two months until we ski.
We are less than two months from the start of our 87th winter at Alta Ski Area and we’ve already seen our first top-to-bottom snowfall of the season on September 17th. There's no better time to catch up on some offseason updates while we start counting down the days until first chair of the 2024–25 season.
Opening Day is scheduled for Friday, November 22nd—conditions permitting.
The first snow of the season blanketed Cecret Lake and Devil's Castle on September 17th | Photo: Adam Fehr
Is it Going to Keep Snowing?
Over the last two seasons, Alta Ski Area received 1,531 inches of snow—the deepest two-year stretch in Alta’s recorded history. While we don’t expect another winter of historic snowfall totals, history has shown that we can’t rule it out.
Looking back 40 years, we find that between 1981 and 1984, Alta recorded 2,143.5 inches of snow—an average annual snowfall of 714.5 inches.
Snowiest 3-Year Stretch on record: 2,143.5 inches
- 1981–82: 748”
- 1982–83: 687”
- 1983–84: 708.5”
Current 3-Year Stretch: 1,531 inches and counting
- 2022–23: 903”
- 2023–24: 628”
- 2024–25: ???”
Alta needs another 612.5 inches of snow to match the snowy stretch of the early-1980s. Long-range forecasts predict a weak La Niña. According to Open Snow, four of six recent weak La Niña winters have produced above-average snowfall in Utah. Can we reach the epicly snowy start of the 1980s? Only time will tell.
Late September fall foliage | Photo: Rocko Menzyk
Your Preseason Checklist
1. Reload Your Alta Season Pass or Purchase Lift Tickets
Our fall deadline has passed, but it's not too late to order your Alta Season Pass before the season gets underway. Reload last year's pass online, have your pass shipped to your home or swing by our Skier Services office—open Monday–Thursday from 8am–4:30pm— to pick up your Alta Season Pass.
Lift Tickets for the 2024–25 season will go on sale soon. Purchase lift tickets online and save.
2. Secure Your Parking Reservations
Returning for another winter, parking reservations will be required at Alta every Friday–Sunday & Holiday Periods from 8am–1pm. For qualifying Alta Season Passes, parking reservation codes will be sent in mid-October.
3. Enroll in Ski School
The Alf Engen Ski School is offering a full slate of classes and lessons for the 2024–25 season. Team Alta Programs are filling up quickly and registration will open soon for Private Lessons, Class Lessons, Camps and Season-Long Programs.
A few highlights from the 2024–25 ski school course catalog:
- Adult Learn-To-Ski—a four-week program for the first-time skier
- Silver Skis—a new five-week program for ages 60 and up
- Ski More Places Day Camp—a new three-day camp for skiers who have their own lodging
- Peruvian Lodge Camps—a new four-night, three-day ski camp through the Peruvian Lodge
4. Plan Your Trip
Bring your family. Bring your friends. Or just bring yourself, and experience a natural mountain environment with a rich history of deep powder.
5. Gear Up at the Alta Ski Shop
Preseason is the best time to get geared up or tuned up at the Alta Ski Shop. Take advantage of preseason deals on last year's demo skis and outerwear. Or snag some Alta-branded swag. The Alta Ski Shop in the Albion Day Lodge is now open daily.
Alta Ski Shop is now open daily starting October 14th >
6. Start Your Alta Story
We are currently accepting job applications for the 2024–25 season. Positions are filling quickly, but there are a few open seasonal and year-round jobs for someone looking to join a team that values both working and playing in The Greatest Snow on Earth.
Apply Online—or share with a friend who needs a job >
7. Get Involved with the Alta Community
Alta Ski Area and Alta Community Enrichment (ACE) are hosting some great community events this fall.
- Alta Birding Hike | October 24th
- S'mores and Snow | November 16th
- ACE presents Welcome to Winter | November 19th
- Alta Ski Area Opening Day | November 22nd—conditions permitting
Alta Community Enrichment Events Calendar >
8. Discover the Soul of Alta
Alta Ski Area and Sweetgrass Productions bring you a short film that explores the intersection of people and powder skiing throughout Alta’s 87-year history. The Soul of Alta is a film that sets out to answer the question "What is Alta?"
Alta has teamed with local filmmakers Sweetgrass Productions to tell the Alta story through the modern skiers and personalities who are carrying on the spirit of Alta.
Alta's Steeped In Tradition Video Series >
Alta Ski Area Summer Updates
We’ve been keeping busy this offseason working on myriad projects across departments and around the mountain while logging long days in the field to meet our revegetation and reforestation goals while engaging with the community through environmental education and summer stewardship events.
New Conveyors in the Albion Basin
The first update skiers will encounter this season will be found in the Albion base area. We are currently installing two new ski conveyors between the Albion Day Lodge and the Snowpine Lodge.
The two conveyors—Big Griz and Little Griz—will replace the old ski school conveyor. The covered conveyors will require less snowmaking and will enhance Alta's beginner skiing terrain.
- Big Griz will be open to the public, creating a new beginner-friendly connection between the Snowpine lift, the Transfer Tow and Sunnyside lift
- Little Griz will be reserved for Alf Engen Ski School lessons and will be a valuable tool in teaching the basics of sliding on snow to new skiers
Ballroom Traverse Project
Two thousand feet higher on the mountain, we made improvements to the Ballroom Traverse—creating a smoother entrance to Ballroom from the top of Upper Main Street. Often an area of high traffic and wind erosion, the new traverse will help skiers reach the famed powder-filled Ballroom under Mount Baldy.
The High Traverse Project
As part of a two-year process, a crew of eight employees spent six weeks widening the High Traverse from Jake’s to the pass. This hand-cut traverse will hold more snow earlier in the season and during periods of increased skier traffic and wind erosion. It will also provide a dependable traverse to the grassy slopes of Greeley Bowl during low snow periods.
New Sugarloaf Patrol Building
Alta Ski Patrol is the beneficiary of a new patrol building on Sugarloaf Pass. The new structure replaces the decades-old building located near the top terminal of the Sugarloaf lift.
Repurposing Lumber with the Trail Crew
The trail crew has been busy removing hazardous trees in the ski area. These trees were damaged by storms, dead trees and those trees that threaten the lifts or the Albion Basin Campground. The hazard trees are moved to the Alta lumber mill located near the Lower Albion Meadows Trail. The trail crew is still in the process of milling lumber to be used for snow fencing and other on-mountain projects.
Summer Stewardship and Environmental Education Events
To meet our Summer Stewardship goals, the Alta Environmental Center (AEC) and partner organizations enlisted the help of over 150 volunteers, including three Employee Planting Days. More than 1,800 people participated in 10-plus Environmental Education events, creating awareness with our community and the next generation of Alta skiers.
Revegetation Projects
During the warm days of June and July, the AEC team was able to plant over 12,000 native plant seedlings in previously disturbed areas of the mountain. Nina’s received another 1,000 plants per acre—concluding a three-year project to revegetate the Nina’s regrading project of 2021. Three summers of planting have put roughly 9,300 native plants in the ground, yielding visible improvements.
The results of revegetation efforts on Nina's | Left: Summer 2022 | Right: Summer 2024
Crews started planting on the Upper Sleepy Hollow in the Supreme area. Formerly known as Erosion Gullies, this slope was regraded in the summer of 2023. The new groomed run holds significantly more snow earlier in the season and grooming has helped ward off wind and sun erosion that used to leave the slope bare throughout the season.
Alta employees planting shrubs on Sleepy Hollow during the second of three Employee Planting Days | Photo: Adam Fehr
Reforestation Efforts
Our reforestation efforts are focused on improving the overall forest health. This summer's reforestation work started with harvesting trees from groomed runs. After spending a year in the Albion Nursery, these trees were replanted around the mountain in September.
Alta summer employees and the AEC crew transplanting harvested trees from the Albion Nursery to the slopes of Alta | Photo: Anna Lee
On September 21st, the AEC crew partnered with TreeUtah and Cottonwood Canyons Foundation to host the annual Tree Planting Day. Forty volunteers spent the first morning of fall planting 800 Engelmann spruce seedlings on the slopes of Alta.
40 volunteers planted 800 seedlings on Tree Planting Day | Photo: Tyler Struss
September was a busy month for reforestation efforts. Between Employee Planting Day and Tree Planting Day, over 1,000 trees were planted on the slopes of Alta Ski Area.
Learn more about the long history of Alta's Tree Planting Days >
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