Students planning on enjoying turkey and then hitting the ski slopes this Thanksgiving break will have to wait until the Christmas holiday to spend some quality time in the snow.

Warm temperatures and a lack of precipitation is forcing many Utah ski resorts to delay their openings until the first or second week of December.

Of 13 major resorts in Utah, only three will be open for Thanksgiving.

Brighton ski resort, located in Big Cottonwood Canyon opens today with a base depth of 19 inches of snow, and 12 inches of new snow reported yesterday. Crest Express and Majestic lifts will be carrying skiers and snowboarders up the mountain at 9 a.m.

The Canyons resort, just outside of Park City, will open this Saturday and Solitude resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon plans a partial opening next Monday.

Many resorts have yet to receive enough of the coveted white precipitation. Alta resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon, and Park City Mountain resort had planned to open this week, but decided to wait because of the snow shortage.

While snow is lacking, skiers’ enthusiasm is not, as resorts are reporting pre-season pass sales and hotel reservations at normal and above average numbers.

“We’re very pleased with our pre-season pass sales and looking forward to fulfilling their [skiers] expectations,” said Connie Marsh, public relations representative for Alta.

Krista Parry, public relations director at Park City Mountain resort, said their reservations are up 16 percent from last year.

Last year’s ski season will be hard to top, where most resorts opened mid-November and some stayed open until July.

Snowbird, another resort postponing its opening, experienced it’s earliest opening last year on Nov. 5, said Public Relations director Laura Schaffer. “It’s been strangely warm this year.”

Utah meteorologists say snow is in the forecast, but will not arrive until after Thanksgiving.

Mark Eubank, meteorolgist for KSL said Utah has been experiencing 10-14 day weather cycles. Utah just passed through a wet cycle and a 14-day dry cycle is in store for the Thanksgiving holiday.

“The storms should begin coming back in the very latter part of this month and into December,” Eubank said. “If they come in fast and furious then that’ll give a great finishing touch to the snow and they’ll be able to open the resorts in December.”

Dan Pope, meteorologist for ABC in Salt Lake said, “The ski season is going to start slow, and our official forecast is for a slightly warmer than normal winter and a slightly drier than usual winter.”

“I wouldn’t say that a bad start would mean a bad winter…there are many, many good ski days ahead,” Pope said.

For a complete listing of Utah ski resorts and weather conditions visit www.utah.com/ski/resorts/.



Copyright Brigham Young University 17 Nov 2005