Go West! ~ But, but, but where?

[skidmarks]

Utah Road Trip

Just got back from nine days in Utah

Alta
Solitude
Solitude
Powder MT
Snow Basin
Deer Valley
Sundance
Alta
Snow Basin

Stayed in Comfort Inn/Suites to keep the prices down $69-$89 per night with breakfast.
The Comfort Suites in Ogden was very nice and even had a cocktail hour by the pool. Can you say Gin and Tonics!!

Solitude, Powder MT, Sundance and Snow Basin are real local gems.

 

[jaywbigred]

Just got back from nine days in Utah

Alta
Solitude
Solitude
Powder MT
Snow Basin
Deer Valley
Sundance
Alta
Snow Basin

Stayed in Comfort Inn/Suites to keep the prices down $69-$89 per night with breakfast.
The Comfort Suites in Ogden was very nice and even had a cocktail hour by the pool. Can you say Gin and Tonics!!

Solitude, Powder MT, Sundance and Snow Basin are real local gems.

This is what I don't understand. 9 days, 6 resorts:

Skiable acreage:
Alta 2200
Solitude 1200
Powder MT 4000 (lift served and PowCountry shuttle...i won't count the cat skiing)
Snow Basin 3200
Deer Valley 1750
Sundance 450

12,800 skiable acres. To me, that just seems like massive overkill. Vail by itself is 5300 skiable acres, and I think you'd need at least a month, and probably more like a season, to really ski it all and see it all and become familiar with it. It would take me a long, long time to ski 12,800 acres to the point where I thought I could really evaluate it.

Obviously there is a group of you guys who are into this sort of thing, so there must be some allure in it, but I just don't get it...it seems very ADD to me. Maybe I am just missing something though...

 

[skiadikt]

Spent 4 days in Breck this year...both of us spent 4 days with a head-exploding type of headache...never had a problem anywhere before (inc Park City, Tahoe, Alps). It was the kind of headache that wakes you from a sound sleep. I drank gallons of water, took sinus pills, aspirin, advil, nothing really helped. Days skiing headaches were less severe than nights. As soon as I got back to Denver, all was well. Except when we got there our flight was canceled...but the problem was in Boston, not Denver.:???:

Cost of lift tickets and headaches will def have me think twice before I head back.

town of breckenridge sits at about 9600 ft while park city is at 6900. tahoe city is at 6800 so breck is at a substantially higher elevation which could explain your reaction. done many trips out there and we stay in frisco which is at about 9000 ft and i had a similar problem sans the head explosions. we then started flying early evening out of nyc, spending the first evening near the airport. in the morning we'd drive early to the mtn and ski a full day. that helped quite a bit. last couple times doctor gave me diamox which works pretty well.

 

[amf]

... last couple times doctor gave me diamox which works pretty well.

Ditto on the diamox. Any time you go essentially from 0 to 9000 feet you are likely to have problems. Thats one of the nice aspects of Utah - you never sleep that high, and are'nt as likely to have the crashing headaches.

 

[rocojerry]

This is what I don't understand. 9 days, 6 resorts:
......
Obviously there is a group of you guys who are into this sort of thing, so there must be some allure in it, but I just don't get it...it seems very ADD to me. Maybe I am just missing something though...

For me, first trip to an area is about seeing things for the first time.. scoping it out... The next follow up trip is where you can spend some more time at the mountains you got the good impressions from and get to know them a bit better... sometimes its also following the conditions, deals, or about location/meeting up with people...

But if I could take a week+ or month+ at each, I would

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

when we went to Park City, we flew in the moring, was up in PC by noon, just walked around (getting winded walking the hills) to get acclamated, skiied mid mtn down on sunday morning then headed to the summits by afternoon...no issues

 

[marcski]

Ditto on the diamox. Any time you go essentially from 0 to 9000 feet you are likely to have problems. Thats one of the nice aspects of Utah - you never sleep that high, and are'nt as likely to have the crashing headaches.

If you stay up at Alta, you're at 8500'. One of the reasons I'm liking staying down in the valley is that I sleep much better at 4000' than 8500. The 25 min drive doesn't bother me one bit.

 

[snoseek]

This is what I don't understand. 9 days, 6 resorts:

Skiable acreage:
Alta 2200
Solitude 1200
Powder MT 4000 (lift served and PowCountry shuttle...i won't count the cat skiing)
Snow Basin 3200
Deer Valley 1750
Sundance 450

12,800 skiable acres. To me, that just seems like massive overkill. Vail by itself is 5300 skiable acres, and I think you'd need at least a month, and probably more like a season, to really ski it all and see it all and become familiar with it. It would take me a long, long time to ski 12,800 acres to the point where I thought I could really evaluate it.

Obviously there is a group of you guys who are into this sort of thing, so there must be some allure in it, but I just don't get it...it seems very ADD to me. Maybe I am just missing something though...

For me personally it's about chasing/exploring the very best experience possible. For instance my Utah angle is Alta/Bird on a storm day, Sol/Bright the day after, maybe powder mtn 3 days after and if its shitty hard pack then maybe a day at Park City. Staying downtown is cheap, food is better, elevation is never an issue even from sea level. To me the idea of not being versatile in a place like SLC just doesn't make any sense. Same with Tahoe really.

 

[RISkier]

Ditto on the diamox. Any time you go essentially from 0 to 9000 feet you are likely to have problems. Thats one of the nice aspects of Utah - you never sleep that high, and are'nt as likely to have the crashing headaches.

Altitude is one of the great pluses and minuses of theCO front range. Diomox worked well for me this trip. It is a diuretic so you really need to work at stying hydrated and you will be going to the bathroom with considerrabe frequency. But other than a little shortness of breath I've had no symptoms of altitude sickness. I've read that if you're sleeping below 8k most folks won't have any symptoms.

 

[abc]

This is what I don't understand. 9 days, 6 resorts:

Skiable acreage:
Alta 2200
Solitude 1200
Powder MT 4000 (lift served and PowCountry shuttle...i won't count the cat skiing)
Snow Basin 3200
Deer Valley 1750
Sundance 450

12,800 skiable acres. To me, that just seems like massive overkill. Vail by itself is 5300 skiable acres, and I think you'd need at least a month, and probably more like a season, to really ski it all and see it all and become familiar with it. It would take me a long, long time to ski 12,800 acres to the point where I thought I could really evaluate it.

Obviously there is a group of you guys who are into this sort of thing, so there must be some allure in it, but I just don't get it...it seems very ADD to me. Maybe I am just missing something though...

Acreage has very little to do with WHERE people ski. Terrain, condition & cost, if you read the earlier posts!

The above 6 places are so different in terrain and character you have to ski each to know.

Sure, you can RANDOMLY pick one, say Snowbasin, which is about half the size of Vail and ski for a couple of weeks to "know it". But you'll be missing all of the terrain in Alta! And what if the storm hit Park City instead?

Once you've tried them all, you can make your own decision and go back to the one (or two, or three) that you like the most. Until then, "you haven't seen nothing yet".

 

[skidmarks]

This is what I don't understand. 9 days, 6 resorts:


12,800 skiable acres. To me, that just seems like massive overkill. Vail by itself is 5300 skiable acres, and I think you'd need at least a month, and probably more like a season, to really ski it all and see it all and become familiar with it. It would take me a long, long time to ski 12,800 acres to the point where I thought I could really evaluate it.

Obviously there is a group of you guys who are into this sort of thing, so there must be some allure in it, but I just don't get it...it seems very ADD to me. Maybe I am just missing something though...

Take Lech/Zurs in Austria with 27,500 skiable acres, the Chamonix Valley with 188,298 acres, Verbier with 28,171 and Zermatt with 97,361 now these are resorts that take a long time to explore!!!

I'm going on a vacation so I don't need to evaluate anything! What does it for me is epic skiing and alpine scenery.


I've spent both long weekends and weeks at Alta/Snowbird and had a great time. The utah road-trip idea was to be cheap and flexible. We got 9 days of skiing in after all.

I'd rather be at Solitude on a weekend especially if new snow is to be had. We had fresh tracks and no lines!! Snow Basin is a real skiers mountain (no hotels or condos) and was perfect on sunny days after the cold front moved in. The snow was soft and creamy after 11am off piste. How could I go to Utah and not ski Powder MT? Sundance was real nice but I heard it's a zoo with Families and Kids on the weekends. I love Alta and picked the best day to ski it. I even got to ski Baldy Chutes 1 hour after they opened it after a long closure.

With all the available beds in SLC and Ogden why not wing it and ski where the conditions are the best?
Our last day was a perfect example. We avoided the dust on crust of the Cottonwood Canyons and drove the 50 mins to Snow Basin. We had nice spring snow and skied a bunch of the bowls. It was a great last day!

Being a flatlander I sleep better at 4,500FT and I'm enjoying finding great dives like the Red Iguanna, Lone Star Taqueria, Pat's BBQ, and Bohemian Brewery.

It's all about the fun so if your idea of fun is hanging out at Deer Valley that's cool with me!

 

[4aprice]

I've been lucky enough to hit SLC almost every year since 2003 and the family condo. We've skied all the areas around Salt Lake. The furthest is Powmow which about an hour twenty from home. I understand Jay and could be just as happy on the front 4 (furthest 16 miles to Brighton) but we enjoy adventure. I certainly have not skied all parts of all areas but have definately covered the main staples at most of them. Some of the parts are condition dependent. Example, there are parts of Honeycomb Canyon at Solitude I would love to hit but I'm not going to venture to them unless there is new snow.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[billski]

Take Lech/Zurs in Austria with 27,500 skiable acres,

BEGIN THREAD HIJACK
First "big" trip I made was to Lech-Arlberg-St. Anton when I was in my 20s. We got freakin' lost, the place was so big. You had to start planning your way out by 1pm. The guys on the downrange lifts just shut them off at 4 and headed home on their snowmobiles. And the road between Lech and St. Anton was closed for days because of a avalanche, so coming down in the wrong village could make for an interesting night....
END THREAD HIJACK

 

[dbking]

So you live in the East and you want to plan a ski trip West
You begin your search for travel, lodging, food and lift tickets.
Where do you go?

What are the strongest contributing factors? ~
Friends
Travel (convenience and cost)
Lodging
Lift ticket pricing
Terrain choice(intermediate, advanced, the more gnar the better)
[fill in the blank]

Are you talking about this season? If so, don't bother with Montana. Our snowpack is maybe 50% of a normal season. Since you have been here before I won't do the sales pitch. Next season will be great.

 

[jaywbigred]

It's all about the fun so if your idea of fun is hanging out at Deer Valley that's cool with me!

It's all about the fun so if your idea of fun is wasting large amounts of time in a car while using precious vacation time, that's cool with me!

My "idea of fun" is not to spend "50 minutes" each way in a car while on vacation. My idea of fun is to pick a big resort and ski it. 1 or 2 days at any of these resorts is not enough for me. I did one day at Snowbasin and it felt almost like a waste. I always feel like I am barely scratching the surface.

The 2 days we had at PowMow in January were awesome, but again, I would rather have gone there for a 3rd day and skipped Snowbasin altogether, saving it for a later trip. 4 days at Jackson Hole was also "my idea of fun," but it was wayyyyy too short. Again, felt like I was just scratching the surface.

When I go to a big resort, I want to ski their signature cruiser's with great views; I want to ski their fast, entertaining blues; I want to ski their low angles bumps, their steep bumps, their signature bumps; I want to ski their best trees, I want to ski their steeps to see how hairy they are; I want to check out their terrain parks. I want to ski the whole mountain, and, for me, most of them have enough variety that I find it a waste to spend time traveling.

When you say "being mobile," I hear "wasting time," but I guess it boils down to wanting to ski a large % of a single resort rather than a smaller % of each of a bunch of resorts.

I feel like some skiers like to be able to brag about all the places they have skied, so they take trips where they can "be mobile and chase the best conditions," but there is a subtext to it that is they want to check a place off their list. I've fallen into this trap, and the result is always a feeling that I wish I could have spent more time at a place, really getting to know it.

 

[4aprice]

It's all about the fun so if your idea of fun is wasting large amounts of time in a car while using precious vacation time, that's cool with me!

My "idea of fun" is not to spend "50 minutes" each way in a car while on vacation. My idea of fun is to pick a big resort and ski it. 1 or 2 days at any of these resorts is not enough for me. I did one day at Snowbasin and it felt almost like a waste. I always feel like I am barely scratching the surface.

The 2 days we had at PowMow in January were awesome, but again, I would rather have gone there for a 3rd day and skipped Snowbasin altogether, saving it for a later trip. 4 days at Jackson Hole was also "my idea of fun," but it was wayyyyy too short. Again, felt like I was just scratching the surface.

When I go to a big resort, I want to ski their signature cruiser's with great views; I want to ski their fast, entertaining blues; I want to ski their low angles bumps, their steep bumps, their signature bumps; I want to ski their best trees, I want to ski their steeps to see how hairy they are; I want to check out their terrain parks. I want to ski the whole mountain, and, for me, most of them have enough variety that I find it a waste to spend time traveling.

When you say "being mobile," I hear "wasting time," but I guess it boils down to wanting to ski a large % of a single resort rather than a smaller % of each of a bunch of resorts.

I feel like some skiers like to be able to brag about all the places they have skied, so they take trips where they can "be mobile and chase the best conditions," but there is a subtext to it that is they want to check a place off their list. I've fallen into this trap, and the result is always a feeling that I wish I could have spent more time at a place, really getting to know it.

I see your point and can understand if your willing to Station your self at 1 resort. You also probably save alot of money by doing that way too especially in Utah and Colorado. But when I find an area that I really like I am going to return. My situation in Utah allows me to go to the resort that I think best fits the day. For instance if it is snowing at a good clip I would most likely go to Brighton. Why, because they have the thinnest trails and the best woods shots and better visibility then most of the other resorts. Deer Valley has good trees too but the ticket IMO is too steep for anything less then 3 days. I have purchased 3 day tickets there and spent the majority of one of our annul 6 day trips there. I have also found resorts that I do not wish to return to. Park City Resort is an example of that. I have skied the bowls up top and they are nice but there is something about the resort that does not appeal to me and compared to the others the price is wrong.

When my dad was alive we used to ski Aspen every year. I probably went 10 years in a row and still did not touch all of that resort. Outside of a resort being a home mountain its almost impossible to find all the treats at any mountain.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[billski]

It's all about the fun so if your idea of fun is wasting large amounts of time in a car while using precious vacation time, that's cool with me!

My "idea of fun" is not to spend "50 minutes" each way in a car while on vacation.

this is exactly why I made my inital remark:

Just curious where you're going with this thread. I suspect the answers you'll get will be entirely all over the map. When I talk to 10 skiers/boarders I get 10 different answers to the question, "what is good?" I anticipate a similar result.

And subsequently disengaged. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. No right, no wrong

 

[marcski]

this is exactly why I made my inital remark:

Just curious where you're going with this thread. I suspect the answers you'll get will be entirely all over the map. When I talk to 10 skiers/boarders I get 10 different answers to the question, "what is good?" I anticipate a similar result.

And subsequently disengaged. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. No right, no wrong

Billski, FTW. It's like comparing Apples and Oranges...one person might like apples, the other citrus...some like both.

 

[abc]

When you say "being mobile," I hear "wasting time," .

If you don't like it, you shouldn't be doing it!

I feel like some skiers like to be able to brag about all the places they have skied, so they take trips where they can "be mobile and chase the best conditions," but there is a subtext to it that is they want to check a place off their list. I've fallen into this trap, and the result is always a feeling that I wish I could have spent more time at a place, really getting to know it.

Just because you don't like it, you have to think of as many negative thing to say about the people who DO like it?

Sounds a bit narrow-minded, close to reverse snobbery.

 

[skidmarks]

Time Wasting!

With regards to wasting time in the car:
I forgot to mention the drive from Ogden to Deer Valley on I84 was way cool.
The drive from Sandy to Sundance was also a real treat for our group. We got to see Mount Timpanogos and ski a really nice little ski area (3 lifts). One of my ski buds Nick, is from the UK and really enjoyed the touring around part. We hung out afterwards in Sundance's Owl Bar The Sundance Owl Bar was moved to Sundance from Thermopolis, Wyoming. The restored 1890's bar is the original Rosewood Bar once frequented by Butch Cassidy's Hole-in-the-Wall Gang.

Sandy (SLC) to Alta is 13.9 miles, to Solitude 20 miles but the drive to the Red Iguanna "Killer Mexican Food" is 18.9 and well worth it!

I really have no deep need to ski every inch of an area to get to know it. I'm looking for the soft or fresh snow the day has to offer. I'm not writing a book just wasting time.