Is this ski season bound to be a disappointment? Not necessarily

Park City • When Cassidy Wanderscheid decided to become a ski bum, she had impeccable timing.

Wanderscheid moved from Minnesota to Utah a year ago with the intent of spending as many days as possible in her ski boots. She then was treated to the snowiest season in state history, one that ran from early November to late June and dropped a third more snow than the previous record on many resorts. In total, she estimates she recorded about 30 days on the slopes.

On Friday, Wanderscheid was back at Park City Mountain as it celebrated the start to the 2023-24 season. It’s a season that, despite favorable forecasts, has so far disappointed compared to the standard set by its predecessor. Still, Wandersheid and the other skiers and snowboarders who turned up for opening days at resorts across Utah said they aren’t letting the prospect of less snow dampen their enthusiasm about the fun to come.

“I’m hoping for a couple powder days,” Wanderscheid, 25, said. “I guess that’s all I can ask for [after last season].

“I’m starting with lower expectations and we’ll see what we get.”

Three Utah resorts started their seasons Friday: Brian Head, Park City Mountain and Woodward Park City. Solitude had a soft opening last week but also celebrated its official opener Friday.

Park City Mountain opened for its 60th season on the same weekend as it opened last year but with considerably less snow. Last year, when it opened Nov. 16, it offered 24 trails, 10 of which were groomed across the Canyons and Mountain Village bases. On Friday, it made seven total trails available.

At the Canyons, ruddy brown grass and rocks dominated the terrain below the Red Pine Gondola. Once it neared its terminus by the High Meadow lift, though, natural snow could be seen draped over the mountains above and a thick runway of mostly human-made snow coated the runs.

It didn’t exactly look like winter. But if the couple hundred skiers and snowboarders zig-zagging down the green Mellow Moose run were worried about what this season will bring, it didn’t show.

“It’s still better than Minnesota skiing,” Wanderscheid said, “so we’ll take what we can get.”

Nor was that weight hanging over the conveyor lift delivering skiers and riders to one of the terrain parks at Woodward Park City.

The ski area with the lowest peak elevation in Utah recorded its earliest opening in its five-year history Friday, beating out last year’s opener by a day. The occasion drew hundreds of skiers and snowboarders who, within an hour of the 1 p.m. start, were stacked board to board so tightly on the lift that they formed a seemingly never-ending, mobile human wall. A few who were especially eager to get in their first turns of the season opted to abandon the lift altogether and hike to the top.

“It was busy last year,” said general manager Gar Trayner, who was celebrating his one-year anniversary at Woodward, “but I’d say already, looking at this, I think it seems probably a little bit higher attendance.”

Liv Johnson, 23, of Park City was among the first to ride at Woodward this season. She said she’s approaching this winter with the same attitude she does every other one.

“I feel like I always expect the worst,” said Johnson, who started skiing at age 1 but switched to snowboarding last year, “and hope for the best.”

And the best doesn’t necessarily mean another record season.

While Utah’s ski season lasted until the end of spring, Johnson extended her season even further by signing up to work at a summer camp at Oregon’s Mount Hood where she could snowboard on her work breaks. She’s eager to hone her skills some more in her backyard, but she said she’d be OK if the season doesn’t dip into June this time around.

“Last year I actually got a little burned out,” she said.

On behalf of the resorts and their staffs, who had to deal with snow removal and constant storms, Trayner said he, too, would be fine if this season was a little bit of a disappointment compared to the last one.

“Arguably, for us, last year was a little too much,” he said. “We would take the same, but we would like a little less.”