Alta Snowbird visit from Dec 28th to Dec 30th...

[Tonyr]

Resort or Ski Area

Alta Snowbird

Date

Dec 28, 2022

Snow Conditions

1. Powder

Had a top 5 ski day today at Snowbird, the resort got around 2 feet of snow over the last 48 hours making the conditions out of this world. I had to work so I didn't get there until 1.30ish today but there was still knee deep powder to be had all over the place. Did a couple of runs of the Peruvian Lift, the Gad, the Little Cloud lifts then called it a day right at the close. The lines on all three of those lifts were pretty non-existent. The sidecountry tree skiing today was probably the best I've ever experienced. I have another day at Snowbird tomorrow then plan on spending the next day or so at Alta. The area is supposed to get a ton of snow over the weekend, I'm just hoping the resort doesn't get closed down from all of the snow coming at this point....

 

[thetrailboss]

Nice. The week I’m not there . The road is likely to be the bigger issue.

 

[jimk]

Real interested to hear how it goes for you this weekend!! Stating the obvious, but if you have an IKON pass and LCC access road is closed you could try Sol/Bright. Assuming you're based in the valley.
THIS IS THE KIND OF WEEKEND WHERE THAT PROPOSED LCC GONDOLA WOULD COME IN REAL HANDY!

 

[Edd]

Real interested to hear how it goes for you this weekend!! Stating the obvious, but if you have an IKON pass and LCC access road is closed you could try Sol/Bright. Assuming you're based in the valley.
THIS IS THE KIND OF WEEKEND WHERE THAT PROPOSED LCC GONDOLA WOULD COME IN REAL HANDY!

Sorry, I don’t keep up with the Utah gondola connection discussions but I’m familiar with the LCC. This would be a gondola from a lot at the beginning of the road?

 

[jimk]

Yes.

 

[Tonyr]

Real interested to hear how it goes for you this weekend!! Stating the obvious, but if you have an IKON pass and LCC access road is closed you could try Sol/Bright. Assuming you're based in the valley.
THIS IS THE KIND OF WEEKEND WHERE THAT PROPOSED LCC GONDOLA WOULD COME IN REAL HANDY!

We are staying at the Cliff Lodge so we don't have to worry about the roads. I was riding the chairlift today with a guy who told us that it took him 2 hours to get from Alta back to Snowbird at the end of the day. The friend I skied with today said he waited 3 hours in the morning for a bus before he called it quits. It was an absolute nightmare to get on and off the mountain yesterday.

 

[Tonyr]

Yes.

And after what I saw yesterday the gondola makes sense.

 

[Tonyr]

Today was another great day, the roads were much better and the crowds were a little heavier but no crazy waits anywhere on the mountain, maybe 10 to 15 minutes tops. It was a blue bird day with tons of leftover powder all over the place. I skied my family over to Alta this morning for a few runs off of the Sugarloaf and Supreme lifts and skied in amazing knee deep powder pretty much my whole time we were there. I can't ever remember two better back to back days of skiing in my life! After a couple of hours over a Alta we made our way back to Snowbird where I met up with a friend and took him on Great Scott for the first time followed up by a bunch of sidecountry trees still filled with tons of powder. Here are some of my better photos from the day at both ski areas....

 

[Tonyr]

Nice. The week I’m not there . The road is likely to be the bigger issue.

Yes the roads yesterday were beyond horrible.

 

[jimk]

Wow. You really timed the snowbomb this trip, and to be up there at the base of the hill. I hope the lifts stay open for you and you get one of those legendary "country club" weekends. I'm hoping to arrive in UT for a lengthy stay in 2-3 weeks.

 

[thetrailboss]

This is so great. We need the water.

 

[Tonyr]

Wow. You really timed the snowbomb this trip, and to be up there at the base of the hill. I hope the lifts stay open for you and you get one of those legendary "country club" weekends. I'm hoping to arrive in UT for a lengthy stay in 2-3 weeks.

We just made the call today to move back over to Park City. We are going to leave in the morning, I really think so much snow is coming on Friday Saturday and Sunday that the whole resort could close down for a couple of days and we can't get stuck here. They are saying up to 5 feet. The Park City side should be 2 to 3 feet. Two years ago this area inter-lodged for almost 3 days with much less snow. No one could ski you just had to sit in the hotel. We were lucky enough to have left a day or two before that storm.

 

[Tonyr]

Skied a couple of runs in Mineral Basin today, it was really tough as the skiing was whiteout conditions. We moved over to Alta for a run which was a little better but it was way more crowded. All of us started getting symptoms of Vertigo so we called the day early. Up to 5 feet of snow is coming and we don't want to get caught for days in this massive storm so we are getting out of dodge tomorrow morning. (I hope!) All in all I had two of the best ski days ever on 28th and 29th so I'm beyond happy. Here are some shots from our last day.....

 

[thetrailboss]

Skied a couple of runs in Mineral Basin today, it was really tough as the skiing was whiteout conditions. We moved over to Alta for a run which was a little better but it was way more crowded. All of us started getting symptoms of Vertigo so we called the day early. Up to 5 feet of snow is coming and we don't want to get caught for days in this massive storm so we are getting out of dodge tomorrow morning. (I hope!) All in all I had two of the best ski days ever on 28th and 29th so I'm beyond happy. Here are some shots from our last day.....
View attachment 55691
View attachment 55692View attachment 55693View attachment 55694View attachment 55695View attachment 55696

Mineral Basin or Little Cloud are not the places to be when the clouds/fog are coming in or when it is snowing hard.

And that looks like a line that I would expect for a snowy holiday at Sugarloaf. It is never really "crowded" anymore because (1) they require parking reservations, and (2) they are no longer on the base IKON. It is back to a reasonable but brisk business.

 

[Tonyr]

Mineral Basin or Little Cloud are not the places to be when the clouds/fog are coming in or when it is snowing hard.

And that looks like a line that I would expect for a snowy holiday at Sugarloaf. It is never really "crowded" anymore because (1) they require parking reservations, and (2) they are no longer on the base IKON. It is back to a reasonable but brisk business.

Yes we see that, although today the frontside wasn't much better.....

Sugarloaf was a little better today it was a 5 to 10 minute wait. Yesterday it was more like 10 to 15.

 

[Scottyskis2]

From Alta road close at midnight
""
Highway 210 will close at 10pm tonight and Interlodge will go into effect at 11pm.

At this time there is no estimated opening.

Thank you for your patience during this long-duration storm that is projected to impact LCC for multiple days.

@udotcottonwoods @utavy"

 

[Tonyr]

Yep I'm stuck here now.

 

[thetrailboss]

Yep I'm stuck here now.

As in stuck in a hotel room?

 

[Tonyr]

Yes, looks like I may be able to get out tomorrow morning though....

 

[thetrailboss]

Yes, looks like I may be able to get out tomorrow morning though....
View attachment 55711

Be forewarned that the traffic backup will be significant. Though they say it is not allowed, people still “stage” at the bottom of the canyon.