First timer questions for Salt Lake City area skiing

johnnash

johnnash

New member
We're a family of 4 visiting the SLC area for the first time Dec. 23- 30. We've got 2 boarders and 2 skiers (parents) with a fairly wide range of abilities (but no one ready to tackle double-blacks just yet!), and we're accustomed to East Coast conditions with mostly machine-made snow and lots of ice (excuse me, I mean "Eastern powder"). We loved Steamboat on our only previous ski trip west. We're staying in SLC at the Homewood Suites close to the mouth of the Cottonwood Canyons. I've looked at the official websites and have some idea of pros and cons of different resorts (eg, no boarders at Alta -- great pro for my wife and myself, but a problem for the kids). I would very much welcome any information or advice, but would especially like to ask a couple of specfic questions from some of you who've been there and done that.

First, are there any resorts that are likely to be less crowded at this busy period? What kinds of lift lines can we expect? One person who has been skiing in SLC opined that Snowbasin would likely be a better option at this time of year, despite the fact that it's probably a half hour further drive for us than Brighton, Solitude or Snowbird. Any views on that?

Second, at the resorts we ususally go to, we bring our lunch, and the resort provides some kind of area where you can eat. Do any or all of the resorts around SLC have a similar arrangement, or do we need to budget for buying lunch at the resort every day?

Many thanks for any help!
 
Brighton/Solitude are clear choices for crowd avoidance. Both have terrain for a wide range of abilities, though Solitude is bigger. Agree on Snowbasin, assuming everything gets open, it's now at 60%. The Canyons is probably less busy than Park City. It will appear very congested at the base and I recommend you get there early to get past that. Once you're up high you shouldn't have crowd issues other than lunch.

You do arrive Dec. 23, and the crowd problems don't start until Dec. 26. So you should hit Park City and Snowbird during those first 3 days. But you'll get more out of Snowbird if you've had a warmup day or two somewhere else from your description.

No mention of the age of kid snowboarders and whether they can be on their own even part time. If so, you should consider at least a day with them at Snowbird and you with a Alta/Snowbird ticket combined. Or give them a day of Snowbird's excellent instruction while you ski that day at Alta.

So I would recommend:
Dec. 23 you at Alta, kids in school at Snowbird
Dec. 24 Park City
Dec. 25 Snowbird, unless your kids say it was too tough and you really liked Park City.
Dec. 26-30: ski the less famous areas to avoid crowds.
 
Excellent ideas! Many thanks for your well-considered response. (Although sorry to say that we won't arrive early enough to ski on Dec. 23.) But the idea of putting the kids in lessons at Snowbird while my wife and I ski Alta is very appealing, especially if we could get together at some point in the day. How easy is it to ski between Alta and Snowbird?
 
johnnash":34x5jp7i said:
How easy is it to ski between Alta and Snowbird?
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It's a piece of cake on green and blue cruisers via Mineral Basin, although the trip down into the Basin from Snowbird's Hidden Peak en route to Alta could bother somewhat someone who may be intimidated by a gentle cat track that traverses steep terrain.

Tony's advice above is spot-on, IMO, save for his recommendation of Brighton to avoid crowds, as I'd expect that Brighton will be filled with snowboarding local kids on school break (Brighton markets itself as a local hill rather than a destination). Snowbasin is likely to be less crowded, as will nearby Powder Mountain. His recommendations surrounding The Canyons seem to be good ones as well.

Have fun! If I may provide any advice to you regarding your visit, don't hesitate to give me a shout.
 
Thanks to Tony and Mark for excellent ( and quick!) advice. My only remaining question from the original post is whether the SLC resorts have someplace for people to eat their lunch if they bring their own. If anyone has any info on this, would appreciate it.
 
Yeah, pretty much they do. It's not like the East, though, where they relegate you to brown-bagger rooms. I seriously doubt that most resorts would toss you out for opening a cooler bag.

At Alta, you'll find no facilities readily set up to do that at the Wildcat base, where each establishment is an independent contractor, but the Albion base lodge is a stereotypical ski area lodge owned by the ski area (but with a lease on the foodservice). Ditto for the mid-mountain Watson Shelter and Alf's Restaurant. At Snowbird, just pull up to a table in the sun on the Tram Plaza. At Solitude, there's a new day-skier lodge at Moonbeam that I haven't been into. Brighton has a typical day-skier lodge, too.

I can't speak for The Canyons, but Park City doesn't really have much in the way of a day lodge (but it's fun to ski down to Main Street at the base of the Town Lift to find some restaurant in town, then ride the lift back onto the ski hill). Deer Valley's Silver Lake Lodge is understandably elaborate, so I don't know how well-received brown-bagging would be there or if they have a brown bag room. The same goes for Snowbasin, although I know for a fact that there's no brown bag room there.

I'll add my pet-peeve here that many, many western resorts seem to have done away with the concept of a day lodge. I think it's horrible the way that many have catered to the destination traveler with slopeside lodging or a huge wallet to pay restaurant tabs at the expense of the day skier's convenience. I'm therefore glad to have in the past several years seen a bit of a resurgence in the concept of a day lodge.
 
I would have recommended Deer Valley, except with its snowboard ban it's unclear what your kids would do. You can't (legally) ski into Park City from Deer Valley, so you would have to drop them at Park City or The Canyons and pick them up at the end of the day.
 
All good replies! 12/25 can be the slowest day of the year (sometimes), so maybe Snowbird that day? Plus, it's Sunday and churchgoers won't ski too much.

Canyons better crowd mover, ditto Snowbasin, but only if Strawberry side is open.

You're gonna love Utah!
 
johnnash":2q72iivb said:
We're a family of 4 visiting the SLC area for the first time Dec. 23- 30. We've got 2 boarders and 2 skiers (parents) with a fairly wide range of abilities (but no one ready to tackle double-blacks just yet!), and we're accustomed to East Coast conditions with mostly machine-made snow and lots of ice (excuse me, I mean "Eastern powder"). We loved Steamboat on our only previous ski trip west. We're staying in SLC at the Homewood Suites close to the mouth of the Cottonwood Canyons.
Click to expand...

I did my first trip out last year and will be returning ASAP. I sayed el-cheapo at the 15/215 intersection last year, but I'll be blowing a few more bucks this time and trying to find a place a little nicer. The drive was no problem BTW, it took about 25 minutes to get to Solitude even in "rush hour" around 8:30, and you're staying a little closer (you might save 3-5 mins tops though). And the drive is beautiful!

I skied all of the Canyons with the exception of Snowbird, which I'll definitely hit this year. I started at Solitude to get my legs in shape and took a shockingly effective lesson. Solitude is a great place if you want to avoid crowds: I was there mid-week and pretty much skiied onto the lift every time. The name is accurate! Later I skiied Alta and Brighton and loved them all, although this year I'm stronger and will likely ski Alta and Snowbird mostly.

As to bringing your lunch, I saw lots of people doing it, at least on the outside patios. The only thing is that the parking lots tend to be huge, so it might be a bit of a walk to get it out of the car if you don't arrive early and get a good spot. I had no problems with that at Solitude, either.

One word of advice: there's a bunch of ski shops along the route up to the Canyon, and you can buy your lift tickets there and save the lineup at the hill. Better yet there are some pretty steep discounts too, IIRC Solitude was $10 cheaper at the ski stores!

Maury
 
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