By Isaiah Frizzell
As a resort and vacation town, our Valley is largely molded by nature’s seasons. Our growth and success is, to some degree, based on the whims of the elementals, the spirits and surges nature creates. Humans that we are, though, we add to it with the snowguns, but more on that in a bit.
From skiing, snowboarding and hockey in snowy months to hiking in spring, swimming and fishing in summer and celebrating the year’s rewards in autumn, we look to the sky for our signs. On one side are the tourists who show up for a spectacular physical adventure that spills over into apreès-ski cocktails, lunch and eventually dinner at one of our fine restaurants, an amazing caterer or private chef.
The hotels, the resort, AirBnBs all count on the weather being tuned to the season’s song. Is this an abstract work of jazz, vapid pop or an electronic, musique concrete/psychedelic session with the group Autechre?
Weird Science
The year 2025’s temperatures have shown us people wearing shorts, sandals and even tank tops in mid-late December. We had one big snowfall, in the Valley, near Christmas Eve, which was beautiful but pretty much melted the same day.
Baldy couldn’t even really open. Delayed. It’s been strange. If you’ve lived here long enough, or talk to enough people who have, you hear how weird this weather has been. A ‘summery winter’ is the phrase.
Now in January, as rain becomes snow becomes rain, what is there to make of the season? How’s the backcountry skiing? What’s going on in the mountains, the restaurants? Are people still thrilled?
Actually, yes, they are. It’s traditional, beloved, and people always find a way.
Enter Troy Quesnel
Troy Quesnel has lived in the Valley for over 27 years. Working his way through the Ski Patrol ranks, he’s an alumni and proud patrolman. Like most of us, Quesnel also does roofing and fabrication.
The mountain relies on weather stations and snowguns, connected and manned by a control room.
“This is my 27th winter and, yeah, we haven’t seen this warm of weather ever. The last two weeks on top of the mountain, we’ve gotten four and a half feet of snow. And down here on the Valley floor, as you can see, I think we got eight inches in town.
“That was on Christmas Eve. And right about three o’clock on Christmas Eve, it changed from snow to rain, and the snow level rose. On Christmas night, it rained all the way to the top.”
Quesnel knows more about the weather than most—professional-level skills in play here.
Moisture is the most important thing, keeping grasses, creeks, animals alive.
Quesnel continues, “Again, you know, this is a winter like we haven’t seen and, you know, in a lot of people’s lifetimes. And definitely in my experience here. We’re at the mercy of Mother Nature, and that’s one thing we can’t control. We can only react to it.
“I look at the weather, you know, just more from a, you know, how much moisture’s in the air that’s available to precipitate. And when we look at how much water is in our snowpack and how much water we’ve received in what we would refer to as a normal year, any year before this year, that would all be snow. We would have feet and feet of snow on the ground here in the Valley if we had the temperatures that, you know, we have had in the past.
“We’re in that La Niña ocean now. It’s kind of weak, but it tends to favor us from a moisture standpoint and how much water is available to precipitate out of the atmosphere. And we’ve been getting the moisture and that’s indicative of how much snow is at the top of the mountain and, you know, how much snow is just in the base, you know, the Wood River Basin.”
Is Anyone Skiing?
“You know, our skier count has been pretty close to what we’ve had in past years, in terms of the number of people on the mountain. And I think part of that is because, you know, people that are skiers want to ski over their holiday. They’re looking everywhere. Hey, where can we go? Where can we get some skiing? Utah doesn’t have any snow still. Some of their resorts are open, but very limited.
“And so we were one of the first, within hundreds of miles, to have actual skiing available. You know, it wasn’t awesome winter powder skiing by any means. But after that big storm, we got a lot of natural snow, so it allowed us to open more terrain. And then it got cold this week, so we’ve been able to make a lot more snow and get a lot more terrain open.”
How is the Snow Made?
“The snowmaking system is sturdy. Each gun is computer-controlled individually, so they can adjust the mixture of water and air at each gun. All of that is overseen in a control room, big computer screens that show every gun on it with somebody monitoring what’s going on. Then there’s the snowmaking crew out there adjusting, moving guns, changing their direction. And then there’s around 100 weather stations located all over the mountain. So each different zone is able to have real-time data in terms of temperature and humidity to adjust each gun. And so the water and air mix right at the end of the gun in the nozzles, and then they create this fine mist that comes out into the air. And so they’re able to adjust those to get the best quality product based on its local microclimate.”
Quesnel is incredibly well -nformed, optimistic and hopeful, but as Ski Patrol he must keep his eye on the actual quality of the condition on the mountain. “As you go through the day, first thing in the morning, the groomers are super nice. Go through the day, that snow gets shaved off by people’s ski edges, pushed into piles, and then you get really slick spots in between the bumps.”
“And then a lot of people say, oh, it’s icy. So later in the day that they get up there, then we’ve got slick spots with snow levels ranging from 7,000 to 9,000 feet or higher. We had some pretty warm temperatures, so we did have some times where it was like winter skiing on top and almost spring, kind of corny slush skiing at the bottom.”
Injuries?
“Skiing is an inherently dangerous activity. And so, yeah, people tend to get hurt doing that. But I don’t think, from my experience, we had any more injuries than normal this year because of the conditions.”
The Baldy Bustle
Quesnel relates the incredible job these people do, daily, to facilitate mountain recreation. “There’s a lot of work. So, when we have these limited-terrain openings, we’ve got to be able, if we only open it that much, so that we can go in as a ski patroller and safely rescue somebody. So if somebody’s on a piece of terrain that we have open, for whatever reason, we have to be able to go in and evacuate them.”
“So that’s really what dictates, from our standpoint, if we can have terrain open or not. So when we have the limited terrain, we have to rope off and create boundaries for each.
“We set up thousands and thousands of feet of rope closures every day, and then have to take them down at night so that the groomers and snowmakers can do their best to get it ready for the public for the next day. And we come in the next morning and put it all up again and let people have fun. Everybody goes home and we take it down at the end of the day.”
Incredible. The mechanics of the mountain are a sight to behold. Troy Quesnel’s mind is brilliant, funny and hopeful.
Family, Friends and Fun are What Count
The saying around town during this season is ‘No snow, no show’ concerning winter-weather-sports tourists but the truth is people come for more than just excellent ski conditions. Family, friends, cocktails and dinner and the general vibe of the beautiful Valley we inhabit.
A friend, whose son is a professional skier, mentioned taking his daughters to Baldy after that big snowfall and there were, to his astonishment, around 5,000 people on the mountain yet only about 20% of the mountain was open to activities!
People still want to get out, get some air, vibe and enjoy. The less skiing available actually enhances the restaurants and bars even more. “No snow? Let the booze flow.”
Sure, it’s a humorous take but true, everyone is still here for the friendship, family and socializing that also creates a petri dish for new ideas and concepts for the future. At dinners and lunches, après-ski cocktails, a business idea may arise. Some new way no one has yet implemented. It’s a contextually interesting time to consider the situation, life, passions and perhaps react in some way that may change lives in a positive way.
Community Always
Quesnel hopes for snow. We talk of the liqueur Ullr and the tradition of ‘snow dancing.’
Ullr (or Ull) is a Norse god associated with skiing, hunting, archery, and winter. In modern ski culture, largely in North America, Ullr has been adopted as a patron deity of snow sports, and various rituals have developed around invoking him for snowfall.
People congregate on the mountains, drinking Ullr and chanting for snow. It’s somewhat tongue in cheek but a genuine aspect of community building.
“Yeah, pray to whatever snow god you’ve got!
There’s great skiing up on Baldy, so come up and enjoy it. I mean, the experience that you have going from the Valley floor up to 9,000 feet, especially on days like we’ve had this week, it’s not all about skiing. It’s that mountain community, that vibe you get. And then the views up there of our surrounding mountains are pretty incredible.
And that’s, you know, that’s a huge part of why people ski. Yeah, sliding down the snow is fun. And everybody wants that awesome powder and those perfect conditions. But skiers know that that’s not the only reason they go out.
Enough said! Troy Quesnel is a joy to speak to and obviously finely in tune with the mountain’s song.
Have fun, stay safe, and mostly enjoy your family and friends. The new year has begun and we carry on, calmly with passion and engagement in finding ways to high jump any hurdles this wild world may throw at us.
