2016–17 Ski Season Recap

With less than 100 days until the start of the 2017–2018 ski season in Utah, it’s time to take a minute and reflect on the 2016–17 ski season—and what a season it was!

Utah resorts set a new record in combined skier days, Alta received 543 inches of the Greatest Snow on Earth, Snowbird clocked 593 inches, and Brighton got hammered with 674 inches, over 56 feet of pow! Snowbird ran their lifts over eight different months, finally concluding the banner season on June 4th.

On a more personal note (which is why we’re all here, isn’t it?), my own ski season started on September 23rd and finally wrapped up on July 15th. My last day of the season took place halfway through the Cirque Series race at Alta. Justin Morgan and I ran to the top of Mount Baldy, grabbed the ski and snowboard gear we had stashed the previous night, and shredded the hell out of Main Chute before rejoining the race and running the rest of the seven-mile course with skis and boots on our packs.

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Having skied 153 days over ten different months, including an almost comical 15 days in June, Main Chute on July 15th was the perfect way to end to the best ski season of my life. Yewwww!

I began the 2016-17 ski season with the following five goals in mind:

Ski 100 days
Never miss a powder day
Live each ski day to the fullest
Stay healthy for a full season
And, be the first person to complete The Century Club Challenge (listed below):

2016-17 Ski Season Goal Recap:

How did I do? Well, here’s my official après-ski report card from the season:

Goal #1: Ski 100 Days: PASS

I skied 153 days. Having never before skied 100 days in a season, I reached triple digits and just kept on going.

Goal #2: Ski every powder day: PASS

There were some close calls due to work, road closures, and weather, but I honestly can’t think of a single powder day that I missed completely.

Goal #3: Live each ski day to the fullest: PASS

Did you see my highlight reel? Go back and watch it again. Then send it to your friends, your co-workers, hell, even your grandparents, and have them watch it.

Goal #4: Stay (relatively) healthy for a full season: PASS

I skied with a messed-up ankle for most of the season
I cracked some ribs at Park City Mountain
I crushed my big toes, lost feeling and both big toenails at Snowbird
I separated a shoulder on a beginner run at Deer Valley
I jammed my neck at Snowbird this spring
I also pulled some ab muscles in my sleep.
Season-enders: none

Goal #5: Be the first person to complete the Century Club Challenge: FAIL

I completed 80 of the 100 après-ski tasks. 80% is a passing grade, but my goal is to be the first ever member of the Ski Utah Après-Ski Century Club.

Overall Grade: 80/100

A solid B-, or pretty much my GPA for the five-plus years I spent ski bumming at the University of Utah. If we were grading on a curve, averaging in extra credit earned from 153 après-ski days, I would have made the Après-Ski Dean’s List. But since that’s not a thing, I’ll have to take it for what it is and make a plan to do better next season.

Want to re-live the season over and over again? Me too! So, I put together an hour-long video mixtape, containing 61 edits with 61 different songs, recapping of the 2016-2107 ski season. The 2016-2017 Ski Utah Season Mixtape allows me to look back and identify opportunities for personal improvement, while also re-living the best ski season of my life. Take some time to reflect on your own season, then make a few notes on what it is you're doing wrong. This alone is guaranteed* to make you a better après-skier while simultaneously killing time until the flakes start falling (*not actually guaranteed).

Speaking of next season, this season’s après-ski training camp will kick off in a few weeks. Thus, September is the perfect time to revisit last fall's 12-Step Program for Après-Ski Conditioning listed below:

Pay close attention to Step 2. Ski movie season is just around the corner. With less than 70 days until the start of the 2017-18 ski season, we have some work to do.