School me on Park City / Canyons

ADmiKe wrote

And of course no day complete without a sweet Gaper shot to show the ladies back home in my single days.....(all these pics are 2009ish)

Dude that looks exactly like your avatar (you, not the skull & crossbones).

Adk Jeff wrote

Dude that looks exactly like your avatar (you, not the skull & crossbones).

Ha yeh it does!  Different goggles....avatar pic is cropped from a whiteface shot

Jeff I feel your pain. My (not free) trip is back again to Park City this year. I tried to convince the herd that we would be better off at Telluride since its an el nino year, but no dice. The trip is as much about catching up and bar hopping as it is about skiing and Park City is certainly good for that. Check out the distillery and of course no-name saloon. Its always a fun party. We are going to be there right after you for super bowl weekend so I'll be interested to hear how the snow is. We found a sweet house 50 feet from the town lift so there is a big convenience factor for sure.

We had a great day last year at canyons. It is a bit of a pain in the ass to get around so make sure you have a plan. I would ski it from left to right as you are looking at the trail map. Take the red pine Gondi up and then ski down to tombstone. From tombstone ski down to peak 5 lift. We never went past peak five (to lookers left). As I recall we were told that terrain (dreamcatcher and iron mountain) wasn't worth it. If you are going to connect over to PC one day you could certainly check out that terrain on your way there. All the trails off the peak 5 lift were fun. Fairly steep treed pow stashes. None of the runs are huge vert, but that is kinda the theme of the day. From there I would work over to 9990 lift. ski all the terrain there that holds your interest and runs back to 9990. Once you go out the gates to Red Pine Bowl, you are two lift rides away from top of 9990 if you want to get back (kinda like honeycomb at solitude). I have exactly the same picture as ADKMike. That has to be one of the most photographed gates. Go at your own risk. Red Pine bowl has some good steep terrain. The further out you traverse, the better the snow is likely to be. Once your are done doing that loop (red pine bowl to tombstone back to 9990) then ski from red pine bowl down to the short cut lift and over to condor lift. The ridge to lookers right as we went up the lift last year had a ton of snow. You can lap that lift and also get into Murdoch from there. The runout to the condor lift has an uphill section serviced by a grab on wherever you can rope tow. I thought it was pretty cool and made me think how nice it would be to have one of those at the top of the straightbrook chair:)

The new connection gondola makes access to pinecone ridge much easier. Only one of our crew was up to hiking it last year (from Jupiter). When you hike from Jupiter you have to go up over the top of scotts bowl and down before you go back up. The gondola is much better but then you still have to take two lifts to get back up to pinecone. Lookers left of Jupiter bowl is also good terrain, but requires a long traverse and some hiking to get to the best stuff. The further you go the better off you are.  Theres also some fun trees off the motherlode lift and steep bumps off of thaynes. Hope you have a great trip. Stay away from the blue groomers and you'll be fine.

My best man and I are starting the trip off with a night in ogden. We are either going to hit powmow or snowbasin. Anyone have thoughts on one over the other? I had a great couple days at powmow about 5 years ago but have never been to snowbasin.

I am heading to Park City Feb. 1.  Was there about 3 or 4 years ago.  I'm going with 4 couples, the guys all rip and the chicks, well, they all look good.  We stay in PC because its a super fun town.  I am skiing 5 days, 2 days at PC when the wife skis and the rest at LCC, BCC.  You can ski any of the cottonwoods for about 60% of the price of PC and they are all around 45 minutes away.  As far as Powder and Snowbasin, I have never been to Powder, but those that have gone all love it.  I have been to Snowbasin and it is sick.  There are two or three great gondolas that serve roughly 2500 vert with great bowls, trees and cliffs.  Mountain is super empty and the lodges look like the ritz carlton.  

Great tips Danzo... thanks!  Hope your trip is good too.  As for Snowbasin, everything I've heard sounds great.  I've got a buddy who worked as a lift supv there last winter and the previous winter, he pretty much confirmed all the positive reports.  It's on my list to hit sooner rather than later, maybe next winter.

They still do the Utah Interconnect?  That always sounded interesting....

I still don't understand why people shit on Park City and the Canyons. They're fun! People have already mentioned the good spots, so you're fine there, I just am wondering why people have such strong opinions.

Is it Utah? (Yes)
Is there plenty of snow? (Yes)
Does it have a fun town? (Yes)
Is it a new place that you haven't been to and would like to explore, just to know what it's like? (Yes)
Are you going with fun people? (Assuming Yes)

How, again, could this be anything but a good time?

Shit on it all you want, Coach, but judging from your other thread, it seems like you would have had a better time in Park City than you did at Copper.

When I said it was possible to go there for my trip, Coach said that I may as well ski in the east.  I later realized that all the runs are about 1000 vertical which is only slightly more than Mountain Creek.  Coach has been to Copper in the past and not had an issue.  This was a one time thing.  If I'm going to spend lots of money to go out west, I'm going somewhere where there is actually a long run instead of a Mountain Creek sized run.  

snoloco wrote

When I said it was possible to go there for my trip, Coach said that I may as well ski in the east.

That's Coach's opinion. I would strongly disagree. I suggest if you ever are lucky enough to go to Utah to ski, that you ski as many areas as you can and make up your own mind.

Based on your criteria for what makes a good mountain you wouldn't ski Powder either, but you'd miss a heck of a fun place.

snoloco wrote

 I'm going somewhere where there is actually a long run instead of a Mountain Creek sized run.

Yeah, the pics Mike posted look MC-esque  

If was going to Utah, I'd be going to Snowbird (because I ski and snowboard, Alta isn't an option) and not PC.  Unless you're going for free, why make a point to go to the most easternlike mountain in the west.  What defines a high quality ski experience for me is the length and vertical of the run.  The longer and more vertical, the better.  In the east, snowmaking is a huge factor and in the west, natural snowfall.  One of the reasons I decided to go to Steamboat is because they have a great early season snow record, and very long runs.  Reason I go to Mountain Creek is because it has the longest runs by far in my area.  Reason I go to Hunter when skiing the Catskills is because apart from the best snowmaking around, they also have very good sustained vertical the entire way to the base.

snoloco wrote

why make a point to go to the most easternlike mountain in the west.  

Despite what Coach says, calling any of the Utah ski areas "easternlike" is missing the mark by miles.

What is the definition of "easternlike?"

Mostly man-made snow, low elevation, short runs, and lots of low level skiers.  This is exactly what Coach said about PC.

By that definition the least easternlike area in the east would be... maybe Mad?

snoloco wrote

Mostly man-made snow, low elevation, short runs, and lots of low level skiers.  This is exactly what Coach said about PC.

geez an expert now! that would be wrong. based on what you ski'd and didn't ski at steamboat pc would more than challenge you...

Ive only ski'd pc once for a long weekend in a low snow year so i don;t have alot to offer jeff other than there was plenty of terrain to be challenged and have a good time with even marginal conditions!

The least easternlike ski area in the east is Stowe because of the long run and great conditions.  Their average skier is also very high level.  I forgot to mention wide open trails as being westernlike as well, and Stowe has plenty of them.

snoloco wrote

  short runs

Ever hear of Whiteface??

I bet even Coach would agree that it's folly to say any major western resort is akin to east coast skiing.  I doubt he was really trying to say that, and he may have been trying to be critical of PC in a vernacular that Loco could identify with?

Would it have been less controversial/confusing if Coach had said PC takes less advantage of the Rocky Mountain attributes that most people find most desirable in western skiing?  That may be true, as the vertical/lines might not be as big, the snow may not be as deep, and it doesn't cater to the same core crowd that a place like Alta does.

Given how many choices there are out west was Coach's advice really that bad?  Sure, PC would be a blast for anyone.  Not hard to make lemonade out of that lemon, especially for a free trip, where you aren't choosing.  However, is there anyone here that would make PC their first (or second, or fifth) choice for a western skiing trip that wasn't focused on amenities?

That's probably what Coach was trying to convey, albeit wrapped in some rhetoric.

Lots of pods out west are 1000 - 1500 vert. All over the place. Also, there are shitty skiers everywhere. Turns out some of them even fly out west and then go back to wherever their from to pound their chests about what an expert they are. I've seen it happen all the time.