IMHO (and, in this case the "H" does actually stand for "humble), for the destination skier who makes skiing untracked a priority, the significantly lower skier density at Solitide should not be underestimated; even if that lower density results from topographical features that require the worst lift layout in the cottonwoods.
I skied Solitude on Friday March 14 last year on the first day of a four day trip. We pulled into Moonbeam ten minutes before the opening bell with a reported 9 inches of fresh on the hill and a forecast that made it clear there would be free refills all day long. There were about ten other cars in the lot. Seriously. We lapped numerous front-side runs off of Powderhorn to "warm up" and only moved over to the Summit lift for the sake of variety, not to look for new untracked. "Headwall forest," "evergreen," and the steep, relatively short slots skier's left of the Summit lift provided hours of challenging, untracked, deep ( and rapidly getting deeper) powder skiing that did not require an intimate knowledge of the area or a hell-for-leather competitive ruthlessness to obtain. By afternoon, the snow was over our knees everywhere. The skier's-left traverse into Honeycomb was closed all day, but it didn't matter; numerous tree shots in the vicinity of areas marked "middle-slope," parachute," "milkrun," "here be dragons," and "Navarone" all provided untracked deep and steep that didn't really need to be searched for or rushed through. When our legs started to die late in the afternoon (we're 40, free-heel, and from the flatlands so give us a break) the trees around the sunshine lift were still offering lots of untracked, lower-angle freshies perfect for our to-the-closing-bell warm down. A lot of the day felt as if we had been slackcountry skiing, even though the entire day was spent in bounds. In short, the terrain at Solitude kept us plenty entertained from bell to bell.
We were lucky enough to score three full-on powder days (9 inches or more) over last-year's short trip. We skied at Solitude, Powder Mountain, and Snowbird. By a conservative estimate, this translated into about two-and-a-half days skiing truly untracked lines. I'm certain we could have had more untracked had we not chosen Snowbird on Sunday March 16. The Bird that day under-reported 9 inches (seemed more like 13 or 14) of the lightest snow I think I've ever skied. Alta/Bird has a terrain advantage that simply cannot be argued with, and we had a fantastic morning lapping Little Cloud and Gad 2. I know its an apple-to-oranges comparison to our Solitude experience because it was a Sunday and because it wasn't snowing, but as good as the skiing was, it was much more intense because we were constantly having to keep an eye on the openings signs and our fellow skiers/boarders in order to keep scoring fresh, open lines. We increased our enjoyment in the afternoon by ceasing to worry about finding untracked and instead enjoying some of the more technical chutes into the Cirque off of the tram.
Different days, different priorities, different experiences. I don't regret either of our experiences, and, for the sake of variety, I would make the same decisions if I had it to do over. However, as a destination skier with a good (but not a local's) familiarity with resorts of L and BCC, I know that most of the time, if I want a full-day of powder skiing with a lower hassle factor, I'll have to trade the big mountain Altabird terrain to make it happen. Most of the time, that's a trade I'm willing to make
