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SLC Questions

St. Bear

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Looking to take my first ski trip outside of the Northeast in March to SLC. 3 skiers, none of us have ever been out West. I'd call myself advanced, but not expert, and the other two guys are a bit better than me. This is strickly a ski trip, so the only nightlife we're looking for is a pizza and a six pack in the hotel at night.

My question for the group, is it worthwhile to bounce around to different mountains, or should we set up shop at Alta/Snowbird and call it a trip? There are a few hotels in the Mid-Valley area offering 4 day/night packages using the SuperPass, so a day at Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, and Brighton. We'd be on the ski bus each day.

I tend to over think things like this, but I'm afraid we'd get a small taste of each resort, but not really be able to appreciate it fully, especially since none of us have ever been any place close to the size resort you get out West.

Thoughts?
 

4aprice

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St Bear: I'm lucky and get to go out there almost every year. My opinion is that the front 4 give me all the things I need and I don't travel around that much. They are from 10-15 miles from the condo in Cottonwood Heights. That said the Park City resorts are a mere 45 mins at the most away and offer very good skiing. Snowbasin and Powder Mountain are approx. 1-1.5 hours north and Sundance 1 hr south. All of them are worth a visit. Alta and Snowbird are of course great and plenty big enough to keep you very entertained for 4 days. I personally like the areas up in BCC. If there is a storm I recommend Brighton because the trails are thinner and visability better (Fun tree runs as well). You will find in a storm it is very hard to see out in the open. I'm also a big fan of Honeycomb Canyon at Solitude for fresh powder runs. Where ever you end up going enjoy. Before I started going to Utah on a pretty regular basis I never thought that there could be better snow than in Colorado (and it really good in Colorado) but Utah snow is special.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ
 

thetrailboss

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Send me a PM. Happy to help with more specific info. Depends on what you want to ski. You will want at least two days for Alta/Snowbird...more like three. Snowbird is a bit crazier than Alta in terms of terrain...as in terrain that is very accessible. Alta has some awesome stuff but you have to hike for it. If you had to go to one place, it would be Alta. The vibe is amazing and the skiing is great.

Solitude and Brighton are real locals places. The former is a bit glitzier than the latter. Solitude has a real funky lift set-up but the advantage being that the slackcountry stuff in Honeycomb is ripe for the taking almost all the time. Brighton is more cruisers and park scene...some slackcountry stuff. They have great nightskiing.

Canyons is a zoo....you need to have a good strategy for skiing there and commit to learning the mountain before you go to get the most out of it or else you will be traversing ALL day. Haven't been to PCMR but it has a lot of park, some good cruising, night skiing, and some good bowls and expert stuff. Deer Valley is amazing...great ego terrain, amazing food and service, amazing grooming and lifts, and surprisingly some good expert stuff that is not well tracked out. But it is pricey no doubt.

All of these places are within 40 mins of SLC. No joke. There are more a bit further out.

If you haven't sign up with SkiUtah.com to get their winter planner. And also go to http://www.visitsaltlake.com/ and sign up...they will send you free info and stickers to the Cottonwood Canyons resorts.
 

St. Bear

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I guess I should have been more clear in my initial rambling train-of-thought post.

We have it down to basically two options:

1) Hotel in the Mid-Valley area with the SuperPass. 1 day at Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton using the Ski Bus.
2) 4-5 days at Snowbird, with at least 1 of those days using an AltaBird ticket, depending on the deal they give us.

I know we wouldn't be bored at Snowbird for 4 days, so I guess my question is would we be spreading ourselves too thin with the SuperPass option? Is only 1 day at each area too much jumping around? I'm afraid that if we're not familiar with the areas to begin with, we'd waste half the day trying to figure out where to go.
 

ScottySkis

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It such a great place. They have Super pass you can purchase and is good at 4 mountains that gets the most snow.
 

Quietman

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When we did SLC, we had a free condo to use in Park City and skied Canyons, Snowbird, Deer Valley, Snowbasin, and PCMR. It was a lot of moving around, but I really enjoyed the variety. Every day was great, but Snowbasin with wall to wall snow and 2 gondolas and a hs quad each with over 2k vertical to ourselves all day long was probably my favorite. I would say Canyons with its weird layout was my least favorite, but it was still fun to ski.

3 days at Snowbird would not be my 1st choice.
 

ScottySkis

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Sniebasin has some sick terrain. All the food in lodge in Utah is much better then the east. Snowbird had some amazing pulled pork. If you stay in the valley Mid valle is very central to all 4 . Pizza is not so good out there. Mexican is great though. You can use their about mass transit to get from Airport to other parts of the area. Solutite and Brighton you find powder days after a storm on the trails. You can't go wrong there.
Snowbasin had the Olympics several years ago there bathroom in the lodge is the same size as a studio apartment in NYC.
 

ScottySkis

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I guess I should have been more clear in my initial rambling train-of-thought post.

We have it down to basically two options:

1) Hotel in the Mid-Valley area with the SuperPass. 1 day at Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton using the Ski Bus.
2) 4-5 days at Snowbird, with at least 1 of those days using an AltaBird ticket, depending on the deal they give us.

I know we wouldn't be bored at Snowbird for 4 days, so I guess my question is would we be spreading ourselves too thin with the SuperPass option? Is only 1 day at each area too much jumping around? I'm afraid that if we're not familiar with the areas to begin with, we'd waste half the day trying to figure out where to go.
I been there 6 times and I always get the Super pass. Also the mountain road to Alta Snowbird can close but bus will still go to Brighton and Solutute that road does not really close. I like having the choice of all 4. You can try to Alta and Snowbird in one day but that is a lot to do.
 

4aprice

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I guess I should have been more clear in my initial rambling train-of-thought post.

We have it down to basically two options:

1) Hotel in the Mid-Valley area with the SuperPass. 1 day at Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton using the Ski Bus.
2) 4-5 days at Snowbird, with at least 1 of those days using an AltaBird ticket, depending on the deal they give us.

I know we wouldn't be bored at Snowbird for 4 days, so I guess my question is would we be spreading ourselves too thin with the SuperPass option? Is only 1 day at each area too much jumping around? I'm afraid that if we're not familiar with the areas to begin with, we'd waste half the day trying to figure out where to go.

I would say if your up in a Canyon then stay in that canyon. No need to travel anywhere. There's more then enough for 4 days.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ
 

SKI-3PO

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Hit all 4 LCC/BCC areas - the variety is great. I highly recommend the drive to Snowbasin, if you have an extra day.
 

Creakyknees

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Don't get stuck at the bottom

I know some people have a different opinion on this but if you go to Utah you need to stay up in one of the two canyons, I prefer Snowbird. I did spend a season working at Snowbird so I'm a little biased to Snowbird.

If you are lucky and get hit with a major snowstorm the road will close up to Snowbird/Alta and it sucks if you are at the wrong end of the road. If you stay at Snowbird all you need to do is wake up in the morning walk over to the Forklift restaurant (with ski equipment on) have a stress free hardy breakfast and get on the tram. No getting up early eating a cold breakfast in the hotel room, getting on the bus and most likely getting to the ski area well after the lifts open. For me it's all about the powder runs and if you are on the first or second tram you will get a few powder runs without the crowds.

I did not post any trip report from last years annual trip, I need to find time to work on the video. I did post a trip report from two years ago, see the attached link.

Have FUN...........

http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/108193-Snowbird-March-1-5
 

Creakyknees

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Move

This thread should be moved to the general Northeast Skiing / Snowboard Forum, Just my .02.
 

jimk

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I guess I should have been more clear in my initial rambling train-of-thought post.

We have it down to basically two options:

1) Hotel in the Mid-Valley area with the SuperPass. 1 day at Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton using the Ski Bus.
2) 4-5 days at Snowbird, with at least 1 of those days using an AltaBird ticket, depending on the deal they give us.

I know we wouldn't be bored at Snowbird for 4 days, so I guess my question is would we be spreading ourselves too thin with the SuperPass option? Is only 1 day at each area too much jumping around? I'm afraid that if we're not familiar with the areas to begin with, we'd waste half the day trying to figure out where to go.

Your two options are both great. It sort of depends on what you like. If you like saving dough and exploring new ski areas, then do first option and stay in the valley and visit all four via daily commutes. IIRC the parking at Brighton and Solitude is particularly convenient for day visitors and those ski areas are not so huge to be overwhelming. It's not clear to me if your second option involves staying slopeside. As you know that is an expensive, but extremely nice way to go. If this is a rare chance to make that more affordable by splitting room costs with your travel companions, then it would be hard to resist. And at Snowbird/Alta you'd have more than enough to keep you busy for four days. Like trailboss said, the vibe at Alta can be really special. The place is mecca for the skiing faithful! And it's the more intermediate friendly of the two, so you might want to go there for more than one day. While Snowbird has some ungodly steeps, I found plenty to enjoy there at my ability sweet spot: hard blue, single black. Old report: http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=1285
 

thetrailboss

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Your two options are both great. It sort of depends on what you like. If you like saving dough and exploring new ski areas, then do first option and stay in the valley and visit all four via daily commutes. IIRC the parking at Brighton and Solitude is particularly convenient for day visitors and those ski areas are not so huge to be overwhelming. It's not clear to me if your second option involves staying slopeside. As you know that is an expensive, but extremely nice way to go. If this is a rare chance to make that more affordable by splitting room costs with your travel companions, then it would be hard to resist. And at Snowbird/Alta you'd have more than enough to keep you busy for four days. Like trailboss said, the vibe at Alta can be really special. The place is mecca for the skiing faithful! And it's the more intermediate friendly of the two, so you might want to go there for more than one day. While Snowbird has some ungodly steeps, I found plenty to enjoy there at my ability sweet spot: hard blue, single black. Old report: http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=1285


VERY nice report and site!
 

jimk

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Creaky: great 2012 video, great conditions, great skiing. Loved that you included some wipeouts like 1:10 and 5:05. Very entertaining.:daffy: I would not be able to ski that stuff nearly as well or aggressively!
 

skiNEwhere

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Too bad it appears the skilink got nixed. Would be cool to ski the canyons and solitude on one ticket without having to drive between the two
 

snoseek

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Too bad it appears the skilink got nixed. Would be cool to ski the canyons and solitude on one ticket without having to drive between the two
I'd be thrilled if this just never happened.
 

goldsbar

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I don't know the OP's financials, but in my mind, it's best to stay at the base of Alta/Bird and actually get to ski the mountain if there's a big storm as opposed to waiting in traffic for the road to clear. Of course, once you're there, it's hard to get motivated to drive elsewhere.

I've been to Alta, Snowbird, The Canyons, Deer Valley and Solitude. They're all great in their own way; my preference is for the first two.

Alta - great low key vibe, plenty of good terrain and second to none snow quality. I advise taking one of the half day "lessons," which are really more like a guide service. Much of the good terrain is via traversing. It's not like it's hidden, but it's not obvious either and it's easy to miss the good stuff if you make the wrong turn.

Snowbird - Huge. Something for everyone but not necessarily good for low intermediates off the top. Doesn't sound like a problem for your group. Steep stuff everywhere, much more apparent than Alta. More of a hardcore vibe than Alta and more crowded which can get a little annoying together.

Deer Valley - Ignore all the jokes about this being the resort for the 1% of the 1%. It is, but that means there's plenty of fresh snow left over right off the trail. It's more of a ski "area" than a ski "mountain," but there's plenty of good skiing. Food is great.

Solitude - A sort of hidden gem. More of a local family place/vibe with surprisingly steep groomers (and off piste) in spots. The Honeycomb Canyons require a good amount of traversing but totally worth it if there's some fresh stuff.

The Canyons - Some really good and unique terrain, but it might take you days to figure out the place. If you're just going for a day, read as much as possible or somehow find someone to show you around. Otherwise, you'll spend half your time on run outs. They have a really long natural half pipe that's not to be missed.
 

St. Bear

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I don't know the OP's financials, but in my mind, it's best to stay at the base of Alta/Bird and actually get to ski the mountain if there's a big storm as opposed to waiting in traffic for the road to clear. Of course, once you're there, it's hard to get motivated to drive elsewhere..

It's going to come down to me calling Snowbird, seeing what's the best price they can offer me, and comparing it to the hotel package deals in SLC.

Like most things in life, there's what I want to do, what I should do, and rarely do they meet.
 

ScottySkis

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It's going to come down to me calling Snowbird, seeing what's the best price they can offer me, and comparing it to the hotel package deals in SLC.

Like most things in life, there's what I want to do, what I should do, and rarely do they meet.

I stayed in Mid Valle at Super 6 studio with my own Kitchen it was 400 for 10 days. Bus picked me up across the street from the hotel.
 
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