chances for good conditions (friday march 15 to tuesday19

[przemek godycki]

Hello!!!!
Me and few friends are planning a snow kite trip to skyline and potentially other spots, we have tickets booked and we have 5 day window (Friday march 15 thru Tuesday march 19 ) We are experienced snowkiters but we are unfamiliar with Utah. We would like to get some local advice on snow and wind condition. Forecast looks quite warm and also I worry about wind. Bottom line is we would rather cancel the trip and go somewhere else instead if weather is not cooperating.
Is snow at skyline going to be melted and then iced up?
Please help us with local knowledge to decide!
Thank you
Przemek

[AndyBlunt]

A few of us were at skyline yesterday there is a LOT of snow excellent coverage we lucked out as there were a few new inches of snow but under the new snow it was very firm it had likely been baked from some warmer days still the coverage is great you best bet for forecasting the day or two before your trip is the "where to ride" section of this forum Kenny is pretty spot on with his predictions the NOAA website is a good tool too unfortunately high pressure is currently building that doesn't bode well for wind but your trip is still a few days out keep checking Kenny's posts in the where to ride section

[przemek godycki]

I know it is a bit far out and i think there might be a wind looks like few days of high pressure for the end of week but then things will start shifting
I really worry about massive melting for next few days and then all snow turning into ice. It is hard to judge for me how much melting will happened to skyline
i know is around 10 000 feet but freezing line is going to be around 12 000 i think. Does anybody have opinion on this?
We are coming from ice cost so we have enough ice home. In outer words if you guys think it will be ice up we would rather go for wave riding to shack PR

Thanks

[Marty Lowe]

I always like the kiting in March.
Even if it warms up, it will be hardpack in the morning, up high,
but usually will then turn to creamy snow or corn snow as it warms up.
I don't think there will be any massive melting up high going on.
Now the wind can always be fickle, but we end up getting more thermal afternoon winds from the warming.

Here is a link to some long range forecasting.
http://wasatchsnowforecast.com/


Then again, Surf session in PR sound really good after a long winter

[przemek godycki]

Thank you for your opinion. I don't mid spring condition it can be a lot of fun, but i am worrying about worming up at the top/melting then after weekend we are back to 30s and whole mountain will be a big pile of ice. Trying to understand how bad is going to be after mid 40s and sun at skyline
I went to PR twice this season but didn't have enough snow
;p

[przemek godycki]

Thanks again
we are coming tonight, decided to take a chances wind forecast looks promising.
we could use some more info about current snow condition and wind forecast. I am still worrying about icing on Sunday/ Monday.
thanks !

[Marty Lowe]

Make sure to check in here.

Kenny's Forecasts and the windlog for kiters posts.

That's what most of us do for updates on conditions.

You can help us, by posting conditions you find, and maybe win the "windlog posting kite give away"!
http://utahwindriders.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10776

Have fun

[przemek godycki]

Thank you for your input we had THE BEST time in Utah here is a quick trip recap:

Friday and sat we have two excellent days at skyline, at the beginning we were throw off by way too huge Californian looking crowd at the main launch but quickly we realize that west ridge has much better wind, snow and no people at all. So we had blast.

Sunday we went to bar as wind was too strong and everything was frozen.

Monday we try Powder mountain however we opted for ski lift option there was not enough fresh snow (wind blown 2 inches or so and still very crusty base) We like Powder mountain vibe

Tuesday no wind in the forecast so we decided to explore another spots, we went to Hogan pass it was impressive terrain with ok wind unfortunately there was no more snow.
Then we saw huge open field of snow south from it and we decided to check it out. We found incredible unlimited open terrain with some snow coverage,
We drove on the dirt road until snow started then we hiked tallest hill:
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Unknown+road&daddr=38.17269,-111.677234&hl=en&ll=38.17964,-111.677055&spn=0.13224,0.23037&sll=38.172353,-111.647015&sspn=0.066127,0.115185&geocode=FTnwRgIdqURY-Q%3BFRJ4RgIdzvBX-Q&t=h&dirflg=w&mra=dme&z=12
There was no wind but that place had incredible view and amazing potential imo , we are thinking to come back next winter in Jan/ feb to kite this and Hogan
Did anybody kite this? I imagine it has way more snow if winter is better.

Great trip.
Przemek

[Marty Lowe]

Glad you got the goods.

Hogan Pass story
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3364&p=8850&hilit=hogan#p8850