Moab Winter Condition Update 1-2-2020

Welcome to the New Year everyone! The Holidays are over and its time to get back to real life. Hopefully, that includes skiing, it’s pretty great out there right now. We have received significant snowfall in the region and it looks like we have some sunny and clear conditions to go make the most of it. Try to sneak out and get some much-needed mountain therapy! 

Road Conditions:

The La Sal Mountain Loop Rd is rather icy, and the Geyser Pass Rd is packed full of snow. It was plowed on Monday to the top of the Geyser Pass Winter Trailhead. Only very capable vehicles can get up there right now. Two-wheel drive with chains is not wise. Please refer to the Utah Avalanche Center for up to date road and plowing conditions. 

The Abajo Rd is plowed with packed snow in spots up to Dalton Springs. 4 wheel drive is recommended but not entirely necessary.

Abajo Rd 1/2/20

Storm Totals This Week. 

The UAC reported 2-4” of fresh fell Wednesday into Wednesday night in the La Sal Mountains. They also reported a trace of snow in the Abajo’s. Nothing too exciting, but new snow is new snow.

Colorado and Utah resorts saw anything from 1” to 27” of new snow over the last 5 days. With the holiday crowds beginning to dwindle, it’s a great time to get out to the resorts for some turns. Especially mid-week if possible. Here are the snow totals from the last 5 days for resorts in the region

 

 

Wolf Creek and Telluride were the Colorado winners for this round. Snowbird won the powder battle for Utah this week. As we’re just now getting into the real meat of the season, we’re looking at a pretty great snowpack overall. Here are the base depths of all the resorts and how much open terrain they currently have.

 

 

There are many resorts that are fully ready to go, so far so good. Let’s hope everyone gets 100% open pretty soon. 

Backcountry Skiing.

The Utah Avalanche Center reported a base depth of 47″ in the La Sal’s and a 42” base in the Abajo’s. The local mountains are doing just about as well as the ski resorts in southern Utah and Colorado.

If you can make it up the Geyser Pass rd, conditions are amazing and the avalanche danger is relatively low considering the amount of new snow we just got. Please refer to the Utah Avalanche Center for up to date information on avalanche and road conditions. 

The UAC also reported a naturally occurring avalanche in Tele Gold in the La Sal’s following the recent storm. No snow recreationists were involved in the slide.

Cross Country Skiing/Snowshoeing:

The nordic skiing conditions are beautiful and moderately fast at the moment. When the new snow sets in and the grooming machine leaves that sweet, fresh corduroy it should become much faster and more fun. The snow is about as good as it comes, here’s a photo. 

La Sal Mountains 1/1/20

The conditions in the Abajo mountains are also awesome. The road is plowed to the Dalton Spring’s campground area and the ski track is packed out with a tiny bit of grooming, ski tracks, and snowmobile tracks above. No word on future grooming, but the equipment is waiting at the trailhead to be used.

Update 1-3: We’ve gotten word that there were two grooming passes to the Buckboard Campground today. Skating is possible if you get out early. There is limited rolling on the meadow trails. Thanks for the update, Jason Johnson.

Abajo Mountains 1/2/20

Snowshoeing also remains amazing with all the new snow we just got. It’s a great time to enjoy the winter conditions in Moab.

Weather:

We should clear up this week with mostly sunny and dry conditions, there is no snow in the forecast as of now. High’s will crawl up to the higher 30’s this week and low’s will be in the teens. It’s a great time to get out and enjoy the winter conditions after the holidays. 

NOAA Forecast for Moab.

The La Sal’s should be slightly colder with highs in the 20’s and lows mostly in the single digits. The low temperatures should hold the snow nicely for this extended dry period. 

NOAA Forecast for the La Sal’s

Mountain Biking:

All Mountain Biking trails are closed at this time due to icy and snowy conditions. Please respect the closures for your own safety and the safety of the trails in general. Please check the Poison Spider Update Page to check when conditions and trail status improves.

Climbing/Canyoneering:

With all of the new snow we’ve gotten lately, it’s safe to say the climbing is either wet or icy in places. Perhaps with the extended dry conditions, it may improve later this week. Please don’t climb on the wet sandstone. Its gonna be miserable anyway. If not for wet sandstone conditions, certainly for other winter-related purposes. Perhaps it’s time to take out the ice tools and go wandering about. 

Canyoneering should be ok later this week. But be VERY careful of icy conditions in the canyons. It would suck to slip and fall off a cliff. Take caution with canyoneering this week and watch for precipitation. 

Hiking:

It’s spectacular out there! The conditions for hiking are very slippery but the views are absolutely stunning. The white snow contrasting with red desert sandstone is truly something to behold. Grab some traction devices and maybe some trekking poles from the shop and go check it out. Here’s a couple of photos.

Grandstaff Canyon 12/31/19

Potash Rd. 12/30/19

Shop Updates:

We got a shipment of traction devices this morning. Come check us out and get outfitted for the snowy, slick conditions so you can continue to enjoy the snowy desert awesomeness. Supplies will seriously not last long so hurry in!

We still have many 40% pink tag deals and other sales going on, you may even stumble into an 80%-er! New outerwear downstairs also got stoked out to 50% instead of 25%. Come on in and say hello! We are open Every Day from 8 AM to 9 PM

Events This Week:

Castle Valley Ping Pong and Game Day at the Castle Valley Library. January 3rd, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.