Inaccurate snow reports really suck. Alta 12/2

So, this place called Alta is famous for it's plentiful snowfall. Perhaps one should reconsider how they come up with these magical snow totals.

After sleeping a mere 5 hours, I awoke and checked the snow report on www.alta.com. Wow! 3 inches overnight! This is going to be a great day. I hurried to eat breakfast (got to have energy to shralp 3" of pow) and got on my way. I called DanTheMan to see if got an earlier start than me, and asked to hold a spot in line for me at Collins. When it's this deep, everyone and their 5 mothers comes out to ski. Dan had left and he said he'd hold a spot.

As I was driving up to Alta, I noticed that it was pouring rain along Wasatch Blvd. How disappointing it would be to ski in the rain. Luckily, the rain changed to snow as I drove up the canyon. I also passed Dan, as he is a sissy driver. (Insert idiotic and overly obnoxious Xover comment here)

Pulling into the Wildcat parking lot at 8:45, I was shocked to see so few cars. Didn't these people read the snow report? :nonono2: 3 inches of Alta's finest! Hopped into line - got about 6th or 7th chair. It was snowing quite hard at this time - maybe people didn't want to ski while it's snowing?

How was it skiing 3 inches of Alta fresh, you must be wondering. Let me tell you - those bastards lied. There was no way that it snowed 3 inches. Maybe down low and where the wind blew it all away, but there was more like 6 or 7 inches, plus it was snowing quite hard. That pesky wind kept blowing the snow around, hiding everyone's tracks. If I'd known that Alta would lie on their snow report, I would have certainly stayed home and slept in.

Alas, Dan and I were already there, so we did what any good citizen would do: we ripped the shit out of it. Several times. And then again. Finally, one more time.

P.S. - BIG thanks to Alta for underreporting, keeping everyone at home or work or doing whatever they were doing that sucked a lot more than skiing all of the fresh powder at Alta.

Man, you should get a refund on your pass or something for that.

it wasnt just alta, it was the way the storm came in this am after reporting and before and during lift operation.
drive up early this am was mellow and then it hammered all morning.
nice action Z man

How dare those Alta SOB's.:nonono2: :)

I thought this was going to be a "It's friggin raining at Alta" thread. Glad to hear otherwise.

You should know by now that the Bird gives the correct total & Alta always under-reports,or that much more snow fell by the time you got there.

DTM drives like a sissy? Is it always the big huckers who are most conservative behind the wheel?

Nice Z! I don't even live there and I know if it snows you go. 3" at Alta is a solid 6"+ at other areas.

Go directly to the source and maybe next time you won't have to endure such horrific conditions. Anything over 6" is not worth getting out of bed over. You should have just turnaround at the bypass road.
12-2-2005> Collins Study Plot > 9,664'

Month Air 12 Hr Total 1 Hour since
Day Hour Temp Snow Depth precip 0400

-------------------------------------------------
12 1 1500 29 0 46 0 0
12 1 1600 30 0 46 0 0
12 1 1700 29 0 46 0 0
12 1 1800 30 0 45 0 0
12 1 1900 30 0 45 0 0
12 1 2000 29 0 45 .04 .04
12 1 2100 28 0 45 .06 .1
12 1 2200 27 2 45 .09 .19
12 1 2300 28 3 46 .07 .26
12 1 2400 28 3 44 .03 .29
12 2 100 28 5 46 .02 .31
12 2 200 28 5 45 .03 .34
12 2 300 28 6 46 0 .34
12 2 400 28 6 46 .01 .35
12 2 500 28 6 46 .03 .03
12 2 600 28 7 46 .02 .05
12 2 700 28 7 45 .01 .06
12 2 800 28 7 46 0 .06
12 2 900 27 0 46 .14 .2
12 2 1000 26 2 45 .22 .42
12 2 1100 26 4 49 .17 .59
12 2 1200 25 4 49 .08 .67
12 2 1300 23 6 50 .11 .78
12 2 1400 23 6 50 .02 .8
12 2 1500 22 6 51 0 .8

edit - that didn't copy so well

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles

Nice Z! I don't even live there and I know if it snows you go. 3" at Alta is a solid 6"+ at other areas.

---

Bingo. As in 6' at Sunset Beach on the North Shore would be double overhead in CA. Just different standards.

You need to shut the f* up right right now. Please.

YOU need to start underreporting.

i have one ace...



and one more ace.

damn dude. that just sucks. sorry to hear about such bad luck.

check the collin's plot
that is all

they do the snow report at 5 a.m. so alot can stack up in 4 hours you phuggin' retard

Bushes sticking out below the High T really suck too. They make it completely impossible to get to the sick untouched pow waiting below them.

Completely impossible.

Yeah. We liked that under reporting over at the Bird today as well. It friggin snowed all morning nonstop. No none was there. It was walk-on, half-filled trams all day. My kind of day. We finally left a little after 1 when Shuge said they were gonna have to stop the tram.

Highlight of the day was catching the rope drop into the Perv side at about 10:19. Wow that was good. Man-o-man-o-man-o-man-o-man....this was the kind of powder I've been waiting for since last May.

ColdSmoke finally blew out an edge. Even as careful as he was trying to be he still cracked a rock hard. I've never seen him do that in all the years I've skied with him. I kept telling him to quit skiing like a pansy and get on it--that he just needed to let loose and have some fun. Did he listen? Nooooo. He tore out his edge whilst skiing like an old man picking his was through a mine field.

Anyways....what a great day today. They'll only keep getting better.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dantheman

Bushes sticking out below the High T really suck too. They make it completely impossible to get to the sick untouched pow waiting below them.

Completely impossible.

---

Yah I really hated that that shit the other day......i mean since it is so unpossible! :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Xover

check the collin's plot
that is all

they do the snow report at 5 a.m. so alot can stack up in 4 hours you phuggin' retard

---

Hey dickhole, I do check the Collins plot, and often don't even check the Alta report. The Collins plot had over 5 inches by 2 AM when I went to bed, which is why I got up early to ski. I was quite perplexed by the Alta website report of 3".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alto

You need to shut the f* up right right now. Please.

---

What? Are you trying to be funny? Did you not get that tone and satire of my post? Do you think that my posting will influence people to move to Utah and track up your snow? Are you just a fucking asshole? Did you not like my post in which I shared my skiing experience on a message board for skiers? I'm just curious.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bum Z

Did you not get that tone and satire of my post? Do you think that my posting will influence people to move to Utah and track up your snow?

---

waaaaiiit a minute here, you mean Alta is a good place to ski?
huh, whoda thunk it.....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Woodsy

waaaaiiit a minute here, you mean Alta is a good place to ski?

---

No.

No, it is not.

Well it looks like they have made up for their under reporting by over reporting today. :nonono2: Alta snow report says 9" new when the Collins plot says only 3" since time of closing yesterday.

It looks like Snowbird and Alta are reporting 24hr totals for NEW snow. I think that's very misleading since 6" of the 9" fell yesterday and is shred.

ok genius
so they/we report what fell overnight only and dont count any snow that fell when lifts are open?
that might get us down to CO totals, but I doubt it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Woodsy

ok genius
so they/we report what fell overnight only and dont count any snow that fell when lifts are open?
that might get us down to CO totals, but I doubt it.

---

Woodsy, put down the bong and re-read my post. That's not what I am saying.


Go to snowbird's website and look at their snow report. They don't list a 12hr snow total which would be an accurate measure of FRESH snowfall since time of closing the prior day. Alta does list a 12hr snow total but on the main page they are throwing up the 24hr total instead of the 12hr total.

edit - I see that Solitude is reporting correctly

no bong hits at work unfortunately,
and I understand, but that was nitpicky at best.
you kow with a little snow and wind action there was fresh tracks today.
or you could have come to Soli where we opened powderhorn for the first time this year
cue grizzle's "oh my god" rave......

nitpicky at best??? yes, maybe in regards to Alta's reporting since they still report the 12hr total but Snowbird is not reporting a 12hr total.
I would think this would be a concern to someone like you since your business thrives on snow totals. Doesn't it bother you that Snowbird reports 9" new and Solitude reports 2" new.

But this is stupid anyway... I'm just upset cause I can't go skiing. And I would love to ski the freedom again. It was my home mountain for 8 years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bum Z

What? Are you trying to be funny? Did you not get that tone and satire of my post? Do you think that my posting will influence people to move to Utah and track up your snow? Are you just a fucking asshole? Did you not like my post in which I shared my skiing experience on a message board for skiers? I'm just curious.

---

Dude he's Da Hui. Nobody messes wit' Da Hui.

Seriously, skiing localism sucks. People can go where they want to go and they can even talk about the places if they want to.

What a train-wreck of a thread.

I'm glad Z & Co. got some though. That's pretty :cool:

Maybe this will help:

http://www.snowbird.com/imagelib/Sno...owCam_main.jpg

http://www.snowbird.com/snowcam

Its not fully running yet (no time lapses, etc) but it will be soon.
The idea is simple; every day at 4pm they wipe the slate clean, so you can see how much snow has fallen since 4pm. And it's lit up nice at night too.