This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Snowbird • With unfettered joy, A.J. Burton pumped his fist and proclaimed to snowboarding buddy Conrad Nagel: "We're going to be thinking of this day when we're 60."
How appropriate for Memorial Day.
They're both 25 now, season-pass holders at Snowbird. They had just finished a run where they traversed and hiked across the inordinately snowy face of the mountain from Peruvian Express chairlift to Gad Chutes, then cruised through virtually untouched snow, 10 inches deep on average, all the way down to soon-to-be-roaring Little Cottonwood Creek.
That's not supposed to be possible on May 30. But it was this remarkably wet and chilly spring, on a day when Snowbird boasted a 182-inch base, including 10 inches of 10 percent density snow in the 24 hours leading up to the scheduled 8 a.m. start.
There was so much heavy wet snow, in fact, that the appointed hour came and went and the Peruvian lift was still. High on the mountain, Snowbird crews were doing avalanche-mitigation work.
"That takes a lot of time this time of year," said resort risk manager John Collins. "It's full-out winter at the top of the mountain, with dense snow."
Or as Nagel heard it described just before his epic run: "Juneuary."
He and Burton, both of Salt Lake City, had joined a large lift line that fanned out from the base of Peruvian, climbing the pitched slope almost to the rope line that separates the lift area from the run-out zones of Chip's Run and Primrose Path.
The crowd was generally civil, though the longer people waited, the more snowballs flew, mostly from up above into the tightly packed front lines down below.
Michele Urban, of Sandy, knew her husband, Scott, was somewhere in the front of that line. He had come up early. But she was not about to try to cut her way through that mob with her 11-year-old son, Raichle.
"I have a feeling we wouldn't have survived," she joked. So they stood deep in a line that didn't start moving until 9:54 a.m.
She wasn't complaining, though, just thankful that patrollers were making the mountain safe, mindful of what her former neighbors in Alabama were going through after this deadly tornado season.
"Tornadoes versus avalanche control?" she pondered, her hands weighing the options. "I'll take avalanche control any day."
Ultimately, the wait was worth it.
"You can't complain when a foot of snow falls at the end of May," said Lance Aguirre, 30, a Canyons pass holder this winter who extended his season with a Snowbird spring pass. "I'm lovin' it."
Likewise, Meg Shimazaki followed up her Park City Mountain Resort year with a spring 'Bird pass. "I've never skied this late with this much snow," she marveled. "I'm so happy."
Bob Lien, 53, of Salt Lake City, couldn't wait to send his brother in Little Rock, Ark., some pictures he shot of the wintry wonderland.
"We've skied some big snows in April before, but nothing this late," Lien said. "My brother will be riding his bicycle today down where it's 90 degrees. He'll definitely be jealous."
Tony Gill is going to wait to rub it in. When he skis on the Fourth of July, Snowbird's target date for completing the season, only then will the 26-year-old Illinois native call home.
"They'll be at a barbecue in Chicago, where it's 110 degrees," he said, noting that he and friend Nick Pruneau, 27, both moved from the Midwest to Utah four years ago "pretty much because Utah has the most snow. This may be pretty extreme, though."
Maybe, but this Memorial Day offered testimony to one of Utah's touted assets — its diversity of outdoor recreation opportunities close to home.
At least it did for Nagel. After one more run down knee-deep slopes, he was taking off for an afternoon tee time at Wingpointe Golf Course.
Twitter: @sltribmikeg —
Wet late May snow
Location New snow Water content of snow*
Alta 13" 1.50"
Snowbird 10" 1.25"
Brighton 6" 1.10"
* As of 6 a.m. Monday Source: National Weather Service