Brace Yourselves: We're Going to the Canyons Next Week

[thetrailboss]

Snowmonster is coming out for a little Utah week and asked me where to go on the one day he has off. He is staying in Park City and preferred to be nearby. DV is $106 a day, Canyons and PCMR are both near that.

Costco to the rescue. $69 tickets, no blackouts for Canyons. $68 for PCMR, but you have to buy five. So we're going to the dark side and skiing Canyons.

Some of you know that I like to :uzi: the Canyons, particularly their fake base area complete with locals and daytrippers parking at the 7-Eleven and taking the Cabriolet up, but I admit that I am honestly curious as to the skiing and am going to do my best to keep an open mind and report on it to you all. And a $69 holiday ticket at a major resort is pretty much now unheard of.

And the longtimers here know that I have a pretty good track record when it comes to changing my POV on a place after giving it a fair shot and keeping my expectations in check. Like others, I used to :roll: about Stratton, and then I tried it in 2006 on a freebie and actually walked away pretty impressed. And for a while I was :flame: Bretton Woods because they stiffed some Burke passholders a long time ago and were pretty steeply priced, but in April 2011 I revisited it after about 11 years and was pretty happy. Finally, we all love to uke: at the idea of Deer Valley, but my visit last year was a lot of fun and we're going back this season.

So it is what it is and it's hard to have a bad day of skiing.

Stay tuned.

 

[skiadikt]

canyons had some good trees. nothing scary at all. sort of a killington feel on the mtn and the lift system is nuts with lifts in every direction. ninety-nine 90, peak 5 & tombstone had the best stuff.

agree deer valley is certainly no alta/bird but we've liked it. the trees & tough stuff don't see much action so the snow stays pretty good. and hell it's nice to pamper yourself and have a great meal on mtn once in a while.

 

[4aprice]

My opinion of Canyons is that it is the most Colorado like of the Utah resorts. Lots of tree lined trails and as Skiadikt said above some nice tree shots. Personally I like the Condor area but also admit I haven't covered the whole place. Enjoy your ride up Parley's.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[BenedictGomez]

You can buy lift tickets at Costco?

I'll be danged.

 

[thetrailboss]

Thanks for the pointers folks! So 9990 and Condor. We'll scope those out.

You can buy lift tickets at Costco?

I'll be danged.

Yeah I could not believe it myself last year. Park City and Canyons at the SLC store. The sleeve you took to the cash register said valid any day. Got the packet, opened it up, and sure enough--2 direct to lift tickets with no blackouts. Some other perks too. Window price next week: about $105. Ours: $69.

another thread brought to you by Costco. :lol:

 

[thetrailboss]

Deer Valley: really liked it actually. Fun terrain but nothing crazy. Clean, friendly, nice. Had a hard time turning down the locals ten-pack, but just got a deal from the Utah Avalanche Center for DV tix at a great price...Xmas and Pres weekend blocked out though.

good hiking and biking too.

 

[drjeff]

One of my favorite shortish shots in all of my skiing years is off the North side of Saddleback in the area they calls "The Pines"

Take Elk Ridge (the bump run under the lift) all the way down to where it starts to open up, then duck left through some Aspens into an area they label as "The Shadows" - some nicely spaced aspens up top, then it opens up into almost a meadow at a good pitch and then finishes off through some pines. Lots of fun runs in there over the years, and pretty much my standard last 3 to 5 runs before heading back down to the base area (and as of last year, the Umbrella Bar in the base area) for a few beers.

And BTW, 9990 doesn't suck!

 

[jaytrem]

You can buy lift tickets at Costco?

And online too...

http://www.costco.com/CatalogSearch?storeId=10301&catalogId=10701&langId=-1&keyword=ski+lift

As for the Canyons, I enjoyed my days there. Got some nice powder runs in on the skiers left off 9990. A large part of the newer areas do feel like you're skiing through a giant real estate developement. But the older part and 9990 not so bad. Haven't been on Iron Mountain, I don't think they developed any houses there yet. Enjoy!!!

 

[snowmonster]

There's no such things as a bad ski resort in my book. Looking forward to the Canyons.

 

[goldsbar]

It's really pretty good in some ways. The powder doesn't get tracked nearly as fast as Alta/Bird, there's one natural really long half-pipe that's unique and fun, 9990 and Condor lifts have good terrain. The problem, IIRC (4-5 years ago) is that it's really easy to wind up on runouts that lead to parts of the mountain you don't want to go to. Especially off 9990 which you really can't lap. It's also not really a mountain like Alta, Snowbird, JH, etc. It's more like many different smaller mountains in one area.