Western snow conditions progressed from poor in mid-November to average at the end of November to well above average in most regions by mid-December. Overall, holiday ski conditions in the West are the best since 1996-97, with nearly all areas in Utah, the Northwest, the Sierra and Northern Rockies being in midwinter full operation. A strong high-pressure system has blocked out big storms from most of the West since before Christmas, but coverage in the aforementioned regions is more than adequate for holiday traffic.
Only a few areas post season-to-date snowfall on their websites. At the end of the regional sections, I list selected RSN month-to-date snow totals for other resorts, making educated guesses as to which resorts have supplied complete data for the month.
California: Season snowfall: Mammoth 184 inches (168% of normal), Kirkwood 247 inches (176%), Squaw 195 inches (142%) at upper elevations and 94 at the base. Mammoth is in full operation on 7-8 feet and Tahoe areas are in full operation on 4-8 feet of base. Squaw's KT22 and Heavenly's Mott Canyon opened by December 7. This region has the best snow now, as a 2-3 foot storm got past the south end of the high pressure last weekend. See Current California Ski Conditions for more details on Southern California and Mammoth. Natural snow dependent areas in Arizona and Southern California are not yet open.
RSN December Snow: Northstar 122, Heavenly 117.
Pacific Northwest: Washington and Oregon areas are in full operation on 4-10 foot bases but have had little new snow the past week and a half. Whistler's big dump the third week of December brought its total to 184 inches, 122% of normal. The first 3 weeks of this Northwest December were very comparable to the epic early seasons 3 and 5 years ago.
RSN December Snow: Mt. Bachelor 149.
Canadian Rockies and Interior B.C.: Big White had the earliest natural snow skiing in North America, opening October 27 with 2 high speed lifts over 20% of the terrain. Sun Peaks and the Okanagan areas are now in full operation on 4-7 foot bases. Red's Granite Mt. and Fernie opened Dec. 7 with better conditions than they had all last season and are now in full holiday operation on 6 foot bases. Lake Louise is open with snowmaking plus 78 inches (91% of normal) natural snow so far, and Sunshine is now 90% open on a 48-inch base. There has been almost no new snow in western Canada since before Christmas
RSN December Snow: Fernie 103, Red Mt. 64, Sunshine 42.
U. S. Northern Rockies: Jackson Hole's season snowfall is now 140 inches (104% of normal) and it has been in 100% operation (including the Hobacks) since Dec. 19. Grand Targhee is 100% open on a 53-inch base. Big Sky and Bridger are in full operation. Schweitzer is in full operation on a 72-101 inch base and Sun Valley is in full operation with 95 inches season snow, 141% of normal. Big Mountain's season snowfall is 128 inches at the peak (111% of normal) and 75 inches at the base, also in full operation. Just a few inches (north) to a foot (Tetons) of new snow have fallen during the holidays.
RSN December Snow: Big Sky 33, Bridger 57, Targhee 82, Schweitzer 120
Utah: Alta's season snowfall is 226 inches (131% of normal) and the base is 68 inches. All 4 Cottonwood areas are in excellent shape. The Park City region has received about 11 feet of snow, so all 3 areas have been in full operation on 5-foot bases since the second week of December. Snowbasin is also 100% open. Holiday new snow has been less than a foot. Brian Head missed the big November storms and thus just reached full operation by New Year's.
RSN December Snow: Snowbird 84, Solitude 82, The Canyons 50, Brian Head 45.
Northern and Central Colorado: The high snowfall areas are having a good holiday with a few inches new snow. Vail is 100% open with 122 inches snowfall, 98% of normal and Steamboat is 100% open on 118 inches snowfall, 92% of normal. Winter Park (109 inches snow, 88% of normal) is mostly open except for the hard-to-cover Vasquez Cirque. Elsewhere, advanced terrain remains limited for the holidays. Breckenridge (65.5 inches snow, 70% of normal) is 86% open and Copper is 68%open. Keystone is 46% open on 43 inches natural snow, Loveland is 44% open and A-Basin is 24% open.
RSN December Snow: Copper 60, Loveland 43.
Southern and Western Colorado: Wolf Creek's season-to-date snowfall is 123 inches (106% of normal) and has all lifts and most terrain open on 38-47 inches. Telluride is 90% open including the new Prospect Bowl on 36-40 inches. Elsewhere base depths are no more than 3 feet, so expert terrain is limited. Thus since December 15 Crested Butte has been 50% open (but no North Face) and Taos is 48% open. Aspen/Snowmass is about 3/4 open with mostly intermediate terrain. There has been up to a foot new snow over the holiday period.
RSN December Snow: Telluride 64.
Northeast: A record heat wave closed most areas the first week of December. The weather has finally turned cold so snowmaking has been going full speed for almost 3 weeks. Nonetheless most areas are only 20-40% open and even at snowmaking leaders about 50-70% of runs are open. I strongly recommend checking Scenes of Vermont Ski Page or First Tracks Online Ski Magazine No-Bull Ski Reports for up to date information in this region, where both weather and surface conditions can change so rapidly. Significant natural snow, including a recent 1-2 foot storm, has been confined to far northern Vermont. A few areas have some good natural snow skiing, but the base is thin so it won't stand up to much traffic.
RSN December Snow: Sugarloaf 19, Wildcat 17, Jay 63, Stowe 50, Killington 20, Stratton 17, Tremblant 20, Snowshoe 11.