Mother nature has slammed the weather window on us. A storm of epic proportions is pounding the mountains, already dumping 28″ in 24 hours. As of 5pm the Alta and Brighton have a base of 70+” of 7 percent smoke. The Park City and Ogden mountains have about 12″ with the Provo mountains about half of that. Another wave could add perhaps another 4-8” by tomorrow morning. Temps are in the teens and twenties, keeping the fresh snow light and fluffy on top of a very stable base layer that fell last week. This one’s going down in the history books, Folks!

Ok. So I’m NOT ready. Storm’s have pounded the Wasatch, and Brighton Resort teases that they will open soon. My brother’s reported that Mammoth Mtn opened today. And I still need to beef up my quads. Ugh.

The rain has been washing the Salt Lake Valley clean and there’s no end in sight. Friend’s are touring the backcountry – especially Alta – with it’s 40″ of new base. I can wait for the lifts to open….. so long as that happens next week! My OnTheSnow.com column begins daily in November so you can get the whole scoop on Utah skiing. Make sure you check it out ’cause I’ll be running a super slick giveaway for a brand new ski bag from High Sierra.

Base Lodge at Mammoth photo by Joe Adler

It’s been a long summer of procrastination. I traveled to Mammoth, Whistler, San Diego, Spokane, the San Juan Islands, Jackson Hole and Las Lenas, Argentina. But I’ve finally got my Web site going – in time for ski season; in time for pre-season conditioning; in time for new roommates to move in; in time for ski movies and ski swaps.

We saw a foot of snow in the mountains last week but it quickly disappeared under warm temps and sunny skies. Clouds covered the luminous orb of a full moon tonight, hinting at additional storms but we’ll see. I’m hoping that if something does roll in it will roll out by Saturday.

Instead of the annual pilgrimage for sand dune skiing at the Bruneau Sand Dunes in Idaho, I’m staying home this weekend to attend the Annual Harvest Fest at Sundance Resort, get in a final weekend of resort mtn biking (Deer Valley closed up last week) and take an outdoor photography class from their Art Shack professional.