Spring skiing can be wonderful and meh all in one day. Temperature fluctuations greatly affect the snowpack and with it, your skiing or riding experience. By April and May, there are two types of snow you’ll typically find: Corn or powder. If it’s powder, then you’ll likely only have a few hours for the goods. A slope that skied well one run ago may change by the time you return to it because of factors like the sun and air temperatures. However, when it’s good it’s really good.
Tony Cammarata, 24-year director of Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin Ski Patrol and now Operations Director at A-Basin, is an expert on assessing and negotiating changing snow conditions that persist during the spring. This is what Cammarata has to say about the spring ski season: “I love this time of year when areas like our Montezuma Bowl go isothermic (meaning equal or constant temperature) and corn up to the consistency of creamed corn.”
Keep reading for more of Tony Cammarata’s advice to skiers and riders on how to craft a spring ski day strategy to optimize the best ski conditions and avoid the bone-rattling, breakable crust. And then head to our article here featuring the best destinations for spring skiing.
How To Find The Best Spring Snow
Know Your Snow Conditions
As we head out of deep winter and toward the equinox (equal day and night), the angle at which the sun hits the slopes changes and intensifies. In addition, as the days get longer, there’s more sunlight hitting the snow. However, after the sun goes down, mountain temperatures often dip below freezing. All this creates a melt-freeze cycle where snow melts mid-morning through the afternoon and freezes after sundown. Translation: Early-morning runs may feel like the surface of a coral reef.
“If you take the wrong turn on a north-facing slope too early, you can lose a filling,” says Cammarata. “If you know that temperatures are going to freeze overnight after being warm, you might delay your morning until the frozen chicken heads start to unlock. These globs of snow were corn snow the day before, but when the temps dip below freezing, they petrify.”
Play the Aspect And Elevation
The direction a slope faces in respect to the sun is extremely important in finding good springtime snow. Knowing that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west can help you orient yourself as you approach a mountain. Think about following the sun. Start on east- or south-facing slopes and move clockwise to the west, ending with north-facing slopes.
“Play the aspect,” suggests Cammarata. “East-facing slopes see the sun first. If there’s no fresh snow in the morning, look to the southerly aspects and groomed surfaces to get unlocked by the sun. By the end of the day, play your way back north.”
At larger resorts, you can play the elevation as well, since the lower mountain warms up quicker than the upper mountain. But if the weather changes, as it often does in the spring when clouds cover the sun or the wind blows, head back to the groomers as the snow firms up.
Get Smart
If you’re too busy to keep up with the forecast or you’re directionally challenged, don’t be embarrassed to use some tools. “Everyone has a smartphone on them, so you can use your cell phone for points on a compass. There’s also a slope angle feature,” says Cammarata of the compass that comes stock on some iPhones. Plenty of free, popular compass apps for Android exist as well.
Websites with weather reports and forecasts, like OnTheSnow, are invaluable when planning a spring ski day. You can also look at regional sites (i.e., avalanche.state.co.us) for mountain weather and avalanche hazard information that’s useful even if you’re skiing within a ski resort boundary. Check out this article for our list of the best ski apps.
Watch For Changing Conditions
Skiing or riding at a resort usually entails a high-alpine environment, so remember to be aware of changing conditions. “Take the same precautions skiing as driving a car,” advises Cammarata. “For example, there could be a rock in the road. In the high alpine environment, loose rock has the ability to roll out. When you see snow start to pinwheel or form roller balls that come from a point release, you know the snow is rapidly warming up. Ski patrol highly monitors solar radiation and temperature in the snowpack and makes terrain decisions based on that information.”
So when you see a closed sign or rope closing the run you skied the day or even hours before, know that patrol has closed the area after serious observation and intimate knowledge of the slopes and snow conditions.
Protect Yourself
It’s easy to get caught up in spring ski fever and forget to stop for water or peel off layers as the temps climb. Ski patrollers, accordingly, often treat many skiers and riders for common springtime maladies.
“Stay hydrated, apply multiple applications of sunscreen, and use eye protection,” recommends Cammarata. “The sun is strong this time of year, and the glare off the snow can cause really bad eye irritation or ultraviolet keratitis (sunburn of the cornea), not to mention burning your skin.”
Take Care of Your Gear
Once March hits, you might be tired of tuning your skis, but dull edges on spring-morning boilerplate make you feel like a goat on ice. Keep your skis tuned so you have sharp enough edges to handle the hardpack. Also, savvy skiers and riders carry rub-on wax to help thwart that feeling when the snow warms up. “The right type of wax helps you glide around a lot better,” says Cammarata. “A warm wax keeps the gloppy snow away by essentially waterproofing the ski.” Keep a wax handy that’s made for corn snow.
Use versatile all-mountain skis that provide enough waist width to “slarve” (a sliding carve, or skid steer, where the tips pivot and the tails slide adjacent and wash out creating a deep angled crescent moon shape) through corn snow while also possessing the ability to carve on groomed snow. Spring skiing means taking extra care of your equipment.
Where to head for spring skiing
Look for a resort that is above the treeline or has few trees (unless you enjoy skiing the tree chutes). The debris or pine sap from trees can cause your boards to stick. But the biggest tip is being sure the temperatures drop below freezing at night. If you choose a resort relatively closer to the ocean (think California, British Columbia, and even Utah), the extra moisture in the snow will last longer.
Historically the following resorts extend their ski season late into spring: Mammoth Mountain and Palisades Tahoe in California, Breckenridge and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, Mt. Bachelor and Timberline in Oregon, Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, and Sunshine Village in Alberta. You can check out more of our spring skiing recommendations here.
Why Ski In The Spring
We can think of lots of reasons to ski in the spring. For one, the days are much longer, which translates into more turns. Plus, some of the best snowpacks of the season exist in March and into April. And then there’s corn snow, formed by consistent melt-freeze cycles, which is a fun surface to ski on. Finally, the weather is primo, with warm spring days that allow you to ski in a t-shirt. Just be sure to bring layers and extra gear to accommodate changes in weather throughout the day.
Brand new to skiing/riding? The best time to learn (or relearn) how to get down the mountain is during spring. You want to be warm and comfortable when you learn, and a bluebird day is perfect for that. Learn more in our article here.
April 02, 2024
