I just had to cancel our family ski trip to Telluride Colorado because there's no snow. We're looking for options. The trip is the first week of January 2018.

Park City seems like a decent option because they make plenty of snow and we know that mountain well. Where is the decent snow this year?

TIA

Its a weird year. It seems La Nina is really having an effect on snowfall for the "southern rockies" this year (Colorado). Whereas Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Whistler and places up north seem to be doing ok so far. These northern sites are actually supposed to have more than usual (if you believe the predictions).

I've randomly called people in ski towns to get their feel for how its going. Telluride hasn't had a single snowflake fall, and they only have one lift open. Live cams on mountains in CO show very little snow at most places, mostly man made. I just had a friend return from a business trip to Park City say there's not much snow yet... she used to live there and would know what's normal. My HS friend that lives in Vail says its an odd year and that there's no snow there.

From what i'm hearing, there no snow expected for Colorado until christmas week... and that's just a chance of snow.

So I'm looking for tips on places farther north. Is Jackson Hole too challenging for kids/novice skiers? Where else?

http://www.intellicast.com/Travel/Weather/Snow/Cover.aspx

Hasn't Jackson hole had near record snowfall?

Jackson Hole isn't ideal for beginners but I'm sure it's doable.

Correct, missed that part.

Kyle04 said:

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Its a weird year. It seems La Nina is really having an effect on snowfall for the "southern rockies" this year (Colorado). Whereas Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Whistler and places up north seem to be doing ok so far. These northern sites are actually supposed to have more than usual (if you believe the predictions).

I've randomly called people in ski towns to get their feel for how its going. Telluride hasn't had a single snowflake fall, and they only have one lift open. Live cams on mountains in CO show very little snow at most places, mostly man made. I just had a friend return from a business trip to Park City say there's not much snow yet... she used to live there and would know what's normal. My HS friend that lives in Vail says its an odd year and that there's no snow there.

From what i'm hearing, there no snow expected for Colorado until christmas week... and that's just a chance of snow.

So I'm looking for tips on places farther north. Is Jackson Hole too challenging for kids/novice skiers? Where else?

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Have you looked at Sun Valley in Idaho? Badass place and pretty far north.

What's the expectation for Tahoe/Sierra Nevadas?

BoDog said:

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What's the expectation for Tahoe/Sierra Nevadas?

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North lake Tahoe resorts got about 6" around Thanksgiving, and then a big storm came through on December 1-2 and dropped about 3 feet of snow. That was enough to open up most resorts. But, we haven't had any new snow since then. I'm expecting about an average year which means that by Jan 1, we should have pretty good coverage.

problem with California is that their snow fall usually comes in big storms and then nothing. hard for out of staters to get there when it is good.

10andBOUNCE said:

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Jackson Hole isn't ideal for beginners but I'm sure it's doable.

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You can go around Teton Pass and hit Grand Targhee Resort in Alta, WY. It's an excellent resort that is a little less steep than Jackson Hole, however, the snow is just as good. Not to mention the lift tickets are almost half of what Jackson runs.

Salt Lake City has access to a bunch of nice skiing. Snow is always fantastic there both early and late in season.

We decided to chase the snow and go to Jackson Hole. Grand Targhee sounds like a great option if needed.

Hope you enjoy it, went to Jackson Hole for the first time earlier this year in January and it's probably my favorite trip I've ever taken. Slopes are naturally a lot steeper than most resorts so hopefully that isn't too big of an issue. Don't know a ton about the town but if you need a recommendation or info for something I'd be glad to help.

Following this thread.

So glad we decided no colorado or NM early winter skiing this year.

Headed to Whistler in March for a week and Breck in February for a long weekend. Hopefully by then the I70 corridor has whitened up.

I was planning on driving over over the New Years weekend but that's starting to look like it isn't going to happen. I'd suggest looking at big sky up in MT. Fun mountain and even bigger now that they bought out moonlight basin. I read opensnow.com for reports

Praying to the snow gods as well for something in a basin. I've got a warm up 3 day trip planned for New Years. Looks like keystone and breck are both running snow machines 24/7

Kyle04 said:

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We decided to chase the snow and go to Jackson Hole. Grand Targhee sounds like a great option if needed.

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Awesome!

You're going to have a blast. Jackson is really cool town and it has a unique western feel. There is a lot of steep terrain and it is world renown for it's backcountry access, but they have added a number of lifts in recent years that access a ton of intermediate runs.

If you decide to head to Targhee for a day or so there is shuttle that runs back and forth between the two resorts. Targhee actually tends to hold a little more snow given it's position on the windward side of the Tetons. If the area gets into a storm cycle between now and January then watch out because it can really turn on quick and the snow gets DEEP.

While we had a lot of early snow, much of it melted off with an uptick in temps a few weeks back. They are expecting some more over this next week. Jackson Hole Mountian Resort is doing alright currently, and in town Snow King has opened and has picked up after a snocross event they made a lot of snow for. Temps have been better lately to keep ground cold. As Tommy mentioned, I would vote Targhee, cheaper lift prices, less crowds, and a little more kid friendly, but I wouldn't shy away from JHMR by any means. Grand Targhee is actually doing pretty well on snow currently and the pass is very driveable of late.

Yeah it kind of seems like things are setting up like last year where early returns looked great in October/November but then a warm spell hit and then it turned back on in late December and January with one storm after another. Let's hope it plays out that way at least.

The Montana resorts all have a good amount of runs open (Big Sky, Red Lodge, Whitefish). Their snow is down from where it was last year as well. Though they did have some weird freak storms in like August.

We chose Targhee for our vacation almost every year when our kids were at home and we always stayed on the mountain rather than in Driggs. The snow is almost always better at Targhee than at Teton Village. It's a smaller mountain with a more family orientated atmosphere. There are also cross country ski trails. We always felt comfortable leaving the kids on the beginner hill where the lift attendant knew them by name and they always had a blast going on the trail through the trees with the other kids while we took a few runs up top. If there is enough snow, the cat skiing is a great option too. The downside is that there are only 4 dining options and not much nightlife. However, that is what we and our kids preferred. We would swim, play board games and build snow forts at night. The Jackson area has more dining, shopping, nightlife, elk sleigh rides, etc.

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Telluride hasn't had a single snowflake fall, and they only have one lift open.

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The report today says 5 lifts and 6 runs open. Seems a little odd. I figured a place like Telluride would have a bigger snowmaking operation.

I'm taking my boys on their first ski trip next week to Red River. I've been watching the web cams daily. 10 runs and 4 lifts open right now. Lots of snowmaking. Hopefully some natural snow today.

As much as I love Colorado, I chose Red River, mostly due to distance and price. I figured for their first trip, they won't know the difference.

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Telluride hasn't had a single snowflake fall, and they only have one lift open

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Yikes.

Going to be up there in two months. Im sure it will turn around between now and then, but that is bad!!

Luckily, I think we planned it just perfectly this year. Whistler (who is actually doing well snow wise) in January and Telluride in Feb, hopefully that's enough time to get some nice snow.

To clarify, Telluride has only one REAL lift open. They are counting the Gondola, the chondola, adult magic carpet and kids magic carpets as "open lifts". If you know T-ride, you know those aren't real lifts. We love it there but they are really struggling this year. I hated cancelling that trip.

Get the OpenSnow app. It's free and I have found it very useful. Some great webcams on the app too (check out T-ride webcams... unbelievable!) along with useful daily reports

Jackson Hole is getting some decent snow over the next several days (5 of 6 days, with up to 15" predicted).

All sources keep talking about another big storm that is supposed to hit the northern Rockies around Dec 20-21.

Per the open snow app today (dec 14)...

"We'll then turn our full attention to December 20th and 21st for an even better looking system to impact the northern Rockies. There's very good agreement from the global models for a 7-day outlook so I have fairly high confidence at this point. This storm should also usher in much colder air and open the door for additional storms as we head into the final 10 days of December and early January. Finger-crossed!"

Swiss Alps are nice this time of the year.

Damn...holding off on scheduling our annual Telluride trip... Hoping to see some snow soon!

Finally looks like some snow in the forecast later this week/weekend at Telluride.

reading the opensnow reports, looks like the pattern is finally shifting to allow the CO Rockies access to some much needed stormier weather.

What a weird start to the ski season. It's almost Christmas and there is grass in Steamboat. Bizarre.

We just wrapped up Deer Valley, near Park City. A good portion of runs closed but had many lift open and worked out well for the family. If we got bored we could always hop to another side of the mountain.

Outlooks are starting to look favorable for a much nicer January.

https://opensnow.com/dailysnow/colorado/post/9462

Skied at Keystone, Breckenridge, and A-Basin this past weekend to kick off the season and was pleasantly surprised. Granted there wasn't a huge amount of snow, but what they had was actually pretty good with very little ice for early season and there was more runs open than I expected. To cancel a January trip in early December seems a touch premature.

That said, can't wait to hit Whistler in January.