Alta Delays Opening

[rsmith]

Only the more advanced boarders will typically hit the great lines (and it's arguable that due to tighter turns and a single edge that advanced boarder's actually do less damage than a good skier).

It's well past time to make the change...

Those great lines, at least many of them require traversing.... hence post holes. I strongly disagree with you that snowboarders make tighter turns, in fact most snowboarders make asymmetrical turns and are incapable of making symmetrical turns.

I doubt Alta would gain anything by allowing snowboarders. It's not as though their business model isn't working. I don't understand the whole "elitist" argument. I promise you this: if Alta saw that they could increase their profits by 15% by allowing snowboarders they would.

I really hate it when snowboarders talk as though they are being discriminated against. It's not like a snowboarders are a different gender or race.

I both ski and board and I ski Alta when I can so I don't feel particularly personally 'discriminated' against. I do find it very unfortunate that as a destination skier it's nearly impossible to ski Alta since many of my friends that I go on ski trips with solely snowboard and thus Alta is a non-option. Discrimination is a loaded word, for sure, and probably not right for this context. However, the skier-only policy does exclude a large portion of the snowsport population - namely young kids/teens that tend towards board sports (which includes basically all kids that grow up in diverse areas such as LA). Alta could likely continue to operate successfully as a business without ever allowing boarders, but I don't think that's the point. What the defenders of skier-only are basically saying is if you're a kid who is into the boarding culture and enjoys riding on one board instead of two, then we don't want you around. If that's not elitist, then I don't know what is.

 

[Marc_C]

Not to put to fine a point on it, but Alta doesn't prohibit snowboarders, just the use of snowboards.
8)

 

[Tony Crocker]

the boarding culture

There is more than one boarding culture. The one we usually think about (jibbers, SoCal boardsports types) will patronize Alta minimally if all if it doesn't build a park and because of the traverses. The PNW Baker/Bachelor boarders would have more interest in Alta, but their all mountain skill set is quite high so I doubt they would do much damage to the snowpack.

I can't :-({|= that much about boarders being denied at Alta when the world's greatest ski area IMHO is next door. :stir: In general I advocate diversity vs. homogeneity among ski area experiences. So Alta and Snowbird having different ambience (not nearly as much as 20 years ago by the way) is in general a good thing. But the snowboard ban advocates WAY overstate the potential impact on snow conditions IMHO.

 

[rfarren]

However, the skier-only policy does exclude a large portion of the snowsport population

So does a policy of not allowing snow-mobiles. What about sledding, I'm almost positive more people sled than ski/snowboard, in this country.

 

[salida]

Skiing was great in LCC today. Not a lift line to be seen. Day 18.

 

[TRam]

I too both ski and board. I have enjoyed skiing at alta the last few years. I have talked to a few patrollers there about the ban and they seemed pretty ambivlanty about the whole thing. They invited me to hike and board when the mountian was closed and said they have friends who do as well with them. I found the general vibe at alta to be pretty alme honestly, I thinkn it is because everyone there is so locked into there thing that they don't care about others or being nice and this has translated into the elitist view from others. They do get so much snow though.
Tony-I rank Silverton above snowbird also. just my humble opinion

 

[rsmith]

However, the skier-only policy does exclude a large portion of the snowsport population

So does a policy of not allowing snow-mobiles. What about sledding, I'm almost positive more people sled than ski/snowboard, in this country.

Sleds are next on my agenda. Then after that I'll fight for my right to marry my rhinoceros. Ahhhh, marriage and skiing at Alta - the last bastions of sanctity left on the planet...

 

[rfarren]

However, the skier-only policy does exclude a large portion of the snowsport population

So does a policy of not allowing snow-mobiles. What about sledding, I'm almost positive more people sled than ski/snowboard, in this country.

Sleds are next on my agenda. Then after that I'll fight for my right to marry my rhinoceros. Ahhhh, marriage and skiing at Alta - the last bastions of sanctity left on the planet...

It is ludicrous to compare skiing at Alta with marriage!

Like I said, I hate it when people think that Alta discriminates. It's snowboarding. It is an activity!

I was merely pointing out that most mountains prohibit some sort of activity, whether it be snowboarding or kite skiing. If you want unregulated mountains go to Europe, where in many places you're allowed to get down however you darn well please. But seriously, give up this whole, "woe is me that I was born a snowboarder", and "this is skiing bigotry" routine. It's tired. If you want to snowboard in LCC, go to Snowbird. If you want to experience Alta, shush up an put skis on your feet.

 

[Admin]

As if to make my case, Alta today opened Main Chute and Ballroom...and only 10 inches have fallen since this thread started.

 

[salida]

They were devine. Lots of nice pow out there.

 

[jtran10]

Opening day pow days are quite nice. Shoulder, Ballroom, Freds all held great snow.

 

[Marc_C]

As if to make my case, Alta today opened Main Chute and Ballroom...and only 10 inches have fallen since this thread started.

How is that possible? Tony says we're so far below normal that Alta couldn't possibly open much if at all.

 

[Patrick]

when the world's greatest ski area IMHO is next door. :stir: In general I advocate diversity vs. homogeneity among ski area experiences.

Snowbird is the greatest ski area in the World???? Those are mightly strong words, not sure if I would rate it the greatest...just saying. In case some people starts yelling at me about a West vs East thing, I want to state that I believe that Greatest Ski Area is not in the East. Not sure which one is the greatest, just saying that it might not be Snowbird. Alta is probably not it either.

 

[berkshireskier]

Yea, I'm surprised that more people did not pick up on Tony's statement about Snowbird being the greatest ski resort on the planet. Obviously, he's entitled to his opinion, but, I mean, Snowbird is better than Chamonix, Verbier, Davos, St. Moritz, L'Espace Killy, Cortina, Zermatt, Jackson Hole, Vail, Aspen, and about a dozen other ski resorts around the world??? I'm not sure on what basis he is making that statement, but one could obviously argue with that choice.

 

[Tony Crocker]

on what basis he is making that statement

Fairly simple, combination of snow and terrain. Of course a lot of places in Alps have vastly more terrain, including more Snowbird level steeps. But they get half as much snow. The list of lift served places that get similar snowfall to Alta/Snowbird is quite short (Baker, Alyeska, Targhee, Niseko, Sugar Bowl, Kirkwood, I'll throw Shames in there too pending verified data :lol: ). Anyone want to argue that any of those are better overall?

Tony says we're so far below normal that Alta couldn't possibly open much if at all.

I didn't make the decision not to open Alta a week ago, they did. Obviously it was a close call if 10 more inches was enough to do it. The meaning of my "below average" comment is not that it was going to be that bad. It means that an average opening for Alta is an off-the-charts opening for most ski areas.

 

[Marc_C]

Yea, I'm surprised that more people did not pick up on Tony's statement about Snowbird being the greatest ski resort on the planet. Obviously, he's entitled to his opinion,...

In his defense, he did include "IMHO", so in that context it's not that outrageous a statement. Maybe he has a Utah cutie that he hooks up with once a year at the Bird. 8)