Report from Friday, May 6, 2022

When all the other resorts are closed but you haven’t quite yet had your fill;

when winter is supposed to be dead and gone

but the storms keep rolling in—

Snowbird is there for you.

Snowbird in May is one of a kind.

Right now the coverage is phenomenal and the skiing even better.

May at the Bird can be summarized into a surefire formula on how to maximize the skiing experience.

Before we dissect this bulletproof formula, these key points must be noted:

• Snowbird is open 8 am to 2 pm right now, Fridays through Sunday, conditions permitting.
• The skiing is firm and fast in the first one to two hours of the morning, corn central by mid-morning, and totally sticky/slushy by about 12:30-1, minus a few high elevations, protected north-facing zones that can sometimes hold out for longer.

Snowbird in May Formula 

1. Mineral Basin as early as possible. Ski the corn until it’s not corn anymore. It was getting sticky today around 10-10:30 am.
2. Head to Little Cloud and continue chasing corn. The west-facing steeps off the cat-track traverse before Regular Johnson softened up before any of the north-facing lines in the Road to Provo area. By 11 any east-facing slope was sticking like flypaper and was carefully avoided.
3. Road to Provo until it’s getting too sticky.
4. Rat’s Nest or Silver Fox back down to Peruvian and home (You can access either by taking the Mineral Basin chair back up or sidestepping up a short section of cat track at the end of the traverse leading to Regular Johnson).

*Wildcard:* Just ski Peruvian all day, that’s good too.

There’s really nothing better than skiing Snowbird in May.

The crowds are gone.

The snow is great.

The vibes are so good.

But be warned: once you start skiing Snowbird after all of Utah’s other ski areas close…

…you’ll never want to stop. 

I moved out to Utah for ‘college’ six winters ago. 

I made the mistake of getting a Snowbird season pass my first year here.

I was still taking the chairlift up into June my first couple of seasons at the Bird. 

Now I’m stuck here, endlessly spinning laps on Little Cloud in the disorienting May sunshine, hitting slushy jumps in a t-shirt.

I just keep winding back up at the top of the chair like a lost soul stuck on loop. 

But you know what?

It’s not so bad. 

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