Snowboarding
fromUnofficial Networks
4 hours agoAre April Powder Days The New Normal?
April has brought unprecedented spring storms, providing significant snowfall in Montana and other regions, extending the ski season.
From Sunday afternoon through Tuesday night, the guidance lines up on a prolonged South Island storm cycle. Timing confidence is good, with snow pushing in Sunday afternoon and ramping hard Sunday night.
The ongoing storm is expected to add 13-16 cm at Banff Sunshine and around 4-5 cm at Lake Louise by Friday morning, with the deepest moisture focused on Alberta.
The parking lot pulsed with bass-heavy playlists and breakfast cocktails. Ski boots clicked alongside trail runners; bikes leaned against tailgates next to rock skis. Spring in the Northwest is less about conditions and more about community-and the stoke was high.
Both avid and casual skiers know that winter requires preparation. If you want to ski as many days as possible, you must have a game plan. After all, skiing is an expensive sport, so budget is typically one of the top considerations. But before you book flights, hotels, and lift tickets, or decide if you want to invest in an Epic Pass or Ikon Pass, you'll need to identify which ski resorts you want to explore over the course of a few months.
Head finished the season with 9,720 points across all disciplines, leading in Downhill, Super-G, and Slalom, while placing third in Giant Slalom. This consistency ensured a comfortable overall victory, nearly 4,000 points ahead of the next-best ski brand.
Kirkwood has had a pretty solid past few days, seeing 42 inches of snow through the past 7 days, 31 of which fell in the past 48 hours. As of April 13th, Kirkwood has 5 lifts spinning with 45 of 84 trails open to skiers and snowboarders.
Both days delivered clear skies and cold temperatures, with hardly a cloud overhead and almost no wind. Despite the strong alpine sun, temperatures remained below freezing, keeping the snow in excellent shape across the mountain.
Cody Townsend has called Recent Imagery 'the most useful tool for finding snow.' He notes that it will not tell you snow quality, but it does show 'where it's melted out or freshly coated' and helps plan missions efficiently.
The best way to describe a Jerry is 'an individual who exhibits a true lack of understanding for their sport, or for life in general.' Jerry's are typically the ones you see on the mountain who are booming down the runs, heading to hit the next person they see.
The 2025-26 winter saw extreme weather, with the eastern half experiencing consistent cold and heavy snowfall, while the western half endured record warmth and a lack of snowfall.
The sport originated thousands of years ago in Europe by necessity when hunters used long skis to travel and explore over mountain passes, placing animal skins on the bottoms of their skis for traction when climbing. Military units used similar gear to patrol the Alps in the late 1800s, sometimes engaging in speed competitions, which were likely the prototypes for the format of the Olympic skimo debut this February.
If you grew up in a region that received snow, you're probably familiar with the multitude of skiing superstitions. Whether it was wearing your pajamas inside out or flushing ice cubes down the toilet, every kid had their preferred method of playing with fate to force a snow day. Skiers, however, have taken snow superstitions to the next level. A common superstition in the skiing world is the refusal to call the last run, as doing so can apparently heighten your risk of getting injured.