Utah Odyssey Feb 19-24

Faced with a dilemma of either not going on a Western Ski Vacation or doing it during President’s week we chose to go this past week.  My son trains at NYSEF on Friday’s so we could not afford to have him miss any more school days.  We decided to ski a different resort each day to experience all that Utah offers.  The quality of the skiing experience was great but what was surprising was the diversity and contrasts between the different resorts.  I also was surprised with the lack of lift lines on a Holiday week.  We only waited in a lift line of more than 5 mins a couple of times and parked now worse than in the 3rd row of cars.  We booked this trip early last summer so I could use FF miles and SPG points for the hotel in SLC.

We started our Utah Odyssey at Snowbasin.  It was windy and snowing with about a third of the area on wind hold.  It was a low visibility day and it had warmed up the week before we arrived so most of our skiing was on groomers except on the top 600 vert above the freeze thaw level.  Snowbasin is huge and you could see the potential for great off trail skiing that I had experienced there before the Olympics.  The best runs of the day were the two downhill courses where my son got the ok from a Patroller to let it rip with no speed limit.  The thing that stands out at SB is the quality of their Lodges, Staff, and food.  The Lodges are unbelievably great.  They feel like an high end golf clubs Clubhouse and clearly no expensive was sparred.  The food was the best ski area fare I have had in the US and it was inexpensive.  Even the maintenance building looked like something where you would take a BMW to be serviced not a greasy garage.


Gondi cars named with Gold Medal Winners - I think Whiteface owes Andrew and Bill Demong a Gondi car



When your Mait Facility looks this good you don't hide it you put it under a key lift



John Paul Lodge


The next day we went to Powder Mt known as PowMo to the locals.  We were supposed to have gone cat skiing but they did not run the cat all week as they felt it was not up their quality standards.  We did get 3 runs on their Lightning Ridge Pay per cat which was high enough that we got about 3-4” of nice Powder in a Huge bowl.  The lower sections went to breakable crust but that was where the run out cat track started.  We lapped that 3 times which took a bus ride, chair ride, cat ride, almost 3000 Vert of skiing and then two chair rides to get back to the start of the circuit.  Compared to SB, PowMo is a collection of old slow lifts and a lodge that has not changed since the Nixon Administration.  There could not be two more different resorts located fairly close together and we had a great time at both.


Waiting at Lightning ridge Cat Pick up spot.  $18 per ride with Lift Tix


Coach and Son in Cat skiing area


Sunset on Great Salt Lake from PowMo


After staying in a small B&B in Huntsville where we were the only ones staying there and the only dinner served in their restaurant that evening we moved to staying at the Sheraton in Downtown SLC.  That was another striking contrast.  The Sheraton was very nice and we enjoyed my frequent travel perk of lounge access with free   breakfast and then free drinks and munchies for happy hour.  The dinning in SLC is very good and exceptionally diverse.  The roads built for the Olympics lead to fast runs up the resorts with no drive being more than about 45 mins.

Friday we hit Snowbird on a boot top + powder day that was the top day of our trip.  My son fell in Love with Snowbird and we skied double blacks all day from the Bowls off Little Cloud and Mineral Basin, many chutes and the Cirque.  We also found really fun tree runs in the Gad area.  We thought the tunnel thru the mountain was a unique idea.  It cost $1.4 million and two summers to build.  I wondered how exactly they came up with that idea.


ZZ ripping up a chute on the Cirque at Snowbird


My son love natural halfpipes and Snowbird has tons of them.  This one happens to have a great view of the Cliff Lodge.


Tunnel with Magic Carpet to Mineral Basin


The Tunnel serves as a history of mining in the area exhibit - very well done!


Snowbird is all straight forward and fairly easy to get to what you want to ski contrasted to Alta the next day which is all traversing and figuring out how to ski things.  Alta was more frustrating to my son with the long traversing but we did ski some great tight chutes and trees in the Supreme section.  Late in the day an older local took us under his wing and showed us some of his personal favorite shots off the High T.  Even though it was a weekend we only waited in two longer lift lines at Supreme.  Sorry no photos that day as it was snowing hard.

Next up on Sunday was Solitude.  It was a good choice for a weekend and we parked in the second row and never waited in a lift line.  It had not snowed in Big Cottonwood like it had in LCC that week but the snow up high stayed dry and chalky.  We had great runs in Honeycomb with the best being thru the Navarone Gate.  These steep double black shots thru the trees and huge boulders held great snow.


Navarone Gate in Honeycomb Canyon at Solitude






This is out the Honeycomb traverse and required extra hiking - was told it was about an hour to get to

Solitude’s laid back and non-commercial style contrasted starkly with our choice to ski Park City on our final day.  It had been warm there the day before and it froze.  The promised warm temps were delayed by a thick cloud layer so the morning was limited to groomers.  According to one of the ambassador guys about a third of their terrain is covered in blown snow which would explain its poor quality compared to what we skied most of the week.  Honestly it was one of the most boring mornings of skiing I can remember.  Every groomer at PC seems exactly the same and there are dozens of these copycat runs.  I have no idea how anyone could go and just ski at PC for a week without going crazy.  By noon it softened up so we could ski some steeps in McConkey’s and off Jupiter that were fun but not as good as the other resorts we visited.  The other thing I did not like about Park City is that it takes many lifts to get to the good stuff and there is miles of traverses to get around.  It seems to be a ski area for the tourist crowd and the level of skier was considerably lower than the other areas we visited.

We had a very fun week and will be returning next winter to use the cat skiing credit we have at PowMo.  The contrasts of the different ski experiences was the big thing that stuck in my mind.  Utah has so much skiing to offer so close together.  Staying IN SLC was a fun way to experience it all.  Don’t be afraid to do a ski odyssey in Utah even on a Holiday week.

Great report!  Looks like you had a great time with your son.

Petronio

Very nice Coach!  Looks like we overlapped - I was at Alta Feb 20 & 21, Bird Feb 22.

I think the Feb vacation week in UT is no big deal (other than getting reasonable airfare out of ALB) - I don't think UT kids have the whole week off like we do. It seems that powder drives the crowds more than holidays.

Snowbasin looks very cool.  I've got a buddy who left the east this winter and is now a liftie there.  He came down and skied (boarded) with us at the Bird. He echoed everything you said about the lodges & lifts being topnotch, good terrain and not crowded.  It's on my list for my next UT visit.

I found the Alta layout to be fine - maybe that's because I'm a Gore skier.  By contrast, it was a pain in the arse getting back to the Tram at the Bird - we got sucked down the Gad Valley side, took the mid-Gad lift back up and still had to huff uphill to get back to the Tram from Miner's Road / Creek Road.  Then I got stuck on the Tram, but that's another story...

Coach Z wrote

The Sheraton was very nice and we enjoyed my frequent travel perk of lounge access with free drinks for happy hour and breakfast.

Mmm, I love free drinks for breakfast.  I usually get a Guinness or a Bloody Mary (or both).  Hate those silly beers that they serve with an orange slice.

Jeff - We just missed each other. You hit the best days of the week.

My son was annoyed with Alta's lay out but its harder for a kid with less weight to traverse.  I think they need to replace that Supreme Lift with a HSQ.  I really like the steeps and trees in that section but it has the worst lift lines.

We had no issues getting around Snowbrid but I had spent a week there for a PSIA National Academy with a group leader from there so I know it pretty well now.  Right below the Mid Gad Lodge you have to go hard right if you want to get back to the Tram.  The Base area actually slopes downhill from the Tram to Gad so I can see what you mean but there is route around it.

I fixed the wording on the Sheraton Lounge part.  I'm a Plat in SPG so I get free lounge access for breakfast and snacks.  An added bene for this lounge is that they had comp'ed drinks from 5:30 to 9 pm and poured good wine.  That was a really nice perk and we hung out each day with some other skiers. I was worried about staying in dowtown SLC but the roads are good and we never were in a traffic jam except for a slow ride up LCC on Saturday morning.

I found a few of the near beers pretty tasty from Squatters and Moab even if they don't pack much punch.  I even had some with beer with lunch a couple of days since its so low impact.

My last 2 trips to Utah have been over holiday weeks..We never had a crowd issue or major restaurant wait..Staying in downtown SLC worked like a charm..

Resturant waits on the weekend were pretty bad - over an hour on Friday.  There was a big dance competition going on that took up several hotels.  On Saturday we decided not eat a big lunch and hit a happy hour at a Mexican Joint at the bottom of the BCC Rd right where it hits I215. Really good - wish i could remember the name of it - its in the plaza with Watsch Powder Sports.

The dance comp itself was at our hotel.  Those people were a special kind of crazy.     7 year olds in princess dresses and 12 year olds made up with makeup and hairextentions to look like working girls.  Those Mom's should be ashamed of themselves and I pitty the few poor dads stuck there.

Coach Z wrote

Those people were a special kind of crazy.     7 year olds in princess dresses and 12 year olds made up with makeup and hairextentions to look like working girls.  Those Mom's should be ashamed of themselves and I pitty the few poor dads stuck there.

Those people probably think that you are crazy for allowing your kid to freeze his ass off on an icy racecourse dressed in only a speedsuit. Everyone has their own thing. Live and let live.

Coach Z wrote

Those people were a special kind of crazy.     7 year olds in princess dresses and 12 year olds made up with makeup and hairextentions to look like working girls.  Those Mom's should be ashamed of themselves and I pitty the few poor dads stuck there.

+1
I never understand how parents willingly tart their daughters up for those dance and cheerleading competitions.  I know the girls have fun and its a great activity, but I find the uncritical sexualization of little girls in those sports highly disturbing.  

Always reminds me of that South Park episode where the girls in the class are working at a Hooters-like restaurant called "Raisins" . . .

Petronio

Coach Z wrote

My son was annoyed with Alta's lay out but its harder for a kid with less weight to traverse.  I think they need to replace that Supreme Lift with a HSQ.  I really like the steeps and trees in that section but it has the worst lift lines.

I hear you on the traversing between pods.  On our first day the East Baldy Traverse was closed, so the only way to get back from Sugarloaf to Collins was the ridiculous rope tow thing.  Believe me, I cursed.

We spent most of the morning on our first day skiing the Supreme lift (Catherine's area).  Loved the terrain, especially those steep trees that followed skier's right of the lift line.  But those were also the longest lift lines that we experienced - up to 15 minutes, versus practically ski-on everywhere else for the 3 days (including the Bird on Saturday).  I'm not sure a HSQ is the answer.  I think the lines were the result of a lot of the other terrain being closed for avi control (East Castle, Devil's Castle, Ballrooom, Backside/East Greely).

Coach Z wrote

I fixed the wording on the Sheraton Lounge part.

Awww, I liked the way you originally had it.

Coach Z wrote

I found a few of the near beers pretty tasty from Squatters and Moab even if they don't pack much punch.  I even had some with beer with lunch a couple of days since its so low impact.

Yeah, we avoided the 3.2 draft beers but I did have one with lunch figuring it could do no harm.  It was tasty (a local IPA).

Thanks for the TR Coach.  Looks like you and your son had a great time!  That's one of the things I love about skiing.  It's rare that you find any activity that both parents and kids can enjoy and share together.  I'm really looking forward to getting back to Salt Lake in the future.  Except for this issue:


"Yeah, we avoided the 3.2 draft beers but I did have one with lunch figuring it could do no harm.  It was tasty (a local IPA)."


It sure is difficult to get a proper drink in Salt Lake.  I thought ordering a dry Martini would be a sneaky work around. No such luck... it was served in a thimble.

They do serve regular test beer but not on draft only in bottles.

Wine seemed to be the way to go since Utah has not figured out a way to mess with it.

CMR wrote

I thought ordering a dry Martini would be a sneaky work around. No such luck... it was served in a thimble.

I'd like six extra dry martinis in one glass please."

That would really piss me off. I guess with the greatest snow on earth they can get away with it.

Looks like a blast Coach.  My Utah dream includes Alta and Pow Mow.

CMR wrote

It sure is difficult to get a proper drink in Salt Lake.  I thought ordering a dry Martini would be a sneaky work around. No such luck... it was served in a thimble.

Yeah, that is a problem with Utah.  We found the best work-around to be just sticking to full strength bottled beer.  Beer is about all I drink anyway, though I always prefer draft to bottles.  Except in Utah where all draft beer is 3.2.  It's embarrassing how many empty bottles 10 guys can generate in 4 days.

I bet Campy would beat your whole group by himself