School me on Park City / Canyons

ml242 wrote

Lots of pods out west are 1000 - 1500 vert. All over the place

Exactly. In fact Steamboat does't have a huge uninterrupted vertical.

Snoloco - you say you'd head to Snowbird - but from what I can gather of your skills a lot of Snowbird would be over your head.

Don't let other people make up your mind about a place before you even have a chance to ski it for yourself. Snowbird and Alta are freakin mad houses on powder days. You can go to PC/Canyons days after a storm and still find nice powder stashes in the trees.

Snobasin is pretty low, but you'd be crazy to skip that on a trip to Utah, even though it may get wet powder while PC, BCC, and LCC areas are getting nice dry powder. BTW, a typical snow year has more then enough natural snow at the PC resorts.

The combined PC/Canyons has what...7000 acres of terrain? 350 inches of snow on average a year? You're just being silly comparing that to eastern skiing.

And as far as sustained vertical....how many people really ski 2 or 3 k of vert without stopping?

Actually Steamboat did have lots of uninterrupted vertical.  Here's their high speed lifts serving complete sections of the mountain.  All have more vertical than Mountain Creek.  Even Christie Peak which IMO is a beginner lift not worth skiing off of.  


Storm Peak Express:  2,160 vertical over a run of 6900 feet.

Sundown Express:  1,960 vertical over a run of 5500 feet.

Pony Express:  1,700 vertical over a run of 5,000 feet.

Thunderhead Express:  1,640 vertical over a run of 5,530 feet.

Sunshine Express:  1,350 vertical over a run of 5,600 feet.

Christie Peak Express:  1,100 vertical over a run of 4,600 feet.


Here's their high speed lifts serving complete sections of the mountain.  I didn't mention the gondola because no one in their right mind would lap it.  All have more vertical than Mountain Creek.  Even Christie Peak which IMO is a beginner lift not worth skiing off of has more vertical than Mountain Creek.  All but Sunshine and Christie Peak have more vertical than Hunter's 6-pack.  


Even some of their fixed grips which don't serve complete sections have plenty of sustained vertical.

4-Points:  1,345 vertical over a run of 4,060 feet.

Bar-UE:  1,340 vertical over a run of 4,775 feet.

snoloco wrote

... than Mountain Creek.
... than Mountain Creek.

 Happy Friday!

gorgonzola wrote

snoloco wrote

... than Mountain Creek.
... than Mountain Creek.

 Happy Friday!

OMG, that's so old.  I'm going there tonight.  Enjoy getting wasted.

snoloco wrote

Actually Steamboat did have lots of uninterrupted vertical.  Here's their high speed lifts serving complete sections of the mountain.  All have more vertical than Mountain Creek.  Even Christie Peak which IMO is a beginner lift not worth skiing off of.  


Storm Peak Express:  2,160 vertical over a run of 6900 feet.

Sundown Express:  1,960 vertical over a run of 5500 feet.

Pony Express:  1,700 vertical over a run of 5,000 feet.

Thunderhead Express:  1,640 vertical over a run of 5,530 feet.

Sunshine Express:  1,350 vertical over a run of 5,600 feet.

Christie Peak Express:  1,100 vertical over a run of 4,600 feet.


Here's their high speed lifts serving complete sections of the mountain.  I didn't mention the gondola because no one in their right mind would lap it.  All have more vertical than Mountain Creek.  Even Christie Peak which IMO is a beginner lift not worth skiing off of has more vertical than Mountain Creek.  All but Sunshine and Christie Peak have more vertical than Hunter's 6-pack.  


Even some of their fixed grips which don't serve complete sections have plenty of sustained vertical.

4-Points:  1,345 vertical over a run of 4,060 feet.

Bar-UE:  1,340 vertical over a run of 4,775 feet.

Wow an average of 1650ft. I can't imagine skiing that much vertical in one shot. I'd have to go all the way to Hunter to get that! Or Windham! Or Whiteface! Or Sugarbush! Or Stowe! Or Smugglers Notch! Or Mad River! Or Sugarloaf! and on and on.

Kid, I've skied Steamboat 5 times. I know how it skis even if I don't know all the stats you cite.

Don't limit your experiences based on someone else's opinions.

Yep I agree with Matt.  If I went there no altitude sickness for sure and anything wild gave been better thsan what I just went thru even a trip to MC ... Well maybe not that Sno

Steamboat is a great place but it's kind of a flat ski mountain. I sure wouldn't call it a very challenging mountain. After I moved away I went a back a few times to visit friends but I didn't bother trying to get a ticket or sneaking up on the lifts. I think quality is much better than quantity. Go check out Plattekill once they have their whole mountain open with good snow snoloco and run top to bottoms all day long on the black diamond trails and then tell us about how much vert you really need. I suppose the groomers are good at the Boat but that's entertaining for what? 2 hours? Or just head to Jackson for your next western vacation. That's some serious quality vert.

JTG4eva! wrote

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.

I need to hire JTG to write my posts
I still disagree with the first paragragh though.  A good 75% of PC is  boring repetitive short groomers that ski like they could be at Hunter with similair traffic and the firmest Most icy western snow I've ever skied and this was during a week when BCC and LCC were skiing superbly.  These trails get so much traffic they blow snow on them and they seem to have no clue how to blow good snow.

My biggest beef is how long it takes to get to the two good terrian pods and back thru hoards of gapers.  You blow half a day just getting to them 6 lift rides to Jupiter is crazy.  By the time you get there it's time for lunch.  All the lifts and runs go diagonally up the ridge forcing the slog.  It's nearly impossible to try to cut across skiers left towards Jupiter because it's up hill.  Maybe Vail will build a big ass Gondi with multiple stations that rides the top of the ridge to cut out this nonsense.

I wasn't impressed with the Canyons either.  I do want to try Deer Valley as I have heard some good things about the expert terrian bring good and deserted.  

Hmm...

WF Gondi is roughly 2500 vert per run.  
Take Gondi ski to summit lift then ski to bottom and you get a vertical mile in two runs.  Tough to do that any where but Jackson, whistler, Europe.

6 lift rides to get to the goods? That does suck.

raisingarizona wrote

6 lift rides to get to the goods? That does suck.

I think it is 3 lifts to get to the bottom of the Jupiter double. If you cannot figure out how to have fun on the 9300 acres of skiing in Park City you should trade in your sliding equipment.

Please show me how you get to Jupiter in 3 lift rides.  Can't be done from the parking lot.  I guess it can be done from the village with no skiing but long traverses which would still take about an hour.

We parked in the lot far lookers right last time I was there and started on Eagle lift.  I can't recall if that is a free or pay lot.    I was wrong you can do it in 4 rides but that requires more traversing we did it in 5 rides with Jupiter being the 6th lift.

It's a really messed lift system

It takes 4 lifts to reach Jupiter from the parking lot.  First, you take First Time (a waste-of-time beginner quad) and then get on the Crescent HSQ.  Ski down to the Pioneer lift and ride that up.  Then traverse to the Jupiter lift, ride that up, and you've made it.  Would take at least 45 minutes.

The OP is staying at The Canyons Village.  This means the following lift scenarios to reach the decent sections.  Lifts in bold, trails not in bold.

9990:  Red Pine Gondola-Chicane-Tombstone-Silver Spur-9990.  3 lifts, one full run, one short run.  Would probably take about 30 minutes.

McConkey's:  Red Pine Gondola-Chicane-Timberline-Iron Mountain-White Pine-Quicksilver Gondola-Silverlode-Mid Mountain-McConkey's.  6 lifts, one full run, 2 short runs.  Would take at least an hour.

Jupiter: Red Pine Gondola-Chicane-Timberline-Iron Mountain-White Pine-Quicksilver Gondola-Silverlode-Single Jack-Thaynes-Jupiter Access-Jupiter.  8 lifts, 2 full runs, 1 short run, one traverse.  Would take close to an hour and a half.

snoloco wrote

It takes 4 lifts to reach Jupiter from the parking lot.  First, you take First Time (a waste-of-time beginner quad) and then get on the Crescent HSQ.  Ski down to the Pioneer lift and ride that up.  Then traverse to the Jupiter lift, ride that up, and you've made it.  Would take at least 45 minutes.

I guess I miscalculated - only 2 lifts to the bottom of Jupiter or 3 lifts to the top, not 6 lifts. Qualifying it from the parking lot is just silly. If there was only a bus shuttle to the main base area and no lift access from the parking lot would you count that too?

So, to be clear, the Crescent HSQ, traverse to the Pioneer FG triple (3800 ft long) and then Jupiter traverse to the bottom of the Jupiter double (3200 ft long).

As Coach mentioned before, the Crescent lift is not near any parking lots.  It is a quarter mile away from the parking lots and about a measured 150 vertical above.  You're not starting at that lift unless staying on-mountain.  You're starting at Eagle, First Time, or Payday.  Since you have to take First Time to reach the Crescent lift, that counts as an additional lift.  I hate parking lots that require a bus, so I'd take the additional lift, but if you did take the bus, then it is a shuttle bus, plus 3 lifts away instead of 4 lifts.

x10003q wrote

If you cannot figure out how to have fun on the 9300 acres of skiing in Park City you should trade in your sliding equipment.

^^FTW.  Regardless of the number of chairlift rides it takes to get to Jupiter, I am positive I'll be having fun-o-plenty.  And Sno, if I get my Park City trip report up before you get your Steamboat trip report posted, you owe me a beer (when you're 21).  And I think you'll also owe me a beer if I get in more steeps, trees, hike-to and off-piste in 3 days at Park City than you got in 6 at the Boat.

The only reason my Steamboat TR isn't up is because I don't have the patience to deal with these annoying image insert issues.  I take the pictures on my phone and it takes multiple shares, downloads, and uploads to post them.

snoloco wrote

As Coach mentioned before, the Crescent lift is not near any parking lots.

Nope. There is a parking lot right in front of the main plaza and the Crescent HSQ is on the other side of the plaza.

snoloco wrote

  It is a quarter mile away from the parking lots and about a measured 150 vertical above.  You're not starting at that lift unless staying on-mountain.

Every major ski area has far lots. Since this is usually the case and there is parking right across from the plaza at Park City, you do not need to take an extra lift if you get there early enough, just like every other resort with large parking areas.

snoloco wrote

 You're starting at Eagle, First Time, or Payday.  Since you have to take First Time to reach the Crescent lift, that counts as an additional lift.  I hate parking lots that require a bus, so I'd take the additional lift, but if you did take the bus, then it is a shuttle bus, plus 3 lifts away instead of 4 lifts.

Yes, 3 lifts to the top of Jupiter, not 6 lifts.

Actually, since the OP is staying at The Canyons, there is no reason to debate whether it takes 3, 4, or 6 lifts to reach Jupiter.  The 8 lift scenario I outlined earlier is what he is going to have to deal with.