Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah — While Solitude was the first ski resort to open in Utah for the season, it’s been a slow climb to get more terrain open.
A lack of snow in December led to minimal terrain being open last month. The slow opening of trails even led to a warning by Solitude that those who ducked ropes would receive a thirty-day ban from the mountain. However, a snowy start to January led them to open more trails, including the Sunrise and the Summit terrain pods. The missing piece is now getting Honeycomb Canyon open, which is home to Solitude’s only closed chairlift right now: Honeycomb Return quad chairlift.
Yesterday, Solitude shared a webcam video from its summit. The video below shows a huge avalanche falling into Honeycomb Canyon. Ski patrollers have been undergoing avalanche mitigation in the Canyon in order to get that terrain area open. This has included using hand-thrown charges and remote Wyssen towers. In case you are wondering, Solitude’s ski patrollers recently unionized.
Currently, Solitude has 57 of its 82 trails open. Many of the missing runs are situated in Honeycomb Canyon, which has yet to open for the season. Unfortunately, OpenSnow is only projecting minimal snowfall for Solitude in the days ahead.
Image/Video Credits: Solitude Mountain Resort
