Spring skiing can be wonderful and meh all in one day. Temperature swings have a huge effect on the snowpack, and with it, your skiing or riding experience. By April and May, you’ll typically find one of two kinds of snow: corn or powder. If it’s powder, you’ll likely only have a few hours to enjoy it before the sun gets to it, and a slope that skied well one run ago may have changed by the time you return. But when spring snow is good, it’s really good.
Tony Cammarata, Arapahoe Basin’s longtime ski patrol director, is an expert on reading and navigating the changing snow conditions of spring. Here’s how he describes the season: “I love this time of year when areas like our Montezuma Bowl go isothermic (meaning equal or constant temperature) and corn up to the consistency of creamed corn.”
Keep reading for more of Cammarata’s advice on building a spring ski day strategy to find the best snow and avoid bone-rattling breakable crust. Then check out our guide to the best destinations for spring skiing.
How to Find the Best Spring Snow
Know Your Snow Conditions
As winter gives way to spring and the equinox (equal day and night), the sun hits the slopes at a higher, more intense angle, and longer days mean more sunlight on the snow. After the sun goes down, though, mountain temperatures often dip below freezing. That creates a melt-freeze cycle, in which snow softens from mid-morning through the afternoon and refreezes after dark. Translation: early-morning runs can feel like skiing on the surface of a coral reef.
“If you take the wrong turn on a north-facing slope too early, you can lose a filling,” says Cammarata. “If you know that temperatures are going to freeze overnight after being warm, you might delay your morning until the frozen chicken heads start to unlock. These globs of snow were corn snow the day before, but when the temps dip below freezing, they petrify.”
Play the Aspect and Elevation
The direction a slope faces relative to the sun is hugely important for finding good spring snow. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so think about following it around the mountain: start on east-facing slopes, move to south- and west-facing slopes as the day warms, and save north-facing terrain for last.
“Play the aspect,” says Cammarata. “East-facing slopes see the sun first. If there’s no fresh snow in the morning, look to the southerly aspects and groomed surfaces to get unlocked by the sun. By the end of the day, play your way back north.”
At bigger resorts, you can play the elevation, too, since the lower mountain warms up faster than the upper mountain. And if the weather changes, as it often does in spring when clouds roll in or the wind picks up, head back to the groomers as the snow firms up.
Get Smart
If you’re too busy to keep up with the forecast or you’re directionally challenged, don’t be embarrassed to use some tools. “Everyone has a smartphone on them, so you can use your cell phone for points on a compass,” says Cammarata. Built-in and free compass apps on most phones will show you which way a slope faces.
Weather forecasts and snow reports, like our twice-weekly Snow Before You Go forecasts and the OnTheSnow app, are invaluable when planning a spring ski day. You can also check regional avalanche centers, like the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, for mountain weather and snowpack information that’s useful even if you’re skiing inside a resort boundary. For more, see our list of the best ski apps.
Watch for Changing Conditions
Skiing at a resort often means skiing in a high-alpine environment, so stay aware of changing conditions. “Take the same precautions skiing as driving a car,” advises Cammarata. “For example, there could be a rock in the road. In the high alpine environment, loose rock has the ability to roll out. When you see snow start to pinwheel or form roller balls that come from a point release, you know the snow is rapidly warming up. Ski patrol highly monitors solar radiation and temperature in the snowpack and makes terrain decisions based on that information.”
So when you see a closed sign or rope across a run you skied the day before, or even hours before, know that patrol closed it after careful observation and intimate knowledge of the slopes and snow conditions.
Protect Yourself
It’s easy to get caught up in spring ski fever and forget to drink water or shed layers as temperatures climb, and ski patrollers treat plenty of skiers and riders for common springtime problems as a result.
“Stay hydrated, apply multiple applications of sunscreen, and use eye protection,” recommends Cammarata. “The sun is strong this time of year, and the glare off the snow can cause really bad eye irritation or ultraviolet keratitis (sunburn of the cornea), not to mention burning your skin.”
Take Care of Your Gear
By March, you might be tired of tuning your skis, but dull edges on spring-morning boilerplate will make you feel like a goat on ice. Keep your edges sharp enough to handle the hardpack. Savvy skiers and riders also carry rub-on wax for when the snow warms up. “The right type of wax helps you glide around a lot better,” says Cammarata. “A warm wax keeps the gloppy snow away by essentially waterproofing the ski.” Keep a warm-temperature wax made for corn snow handy.
Versatile all-mountain skis are ideal, with enough waist width to “slarve” (a sliding carve, where the tips pivot and the tails slide, leaving a crescent-shaped track) through corn snow while still carving well on groomers.
Where to Head for Spring Skiing
Look for resorts with high-elevation terrain, deep snowpacks, and plenty of open slopes above or near treeline, since debris and pine sap from trees can make your skis or board stick. Most important, look for places where temperatures still drop below freezing at night, which keeps the melt-freeze cycle going and the corn snow coming.
Historically, these resorts keep their seasons going late into spring: Mammoth Mountain and Palisades Tahoe in California, Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, Snowbird in Utah, Mt. Bachelor and Timberline in Oregon, Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, and Sunshine Village in Alberta. See more in our guide to ski resorts open late into spring.
Why Ski in the Spring
There are lots of reasons to ski in the spring. The days are much longer, which means more turns. Some of the season’s deepest snowpacks are on the ground in March and into April. Corn snow, formed by consistent melt-freeze cycles, is a blast to ski. And the weather is often perfect, with warm, sunny days that let you ski in a T-shirt. Just bring layers to handle changing conditions throughout the day.
Brand new to skiing or riding? Spring is one of the best times to learn (or relearn). You want to be warm and comfortable when you’re learning, and a bluebird spring day is perfect for that. Learn more in our article on why spring skiing is best for beginners.
