Skiing in Utah April 14-21st

[Anonymous]

Will any mountains in SLC be open? We have plane tickets to SLC and were planning to do the national parks. I was thinking maybe something might be open. Willing to drive. We have Epic passes although wish we had Ikon. Planning for Ikon next year.

[Anonymous]

No one can say for sure, because it is weather dependent, but this is the rundown - Snowbird will almost certainly be open. I think they closed in May last year and it wasn’t even the best snow year. Alta may or may not be open. Last year they closed right around the third week of April. Unless things turn around quickly, park city and dv won’t be open. They usually wrap up first week of April, although they both extended by a week to the third week of April last year. Solitude and Brighton will likely be open.

Be prepared for spring skiing conditions although it’s not uncommon for there to be big storms late season.

[Anonymous]

A lot of places close b/c bears awake from hibernation and the resorts' leases on natl forests expire (won't renew until Nov.). And the low crowds don't justify the operating costs.
Avalanche risks skyrockets in April too.

Having said that, there are are usually a few places that are open through late April . Alta and Snowbird (Memorial Day!) are the usual holdouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of places close b/c bears awake from hibernation and the resorts' leases on natl forests expire (won't renew until Nov.). And the low crowds don't justify the operating costs.
Avalanche risks skyrockets in April too.

Having said that, there are are usually a few places that are open through late April . Alta and Snowbird (Memorial Day!) are the usual holdouts.

Wow, most of this is not correct.

No one is closing ski resorts because bears wake up.

The resorts do not have leases that expire at the end of ski season. They are open in the summer for hiking, biking and scenic lift rides.

Avalanche risk in Utah is highest in March, not April. April is actually one of the lowest risk months, after Dec-March.

It is true that Alta is on national forest land, but snowbird is mostly on private land. People always quote the national forest rules as a reason for resorts to close, but it’s actually the resort’s decision.

Alta closes because of several reasons, including the fact that their employees live at Alta for the season and logistically, they need to set schedules. It probably could stay open as long as snowbird because like snowbird, it’s mostly north facing. But they always close in April, or at least they have in the past decade. I can remember snowbird being open in July one year.

[Anonymous]

Park City (Epic) typically shuts down mid April. A lot of their workers head back to the southern hemisphere.

Snowbird will stay open for as long as they can.

Brighton will stay open if snow permits but their agreement with the Forest Service usually has them closing by May. Solitude typically closes around the same time. Not a skier so no idea what Alta does.

I think the Ogden resorts close before the Cottonwood resorts.

Some great conditions are possible, but all depends on the snow.

[Anonymous]

In April 2019 we planned our spring break to Zion and Bryce. There happened to still be good skiing in UT at that time, so we skied one day at Brian Head. We liked it.