Utah advice

To lose a day of my vacation interlodge when it is dumping would just be too painful to experience for me.  I'm not that patient

Can someone explain interlodge to me? I get that when it's dumping huge they want to keep people off the roads for avy and road clearing reasons, but is there no where to stay at Alta where you could get to the lifts without driving? Or when they are on interlodge, they don't run the lifts and if you weren't up at Alta you could be skiing at Park City or...?

Harv, from the town of Alta web site (yes, there is a town of Alta)

http://townofalta.com/town_safety.php

"When the chance of an avalanche is likely and the Alta Marshal deems the area unsafe, The Town of Alta goes into an interlodge alert. This is when all occupants must go inside a building and stay there until the area is determined to be safe again. Sometimes this takes minutes and sometimes, during extreme storm cycles, it can take days. The important thing to remember here is to never ignore an interlodge warning or sign. This could endanger not only your own life, but the lives of others as well. The price of any inconvenience you may suffer is small compared to the public's safety so please cooperate with the official efforts."

When you arrive in Alta lodging of any kind, you are informed of this law asap. You cannot go outside for any reason, including a deck.

I was told that you could blame the Mormons for this one. Well, the early settlers, who were Mormons. They went up into the Little Cottonwood canyon and denuded it of whatever trees were up there, making the already avalanche prone canyon that much worse. Nothing will grow, now. Never buy a white car if you live there, because they may not find you if the road avis on you while you're stuck in a jam. Seriously.

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We are definately going to Powder Mt so I think a 4wd rental car is worth having.  I got a good rate on one from Alamo.

I found a nice looking Inn in Huntsman for $100 a night with breakfast for part of our stay and then I think we are going to stay downtown SLC and check out the Olympics stuff and have plenty of resturant choices.

My son will be in 4th grade so we might have to return again when he is in 5th.

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I've done SLC 4 years in a row over both pres weekend and MLK.  Crowds weren't an issue anywhere.  My buddies and I stayed at Marriott Courtyard downtown for about $99 a night.  There is a nice indoor pool and hot tub and you can walk to all the bars and restaurants downtown which is great for us but might not matter to you as much.  There is a movie theater and a mall right across the street too.  In other words there is plenty to do when you get back home at night.  You can decide in the morning where you want to go and times vary from 45 mins to BCC/LCC and Park City to 1 hour 20 mins to powder.  I would not stay in ogden.  We accidentally drove through it one time on the way to powder and it looked like a dump hole.  

I didn't get to make the trip this year and the guys stayed in park city.  They loved being able to roll out of bed and go straight to the lifts.  They did deer valley one day and then park city the rest of the days.  They got good snow so PCMR was good enough to keep them happy.  With low/no snow it would get old quick.  Obviously there is more to do if you stay in PC vs cottonwoods.  We did the guide thing when we went to powder.  The place is really spread out and we were there on a storm day with no visibility so it was great.  If you are there on a clear day I don't thing it would matter as much.  Check their site for road conditions and to see if powder country is open.  If its open its a good indicator you'll have a good day on the hill.

Just make sure to drink bottled beer.  They have some good stuff on tap but its all 3.2%.

Thanks for the beer tip

It's been 8 years since I've been to Utah but I do recall getting a decent drink is both difficult and expensive

I would assume craft beer has finally made its way there

Coach Z wrote

Thanks for the beer tip

It's been 8 years since I've been to Utah but I do recall getting a decent drink is both difficult and expensive

I would assume craft beer has finally made its way there

You can tell where my priorities are.  There are definitely some really good craft beers.  There are a couple of microbrew/pubs downtown with good food - Squatters and Red Rocks and a few others I can't remember.  There is also a really cool bar called Beerhive that has frost strip all the way down the bar to keep your beer cold.  All of them are walking distance if you stay downtown.  Also a cheesy piano bar on the same street as beerhive.  And oddly some of the best sushi I've ever had at at place called Takashi.  They have some really creative stuff and its pretty reasonable.  Packed on the weekends though so get there early.  On the same street as Takashi is Market Street Grill that has really good oysters and seafood.  Gracies and the Green Pig are also fun spots.  If you get craft beer in the bottle its just like any other place ipas are 6-8% etc.  Just a weird law about beer on tap.  You also don't have to have a sponsor to join a bar anymore which was really an odd thing.  You can go into any bar and order a beer just like the rest of america.

So all tap beer even in a brew pub is 3.2?

That is crappy

Coach Z wrote

So all tap beer even in a brew pub is 3.2?

That is crappy

 
Yepper.  It took us a few years to figure out why we could drink 10 IPAs in a night and not feel like complete crap the next day - cause we were basically drinking a tastier version of coors light.  A hot bartender at snowbird filled us in when we were at the tram bar one year.  She said "there's a reason they offer a whiskey chaser there with your draft beer - to bring you up to "even"".  She also told us about the teenagers out there who do vodka enemas to get drunk so they can get drunk but still tell church/parents they've never had a drink.

Colorado has a strange 3.2 law too.  If you buy beer in a grocery store on sunday its gotta be 3.2.  You have to be careful not to buy the watered down stuff the other 6 days of the week.

We were drinking Epic Brainless IPA (6.3% and brewed in SLC) at GMD. Highly recommended brew.
Establishments licensed to sell mixed drinks can sell beer at full strength.

High test on tap?

Highest on tap is 3.2%.

I'm pretty sure the Epic Brainless is 9.5% abv.

tBatt wrote

Highest on tap is 3.2%.

I'm pretty sure the Epic Brainless is 9.5% abv.

I thought I read it was lower, but here is the link from Epic: http://www.epicbrewing.com/our-beers/elevated-series/item/29-brainless-belgian-release-1
ABV 8.3%

Utah's 3.2 is ABW not ABV, ABV is about 4% for bars according to this article: http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-11-14573-the-32-myth.html

hmmmmmm......a ski club trip organizer plans a trip for next season. It's down to two choices, Utah or Colorado. The first choice doesn't even have regular beer on tap. The other place now has quality weed for sale to tourists along with great, normal beer everywhere. hmmmmmm.........One place may have a little better snow quality than the other, but, hey, we're talking about a week long party here, right?   hmmmmmmm........no contest.

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I've only skied in Utah once and that was during Pres. week. I don't remember thinking the crowds where too bad for a holiday week. Definately less crowded then skiing Colorado's front range ski areas during Pres. week.

DackerDan wrote

BTW - if you are staying in SLC check out the Red Iguana, excellent Mex but get there early, they fill up fast.

+1
I'm wearing my Red Iguana t-shirt now..