a few UT resorts, with random musings 3/8/13-3/14/13

So there have been Utah TR’s before, and even recently Solitude and Powder Mountain and I am sure Alta and Snowbird ones, but I would like to try something a little different and put together an admittedly not comprehensive (as no trip ever is) report of visiting a few resorts and touch on three of my interests: skiing, food and architecture. I don’t stop a lot to take pictures but I like to write a lot it seems.



Day 1: NYC>SLC>Snowbird. We did the typical wake up pre-dawn but rather than drive to Plattekill, we headed to JFK for a 7am flight to SLC. Got to our room at the Inn around 11, changed and headed to the tram, got on top by 12 noon, skied the day in light flurries on the Gad Valley side, which I like a lot- interesting terrain and trees and less the giant open bowl vibe. They have had a low-tide year but the mountain was skiing pretty good. That night, we had an ok pizza at the Wildflower. Food at Snowbird is a little weird in that everything, and I mean everything, is owned by Snowbird, you see their logo everywhere, on everything, everywhere you go, you feel like you are being indoctrinated (and I love Helvetica font). High point of the meal had to have been the live music, by these guys. If you are ever in a retirement home in Minnesota, def check them out- their cover of California Girls by the Beach Boys is dope. Collapsed by 8:30pm.

Day 2: Snowbird. It snowed like 5-6 overnight. We were stoked and on first chair at Gad. Straight up to Little Cloud chair (“Little Crowd”) the one place where you feel like you don’t have to hit people with your pole to not get your line poached. Everything was incredible, except the fog, which made the open pow merge right into the sky- better in the trees and at certain elevations it would clear, only to come back up a few hundred feet lower. Nonetheless, we skied all day, all over the mountain- Mineral Basin, more in the upper Gad Valley and did a lot of hiking for turns off the High Baldy Traverse in Peruvian- great snow and terrain over there with limited crowds because of the hiking- probably the runs of the day.



Now with their economic model or ownership and accumulation rather than incorporation and networking, snowbird of course has to have 100% consistent architecture with everything designed by the local firm Brixen and Christopher in the early 70’s. Some hate it but they typically are the people that want a faux swiss village. I love it. It is uber-rationlist modernism but with variations. Yes the rooms are dated but the buildings are pretty cool and are the architectural equivalent of Helvetica font- utilitarian but also elegant. Too bad its so hard to get from place to place by walking- they need to work on their circulation diagrams but the place has genuine architectural merit.



So overall for Snowbird = conditions: 7-8, terrain: 8-9 food: 4 (but they actually get a 5 because of that band), architecture: 8.5 (woulda gone higher but I hate going upstairs to go back downstairs)

The second night we went to Pat’s Barbecue in SLC. It was good. If you can forgo the live music you sit right down and lay into their ribs. To be totally honest, I have had better and the brisket was kind of a letdown (and I love brisket) but it was solid and worth the drive.

Day 3: Alta. Alta is of course a 4 minute drive from Snowbird and has to be one of my all time favorite spots. Great terrain, great snow (most years at least) and a great vibe- people on skinny skis, old-timers, kids all having a blast. Alta’s terrain is incredible- not only in terms of its skiability but also in terms of its cool-ness. Its not a big mountain face like snowbird but you really get in it with peaks all around you- its super 3-dimensional and awesome. It was a beautiful blue bird day for us, and with way less ravenous poaching and shralping, there was good patches of leftovers all over the place from the day before- maybe you had to traverse for it a bit but the morning was really good mostly skiing off Sugarloaf and Collins. After a couple of hours, when the temps came up we started to move towards our goal of the Catherine’s sidecountry area. We did a couple of laps close in getting the low angle glades with deep pow stashes but then traversed rocky point, properly hoisted our skis and hiked Patsy Marley. It was totally memorable as was the ski down- through trees into an open untouched pow field all by ourselves.





Did a couple more laps in there by the end of the day, by which time we were exhausted and ready for a beer at the Gold Miner’s Daughter. An awesome spot. If you have never been there on a spring afternoon, you need to, period.
The GMD was I supposed designed by an architectural collective from communist Uzbekistan. It is kind of hilarious with the Dormitory For the Workers of Uzbekistan vibe in full effect. I mean could the windows be a little bigger than that?



More importantly, we had some beers, went back to change and came back to Alta to eat upstairs- that would be the fancy restaurant, with table service by Tbatt! (thanks mang- though I was angling for some comp desert at the end there…) The food was decent and we were pretty stoked- J’s fluorescent green mint jelly for his lamb chops was a little weird though.

Overall for Alta = conditions: 8, terrain: 8-9 food: 7 (but they actually get a 7.5 because of Tbatt!), architecture: 6.5 (I am kind of a Marxist)
Next time I am at Alta, I am def taking my touring gear and getting deeper into the Catherine’s lake area. Even close by there is awesome terrain just waiting to be skied (it gets plenty of traffic but you cannot hike out). Inspirational.

Day 4: Solitude. I also like Solitude a lot and you see our strategy here, since it snowed on Friday night and was not scheduled to again, we radiate out from the epicenter of ravenous pow schralping (that would be Snowbird). It had been super warm the day before so we leisurely made our way over to the BCC after a breakfast at Carl’s in Cottonwood Heights. It’s a cool local place in a strip mall with skis and posters from the 70’s on the wall and need I say more than “breakfast burrito” anyhow? The drive up the canyon is beautiful and dramatic. We got to the Moonbeam base and did a few laps to wait out the crust and headed up to the summit chair to check out the Evergreen sidecountry zone where we also found huge expanses of untracked. It was a long traverse to get to the aspect where the snow was not rotten but once there it was worth it. You get a pretty long run and then you have to boot out after another flat traverse.





I guess it was good enough that we did it three times. After that we headed over to the honeycomb canyon side. Great terrain over there also and easier to lap with the lift, though you end up having to zigzag across the mountain to get back to the top. Here also, touring would multiply the possibilities tenfold, in both of these zones. Next time we will be more prepared. Best runs= evergreen, queen bess, boundary chutes. Finished up the day in the trees off of sunrise which was also awesome.



The architecture at Solitude is full-on McMansion which is a bummer (and in the official color of Utah- ochre, which just brings it down more). Sorry Soli, I love ya but it has to be said.



Afterwards we went to one of our favorite spots in SLC, the Red Iguana. Its really great, that is all. You must go, and have food and margaritas and beers and then go home and go to bed.

Overall for Solitude = conditions: 7, terrain: 7-8 food: 8 (but the lunch attempt at almost 3pm on the hill was a disaster, sorry again Soli), architecture: 3.5 but they get mad bonus points for the minimal crowd of like 50 on the entire mountain, so forget all the scores you see above.

Day 5: Powder Mountain. I had never been and honestly it had never really crossed my radar. I have skied quite a few places in UT even but in researching the trip it came up as a possibility and it seemed like a dark horse option which I always like. I say here publicly- it is a cool spot, with great terrain (if a little low angle from what we saw at least), a super cool vibe and a considerably lower crowd count than even Solitude which I thought was not possible. 1.5 hours from SLC after breakfast again at Carl’s. The road almost takes you to the top of the mountain with the ski runs below you which is totally disorienting but kinda cool. We started right out moving across to the Cobabe Cyn area, which was amazing, low-angle aspen skiing all by yourself in virtually untracked pow fields now 4 days after the small storm. Crazy. It was mostly like this all day.





There were perhaps 30 people on the entire montain of 7000+ acres. You could go anywhere and find super fun tree skiing through hard or softwoods with big patches of softening snow, which by the afternoon was wet mashed potatoes but still super fun. Had an awesome kale salad (truly- when have you seen that?) for lunch at the Hidden Lake Lodge and then did a lap on the a-la-carte snowcat to Lightning Ridge and hiked to the top of James Peak (see other recent TR’s for this but I will echo- worth the cost and hiking for the giant GS turns again through nearly untracked pow fields below).



On a true pow day, this mountain would really be all-time. Awesome place, cool vibe and people (helpful and funny patrollers) will def return.

The architecture of PowMo is more on the vernacular shack tip, plus a few yurts and it seems as if they might be building a contemporary and interesting building near the top but it was still under construction. I like it.



After scouring a certain other ski blog I got turned on to the idea of the Shooting Star Saloon in a nearby town, which opened as a trading post in 1850 according to our friendly bartender. They say “we are not a restaurant” but the grass-fed, local ingredient burger was truly memorable- even though they preemptively put ketchup on it. Get in a car or on a horse or a donkey or something and go there now. I might be moving to Huntsville UT, I will see you there.

Overall for PowMo = conditions: 8, terrain: 8 food: 8, architecture: 7.

Day 6: we got in 2 hours at Snowbird before we had to leave for the airport. We thought that the freeze-thaw cycles and the people would have made it only worth skiing the groomers for a couple of hours but instead we still managed to find nice snow, even at hat point 5 days after. You don’t know until you go.



 It’s a tough call in the match up between resorts but that is a meaningless endeavor I would say. They are so different but these are the ones I will always return to, from what I have seen and what seems to be around the bend. A great week.

lemmycaution wrote

snowbird of course has to have 100% consistent architecture with everything designed by the local firm Brixen and Christopher in the early 70’s. Some hate it but they typically are the people that want a faux swiss village. I love it. It is uber-rationlist modernism but with variations.

I get the point about the faux Swiss/Austrian village (Vail is probably the worst offender in this area), but you are officially the first person who has ever written anything remotely positive about Snowbird's architecture.

I urge you to visit the French Alps resorts of Les Arcs and Les Menuires (and many others). Never been there, but I've seen the pix. You'll be in heaven.

Nice report..
I don't mind The Birds architecture, what I mind  about Snowbird is , there is no day lodge. I've stayed at The Cliff and love it . Great rooms , cool bar and fun pool.. Your  a bit to generous with your Snowbird food rating. I give it a 3..

dont get me wrong, i am not trying to turn this into a food or architecture blog but the fact that one even notices the architecture at the bird says a lot, most places it is un-noticable. the skiing is also great. and yes the food is probably worse than i said, but when you eat it, you are skiing at Snowbird, which makes everything taste way better. next time i will try to take better and more action-y and informative pictures.

haha I actually like the little village at Solitude. For a village that small, I think they did a nice job bringing it together. Rather than one or two giant hotels, they build a smaller and homier village. Hey, nothing will be as good as a non-purpose-built village (e.g. towns in the Alps, Telluride, Aspen, etc.), but for planned unit developments, I think Solitude isn't all that bad.

TR of the year in my book!

"the architectural equivalent of Helvetica font" - fantastic. We need more random musings.

I couldn't help but note the Ontario plates on the black Toyota in the PowMo parking lot. Did you meet any Hinterlandians?

Nice report, my favorite places to ski - you hit most of them.
At the bird, the terrain off Gad 2 is great, when it snows big at the bird that's where I hang out. You can see what your skiing and the trees and hidden snow fields are great.

Solitude, did you get to the dark forest, it is so deeply tucked into the North face that the sun hardly gets there - great snow even after a bakeout.

Powder Mountain, I have found almost infinite untracked a week after a dump. Not a lot of steeps but it lives up to it's name.

Alta - well what can I say, my yearly pilgrimage. I am headed out in a few weeks. Now as far as the architecture of GMD, you will appreciate it when you are under maximum interlodge, you will understand why the windows are so small. GMD is our home when we go - wouldn't change a thing. If you like a hotel that feels like home, that's it. Stroll down to the bar in the AM for coffee in your PJs, hang out with bar tender Trainer and his black lab Liquorish, Trainer also fires the Howitzer at the top of Wildcat on avalanche control days. After a few years of going there you get to know the rest of the family, like the guys who fly in regularly from the west coast and Phoenix on powder days, if there's a storm, they will be at breakfast the next morning, almost guaranteed.  We see the same folks there every year and have made several close friends. The terrain is fantastic, Catherine's, High Boy, The Dog Legs, the natural halfpipe Gullies off Wildcat, Baldy Shoulder, Piss Pass... I can go on and on - I can hardly wait.

Thanks for wetting my appetite.

lemmycaution wrote

dont get me wrong, i am not trying to turn this into a food or architecture blog ...

No apologies this is a great TR, I really appreciate the effort.  The only thing missing IMO is a picture of tBatt.  

Never been to Utah to ski, but I'm thinking from what I've read, Pow Mow would be my favorite and Alta or Solitude would be right up there.

This is a great report. I wouldn't mind staying at snowbird and looking out from those decks... I kind of with they were at PowMow though. Solitude would get a score bump from the terrific and huge windows at the lodge as well. I hate dark lodges.

Overall, looks like you had a killer trip out there.

I need to get out there with you sometime. Or, we could go to Yugoslavia and comment on some real soviet architecture!

Harvey44 wrote

Never been to Utah to ski, but I'm thinking from what I've read, Pow Mow would be my favorite and Alta or Solitude would be right up there.

Harv,
You gotta go. You well sell your sole to get back year after year. Take you fam to GMD, become assimilated into the borg of alta-holics.

Nice write up. Loved the architectural insights, which says a lot coming from a dullard like myself. Hope in future reports this becomes a motif (wow, reading your post really did make me smarter).