The past month has been extremely dry through most of the West. The I-70 corridor of Colorado has the best skiing on the strength of near record snowfall in the first half of November. New England has had a good start and currently has better skiing than most western regions.
California: After 2-4 feet of snow in early November the Sierra received no snow at all for a month. Season snowfall has been 32 inches at Mammoth, 38 at Kirkwood and 59 at Squaw 8,200 and 15 at the base. Mammoth held up the best in the dry spell with about 60% of terrain remaining open. Most Tahoe areas are about 1/3 open. A major winter storm began today, so conditions will improve with more terrain likely to open early next week. See Current California Ski Conditions for more details on Southern California and Mammoth.
RSN December Snow: Northstar 8, Heavenly 2.
Pacific Northwest: Normally the most reliable region in early December, the Northwest is off to a very slow start. Mt. Bachelor is about 1/3 open, Whistler less than 10%, and most areas in Washington are not open yet. The first major storm of the season will hit this weekend, so there should be some skiing avalilable by next week.
RSN December Snow: Mt. Bachelor 8.
Canadian Rockies and Interior B.C.: This region has also had a very poor start. Lake Louise and Sun Peaks have some snowmaking runs. Sunshine is the only natural snow dependent area open, and it's about 40%. Western Canada is also expecting new snow starting this weekend.
RSN December Snow: Sunshine 4.
U. S. Northern Rockies: Targhee and Jackson have had about 7 feet of snow far, though most of it fell a month ago. Targhee is in full operation on 15-51 inches and Jackson 30% open on 28 inches. Farther north Schweitzer is not open and Big Mountain only 10% with similar dry weather to western Canada.
RSN December Snow: Targhee 4.
Utah: Alta has had 88 inches of snow, about 2 feet of it before November. All lifts are open but on a 32-inch base advanced terrain must be limited. Snowbird is 1/3 open and no one else in Utah is as much as 20% open. The current Pacific storm should reach Utah by Sunday.
RSN December Snow: Snowbird 4, Park City 1.
Northern and Central Colorado: After a few lean early seasons this region had near record snowfall in November. Still leading the pack is Vail, with 130 inches snowfall and 98% of its 5,100 acres open since before Thanksgiving. Winter Park has had 118 inches (80% open), Breckenridge 88 and Steamboat 80 (both about 60% open). Loveland is in full operation on a 40-inch base and Copper is 80% open and Keystone 70%. Most of these areas have had more terrain open since Thanksgiving than they did at Christmas 3 of the past 4 years. Base depths do need to increase some from the current 3 feet to maintain good coverage for the impending holiday crowds.
RSN December Snow: A-Basin 11, Copper 10, Keystone 13.
Southern and Western Colorado: Wolf Creek can claim another year as North America's early season leader. It reached full operation as of November 9 and currently has a 40-54 inch base. It had 6 feet of snow in October and another 53 inches since November 1. Elsewhere in the region Aspen and Taos are 80+% open, though again the current base depth is 3 feet and nearly all of the snowfall came before Thanksgiving. Base depths at these areas need to get into the 4-5 foot range at least in order to keep expert terrain covered. Crested Butte, Durango and Telluride are all about 40% open.
RSN December Snow: Aspen 2, Durango 11, Telluride 3, Taos 2.
Northeast: Northern New England had a nice run of cold weather at the start of November plus over a foot of natural snow. As a result Killington was 30% open and Okemo 15% November 9, likely records for that early. After a one week thaw melted out half of that terrain, cold and snowy weather has prevailed again for the past month. The major Vermont areas are 80+% open and Jay's season snowfall is 90 inches. Sunday River is 55% open and Sugarloaf 32%. I strongly recommend checking 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.
RSN December Snow: Jay 24, Stowe 26, Killington 26, Stratton 24, Sugarloaf 3.