Utah Ski Areas - Compare and Contrast???

BenedictGomez · Sep 16, 2016

xwhaler said:
You went to a WM movie out there to snag the deals or found someone selling online?

Online. And it was easy. Bought a few, one for me, one for the gf. Huge $$$ savings.

Did it for Solitude tix & Snowbird BOGO, but wound up skiing Powder Mountain for free too for the helluvit since we had a rental car.

This year's offering isnt as good, Snowbird is the same, but Solitude is only good for certain dates, though it's a home run if it's the date's you're going.

http://www.skinet.com/warrenmiller/events/abravanel-hall

xwhaler · Sep 16, 2016

BenedictGomez said:
Online. And it was easy. Bought a few, one for me, one for the gf. Huge $$$ savings.

Did it for Solitude tix & Snowbird BOGO, but wound up skiing Powder Mountain for free too for the helluvit since we had a rental car.

This year's offering isnt as good, Snowbird is the same, but Solitude is only good for certain dates, though it's a home run if it's the date's you're going.

http://www.skinet.com/warrenmiller/events/abravanel-hall

Good stuff. Hadn't even thought of hitting up CL or eBay for these but it makes sense. Thanks

BenedictGomez · Feb 17, 2017

Didnt want to start a new thread to ask a simple question.....

Thinking about organizing an Easter ski trip again this year, since Easter is late it eliminates a lot of places that close early. Whistler and Banff are probably at the top of the list, but I havent ruled out Utah again. Only problem is it seems Alta, Park City/Canyons/Deer Valley all close Easter day. I hear Alta has a nice habit of "bumping out" that closing day to later in April if the snow holds (which it will this year), but if not, that would solely leave Snowbird, which is nice, but I'd love some variety.

I'm wondering if anyone knows whether Park City / Canyons does the same as Alta and might close later than Easter day, or if you can set your watch by a hard close on Easter day for Park City / Canyons even if the conditions are absolutely phenomenal?

4aprice · Feb 17, 2017

BenedictGomez said:
Didnt want to start a new thread to ask a simple question.....

Thinking about organizing an Easter ski trip again this year, since Easter is late it eliminates a lot of places that close early. Whistler and Banff are probably at the top of the list, but I havent ruled out Utah again. Only problem is it seems Alta, Park City/Canyons/Deer Valley all close Easter day. I hear Alta has a nice habit of "bumping out" that closing day to later in April if the snow holds (which it will this year), but if not, that would solely leave Snowbird, which is nice, but I'd love some variety.

I'm wondering if anyone knows whether Park City / Canyons does the same as Alta and might close later than Easter day, or if you can set your watch by a hard close on Easter day for Park City / Canyons even if the conditions are absolutely phenomenal?

I would think Snowbird would be the only option at that point. Its certainly big enough that you wouldn't lose interest but its also a very unforgiving mountain if you are going with others with differing levels of skill. Colorado's mountains are a little higher and because of proximity to Denver might go past proposed closing dates. I'm trying to head to Winter Park/Mary Jane the weekend after Easter which is their listed closing weekend. Of course both A Bay and Loveland will be open. You could also stay in the Denver metro as its not a bad drive to the resorts and the I-70 madness would be over at that point. Hotel rates will have dropped too so getting something up near the resorts probably would not be hard or expensive. Flight from Newark to Denver are usually cheaper then to SLC as well.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

deadheadskier · Feb 17, 2017

Mammoth should get a look. Their base at the summit right now is over 300"

mriceyman · Feb 17, 2017

deadheadskier said:
Mammoth should get a look. Their base at the summit right now is over 300"

23' last month will do that.. insane

Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

thetrailboss · Feb 17, 2017

BenedictGomez said:
Didnt want to start a new thread to ask a simple question.....

Thinking about organizing an Easter ski trip again this year, since Easter is late it eliminates a lot of places that close early. Whistler and Banff are probably at the top of the list, but I havent ruled out Utah again. Only problem is it seems Alta, Park City/Canyons/Deer Valley all close Easter day. I hear Alta has a nice habit of "bumping out" that closing day to later in April if the snow holds (which it will this year), but if not, that would solely leave Snowbird, which is nice, but I'd love some variety.

I'm wondering if anyone knows whether Park City / Canyons does the same as Alta and might close later than Easter day, or if you can set your watch by a hard close on Easter day for Park City / Canyons even if the conditions are absolutely phenomenal?

Alta is open daily until the last weekend of April normally. Then they reopen one last weekend with limited operations.

Edit: wow. They ARE closing early this season. Weird. April 16th is their last day of daily operations. Glad I have an Alta/Bird pass.

jimk · Feb 17, 2017

Believe there is quite a bit of precedent for Alta to extend their season in good snow years. But maybe only for weekends after Apr 16, 2017. Suggest you contact the resort directly and see if someone will give you a prognosis on that? Might have to plan for Alta on weekends and Snowbird during the week. Good news for you, last season Snowbird shut down the tram relatively early in the spring to make repairs, but kept various chairs running. Believe this year the tram should run as long as they remain open and there's demand for it.
I will be at Snowbird in early April.

thetrailboss · Feb 17, 2017

jimk said:
Believe there is quite a bit of precedent for Alta to extend their season in good snow years. But maybe only for weekends after Apr 16, 2017. Suggest you contact the resort directly and see if someone will give you a prognosis on that? Might have to plan for Alta on weekends and Snowbird during the week. Good news for you, last season Snowbird shut down the tram relatively early in the spring to make repairs, but kept various chairs running. Believe this year the tram should run as long as they remain open and there's demand for it.
I will be at Snowbird in early April.

Snowbird has been heavily marketing their "longest season in Utah" line, so they will be open until the bitter end. Tram will run.

BenedictGomez · Feb 22, 2017

4aprice said:
Colorado's mountains are a little higher and because of proximity to Denver might go past proposed closing dates. I'm trying to head to Winter Park/Mary Jane the weekend after Easter which is their listed closing weekend. Of course both A Bay and Loveland will be open.

Looks like lodging in the Winter Park area can be found absurdly cheap too. Is there a lot of stuff to do on the non-ski days and good restaurants etc... in that area?

jimk said:
Believe there is quite a bit of precedent for Alta to extend their season in good snow years. But maybe only for weekends after Apr 16, 2017. Suggest you contact the resort directly and see if someone will give you a prognosis on that?

I think so too. I tried to contact Vail for the answer to my question of whether Park City/Canyons is historically a hard Easter close each year or if they sometimes extend it - I thought it was a simple, straightforward question, but I received a total lawyerly non-answer. LOL. If all things were equal and they extend another week I'd probably go back to Utah because lodging in Park City is quite affordable and there's plenty of ancillary stuff to do.

The good news is, it's too soon to book an Easter ski trip anyway, so I have some time to figure this out.

4aprice · Feb 22, 2017

BenedictGomez said:
Looks like lodging in the Winter Park area can be found absurdly cheap too. Is there a lot of stuff to do on the non-ski days and good restaurants etc... in that area?

I've actually never stayed in Winter Park but there is a little town there. I was in Dillon last April and while not crowded it wasn't shut down either. Can't speak for operations such as snowmobiling etc. I will stay in Denver (free) and drive, its only like 70 miles and I-70 traffic is a non factor in April.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

dlague · Feb 22, 2017

4aprice said:
I will stay in Denver (free) and drive, its only like 70 miles and I-70 traffic is a non factor in April.

Spot on!

dlague · Feb 22, 2017

BenedictGomez said:
Looks like lodging in the Winter Park area can be found absurdly cheap too. Is there a lot of stuff to do on the non-ski days and good restaurants etc... in that area?

I think so too. I tried to contact Vail for the answer to my question of whether Park City/Canyons is historically a hard Easter close each year or if they sometimes extend it - I thought it was a simple, straightforward question, but I received a total lawyerly non-answer. LOL. If all things were equal and they extend another week I'd probably go back to Utah because lodging in Park City is quite affordable and there's plenty of ancillary stuff to do.

The good news is, it's too soon to book an Easter ski trip anyway, so I have some time to figure this out.

The Vail resorts closed down towards the end of April and that is a pretty hard date. I asked why and locals said that is because of a migratory pattern.

thetrailboss · Feb 22, 2017

dlague said:
The Vail resorts closed down towards the end of April and that is a pretty hard date. I asked why and locals said that is because of a migratory pattern.

Migratory pattern of green backs that is........

abc · Feb 22, 2017

thetrailboss said:
Migratory pattern of green backs that is........

Yep!

It's a well-known thing that ski areas close when the skiers migrate down to the valley en mass, which is typically much earlier than the snow on the mountain migrated into the river.

4aprice · Feb 23, 2017

deadheadskier said:
Mammoth should get a look. Their base at the summit right now is over 300"

Was going to make the comment that its too early for Mammoth. Memorial Day should be rockin there. Just read a blurp that Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows are shooting for the 4th of July this year.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

Smellytele · Feb 23, 2017

BenedictGomez said:
I think so too. I tried to contact Vail for the answer to my question of whether Park City/Canyons is historically a hard Easter close each year or if they sometimes extend it - I thought it was a simple, straightforward question, but I received a total lawyerly non-answer. LOL. If all things were equal and they extend another week I'd probably go back to Utah because lodging in Park City is quite affordable and there's plenty of ancillary stuff to do.

The good news is, it's too soon to book an Easter ski trip anyway, so I have some time to figure this out.

Easter is a bad pinpoint because the target moves. Easter can fall anytime between late March and late April.

BenedictGomez · Feb 23, 2017

thetrailboss said:
Migratory pattern of green backs that is........

LOL

Smellytele said:
Easter is a bad pinpoint because the target moves. Easter can fall anytime between late March and late April.

Agreed. I also find it unusual because many schools have either the week before or the week after off, so I would think it profitable to extend the season to the week AFTER Easter and close the following Saturday, but apparently this is not so given the plethora of western resorts that use Easter as their Closing Day.

Check out this list, for instance, a large cohort of western mountains use Easter or thereabouts as the end. Makes post-Easter vacation planning a bit challenging.

2016/2017 Winter Season Opening & Closing Dates:

Alta : April 16, 2017
Arapahoe Basin : Unknown, but May/June
Beaver Creek : April 16, 2017
Breckenridge : April 23, 2017
Brighton: April 16, 2017
Crested Butte: April 9, 2017
Deer Valley: April 16, 2017
Grand Targhee: April 16, 2017
Heavenly : April 16, 2017
Jackson Hole: April 9, 2017
Keystone : April 9, 2017
Kirkwood : April 16, 2017
Lake Louise: May 7, 2017
Loveland : May 8, 2017
Northstar : April 16, 2017
Park City / Canyons : April 16, 2017
Powder Mountain : April 9, 2017
Snowbird : Unknown, but May/June
Solitude: April 16, 2017
Steamboat: April 16, 2017
Sun Valley: April 17, 2017
Taos: April 2, 2017
Telluride : April 2, 2017
Vail : April 23, 2017
Whistler : May 22, 2017
Winter Park : April 23, 2017

4aprice · Feb 23, 2017

BenedictGomez said:
LOL

Agreed. I also find it unusual because many schools have either the week before or the week after off, so I would think it profitable to extend the season to the week AFTER Easter and close the following Saturday, but apparently this is not so given the plethora of western resorts that use Easter as their Closing Day.

Check out this list, for instance, a large cohort of western mountains use Easter or thereabouts as the end. Makes post-Easter vacation planning a bit challenging.

2016/2017 Winter Season Opening & Closing Dates:

Alta : April 16, 2017
Arapahoe Basin : Unknown, but May/June
Beaver Creek : April 16, 2017
Breckenridge : April 23, 2017
Brighton: April 16, 2017
Crested Butte: April 9, 2017
Deer Valley: April 16, 2017
Grand Targhee: April 16, 2017
Heavenly : April 16, 2017
Jackson Hole: April 9, 2017
Keystone : April 9, 2017
Kirkwood : April 16, 2017
Lake Louise: May 7, 2017
Loveland : May 8, 2017
Northstar : April 16, 2017
Park City / Canyons : April 16, 2017
Powder Mountain : April 9, 2017
Snowbird : Unknown, but May/June
Solitude: April 16, 2017
Steamboat: April 16, 2017
Sun Valley: April 17, 2017
Taos: April 2, 2017
Telluride : April 2, 2017
Vail : April 23, 2017
Whistler : May 22, 2017
Winter Park : April 23, 2017

I'm always amazed that places like Jackson Hole and Telluride close so relatively early, especially with the weather in the Rockies in April, but the fact is they run out of customers. But, even when it's down to Loveland and A Bay there's still a ton to ski.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

snoseek · Feb 23, 2017

4aprice said:
I'm always amazed that places like Jackson Hole and Telluride close so relatively early, especially with the weather in the Rockies in April, but the fact is they run out of customers. But, even when it's down to Loveland and A Bay there's still a ton to ski.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

My guess its because those two in particular are places people go to take full week winter vacations and are pretty isolated from the masses...specifically Telluride. I've got tride as one of the places I might spend next winter but early April sort of hurts, but then again come April I usually have the itch to go do shoulder season stuff and set up my summer work season so in a way its a bonus.

Utah Ski Areas - Compare and Contrast???

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