Ski Resorts All Across The Country Are Facing Variable Conditions
Eastern resorts have had almost record breaking snow years, beating out the West by feet of snowfall. As the season begins to wind down they have entered a melt-freeze cycle that this season’s precipitation has made worse. With warming temperatures and even more snow to come, it’s a gamble to say how the rest of seasons will look.
Resorts across the West have had record low snow years with many closing significantly early. My local resort in Bozeman, MT, closed on March 23rd, almost a month earlier than their projected closing date. Other resort across Idaho and the West as a whole have also closed early for low snowpacks.
It can feel comforting to write this off as just a bad snow year, but it is clear that skiing is changing. Warm temperatures and spring conditions throughout the season seemed to be the norm this year.
It’s an unsettling reality that winters are dwindling and deep powder skiing is a rarity more than ever and record setting warm temperatures are coming to the West. Some resorts with plentiful snowpacks will enjoy true spring conditions, while many others will stop spinning their lifts this week.
I’m not sure I have an overwhelmingly positive closing, skiing feels dangerously important to my livelihood so, as for many, this has been a distressing winter. But as I continue to hope for a better season next year I remind myself the ski community is just as important as the activity, that is something the weather can never effect.
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