt colder than most of last year. Our season has started off with perfectly wintery temps, and that alone is working wonders for preserving our snow. Being so far North in the Country, and East of the Continental Divide, we are able to make the most of the snow that we get here, even though other places may see significantly higher season totals.
FORECAST UPDATE: While today we may be seeing temps in the high 20's, for the next 10 days of our forecast I am seeing lots of sun, and temps climbing to the mid 30's, maybe even 40 at lower elevations. We must continue to pray for snow as Big Sky thrives on consistency more than anything. We all love big dumps, but big dumps that are few and far between lead to large moguls, erroding traverses and other high traffic areas, and sun baked Southern Faces.
ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS: There are many things we cannot be certain about in life, and one of them is the future. It seems to me that the snowy November had many people super hopeful about this season. Don't get me wrong, I haven't lost hope for this season, but I have never been one to expect great skiing in December, or even early January. Patience is key on this big rocky mountain. Attached is a graph of the Dec 1'st snow depth at the SNOTEL over the last 20 years, with the end of our graph being what we have today. We already have more snow than more than half of those 20 years, but there's no knowing how the rest of our seaon will compare.
On another note, I have heard tell that this new tow-rope in the park is likely to be short lived. In the interest of decongesting the base area, the resort has placated the park rats with an obviously temporary tow rope near the base. Should they decide not incorporate this tow rope into the real Swifty Park, I think many a parkrat would be upset, and would henceforth be spamming "bring back the tow rope in the park." While their claim may be expensive and otherwise a distraction from the larger goals of this ever-expanding resort, it would serve as a very practical way to decongest the base area for the entire season. However, now that the rats know that the resort has might actually listen, we should expect their demands to grow increasingly louder...
As always, remember to stay safe, and have fun out there.
