North America Weekly Roundup #243

Arapahoe Basin Extends Ski Season, Raising Questions About Whether Skiing Will Continue Into June

• Many ski areas in the US closed abruptly after the Memorial Day Weekend, with some citing the need for construction work for next winter as a reason.
• While most ski areas in the Rockies have closed, Arapahoe Basin in Colorado plans to stay open into June, with the possibility of further extensions depending on snow conditions.
• In the western US, only Timberline in Oregon remains open for skiing, experiencing extreme weather last week before returning to normal conditions.

NORTH AMERICA INTRO

We've had a sudden drop in the number of ski areas open in the US as most centres that hadn't named a closing date until now, announced in the run-up to the long Memorial Day Holiday Weekend we've just concluded, that they would be ending their seasons on Monday. Most still have plenty of snow left lying and in recent years resorts like Palisades and Mammoth have stayed open to July or even August, but this year they say the focus is partly on giving time for construction crews to work on new lifts and other projects ready for next winter. There was one surprise though with Arizona's Snowbowl ski centre announcing a further season extension with a plan to reopen this coming Saturday for one day only – its first-ever opening in June. With the Blackcomb Glacier not opening for ski and board camps this year, the season is over now in Canada with all centres closed until early November.

ROCKIES REPORT

Colorado’s Winter Park and Utah’s Snowbird announced late last week that they’d be closing on Monday. That was set to leave Arapahoe Basin (20/64” / 50/160cm) in Colorado the only centre open in the Rockies. It has said it will be staying open at least to the 9th and that it may make it a weekend or two more further into June if the snow lasts. “We will be open seven days a week through June 2. We will close Monday through Thursday and then re-open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 7, 8 and 9. If conditions are still good, we just may go for another weekend,” a spokesperson said. There was a little bit of snowfall in the region last week on high slopes in Colorado and further north in Montana before bluebird Spring days returned for the weekend. Arapahoe Basin isn’t the only area still open though, Arizona’s weekend-opening Arizona Snowbowl (40/40” / 100/100cm) which has previously announced it would extend its season would also end on Memorial Day like Snowbird and Winter Park, has now announced plans to open in June for the first time ever – just for one day though, this coming Saturday, June 1st. The only other inbounds snow soon to be accessible again is Copper’s hike-to terrain park, re-opening for summer.

ROCKIES FORECAST

Largely sunny skies, overnight temperatures still getting down around freezing, especially on higher slopes, but daytime highs increasingly into the 50s, even at high altitudes, although more markedly on lower slopes.

USA WEST REPORT

Mammoth and The Palisades in California and Mt Bachelor in Oregon all closed at the end of the ski day on Monday leaving only Timberline (36/156” / 90/390cm) in Oregon open in Western North America. It reported some extreme weather in the middle of last week with slopes closed due to gale-force winds and stormy conditions before a return to normality in time for the weekend. It also noted at the end of Monday that it had switched to summer mode as of Tuesday. Apart from that wild weather which brought fresh snowfall, it's been mostly warm and sunny in the west with afternoon temperatures getting into the 60s on lower slopes.

USA WEST FORECAST

Staying close to freezing overnight up on the Palmer snowfield, with daytime highs in the 40s up there, possibly touching the low 50s. Mostly clear skies although a chance of light snow showers midweek.