Conditions Report
Report from Sunday, December 14, 2025
I prayed for more patience in my life and since then it hasn’t snowed.
Apologies.
It turns out that God deals in opportunities and not deliveries.
But that’s alright.
Firm and fast snow makes you a better skier.
And there’s no better place to practice then on a gorgeous bluebird Sunday at Snowbasin, sans liftlines, cold weather, parking difficulty, or bad vibes.
When in doubt—go North.
For Salt Lake skiers like myself, Snowbasin always provides.
Especially in times like these.
We cracked open the day at 12 o’clock like a bubbly seltzer;
crisp and tangy snow that slides sharp and satin under the bellies of your skis
Fast snow.
Fast snow equals fun snow.
Needles Gondola is open for 2,500-feet of top to bottom skiing right now.
There is one main groomed run from the top that most everyone takes.
Yet there are a few daring souls who try their luck off piste in the hardened moguls that creep in the shadows like thugs.
I’m not sure who’s tougher—those moguls or the skiers and snowboarders dancing amongst them.
The long run from the top to the bottom gets more scarred by the minute;
ski and snowboard edges leaving their marks like intricate tattoos—
but the sides of the run stay soft as the hair of the dog that briefly soothes you after a long night out.
This is where the fluffy snow shaved off the firm snow deposits and rests.
We ski it like rabbits.
The sun submerges behind the peak and the shade drowns the slopes.
A blue blanket now woos the mountain to a calm.
There’s a chill inside my gore-tex.
Only a couple more laps on the gondola before we must go back south.
South to the city.
Everyone knows they don’t have long.
But they slide on,
braiding their last few turns of the day.
I slide a rail in the fun terrain park at the bottom, then another, and finally an extended metal tube
that shoots me out fast and long
to the lurking base
where skiers—some with their dogs—share stories and beverages.
This is where I long for one more lap.
One more lap on those crystals.
But it’s time.
They say snow is coming.
And soon our firm turns will be put inside a coffin.
The cold, dead hand of winter is dealing out the cards as we speak.
Snow Conditions
Weather
