Utah Day 12: Alta 2/4/09

[Sharon]

Another day in paradise. Sunny and pleasant, with the good company of Amy, Marc, Peter and Mira. We cruised Alta, hit the good spots. Marc giving us all the names for each patch of woods, chute and bowl. Peter bailed after a few runs due to his injured ribs. Marc and Amy skied until 3pm. Mira and I amped it up at 3pm and skied until 4:30. Then we did a run off the High T in the Sunspot Area where the snow was softened in the sun, and then we traversed over towards High Rustler and did the shady slope that drops you down towards Low Rustler. I don't know what the name of these pitches are, but it was a really nice combination with lots of vertical and not a ton of traversing and no groomers at all until the final run-out towards the GMD. It was so good we did it twice. We also did a couple of Ballroom/Graveyard runs. Everything in the shade was soft n chalky. By no means marginal O

Tomorrow it is supposed to be cloudy. I would call that marginal weather by Utah standards. It's my last day. Should I stop at 12 and call it good? Could 13 be unlucky? Should I ski another day? or go shopping?

Doesn't sound like things are so great back east. I do miss my home and people, so I am actually looking forward to going back. Living in this urban environment with all the smog is really getting to me. If it wasn't for the great skiing, I would not want to live here. The mountains are beautiful, the skiing excellent, but SLC is a crappy place in and of itself.

We hitch-hiked down the canyon today and got a ride with a couple of Alta lifties. As we descended into the Salt Lake Valley, into the smog, the driver said "this would be a really cool place if someone else got here first". :lol:

 

[Skidog]

Living in this urban environment with all the smog is really getting to me. If it wasn't for the great skiing, I would not want to live here. The mountains are beautiful, the skiing excellent, but SLC is a crappy place in and of itself.

When you have a MULTITUDE of options within an hour to 3 hours (national parks, Uintas, etc) its not that hard to cope with.

As for the inversion, Yeah it sucks, but its not everyday and really easy to escape.

the skiing is why most of us are here though. We make sacrifices in order to be able to ski excellent snow roughly 40-100 days a year. I dont think you can say the same about your "sub" urban environment.

Glad you enjoyed the skiing though.

M

 

[Admin]

Living in this urban environment with all the smog is really getting to me. If it wasn't for the great skiing, I would not want to live here. The mountains are beautiful, the skiing excellent, but SLC is a crappy place in and of itself.

Inversions happen on average perhaps 20 days per year total. That's 5% of the time. Appearance-wise it's not any different from the hot and humid summer days so prevalent in the northeast, when you can't see more than a couple of miles through the thick haze. In Ithaca, the lakes are beautiful, the skiing sucks, but Upstate New York is a crappy place in and of itself.

 

[Skidog]

Upstate New York is a crappy place in and of itself.

Cmon you dont like Syracuse??? Flat and more snow than nearly anywhere on the east coast....

In a word...Beautiful.

Just a side note regarding the humid hazy days back east...I think the main difference i've seen is that because you can easiily get above the valley here its much more noticable. In the east you're just "in it".

M

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Hah, I knew that Sharon wouldn't leave LDS land without dropping this grenade.

I've got on record as saying that the SLC airport is very pleasant.

 

[snowave]

SLC definitely has it's quirks, but it also has some of the nicest people I've encountered anywhere. Kinda lame to blanket SLC as a crappy place to live.. these are people's hometowns' we're talking about.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Kinda lame to blanket SLC as a crappy place to live.. these are people's hometowns' we're talking about.

Every thread here -- no matter what it's about -- eventually ends up with "the east sucks," so don't tell us about "people's hometowns." The LCC crew is so accustomed to nonstop hosannas for the mountains, when people point out the obvious about the city itself, they turn into needy girly men. At least Skidog has a realistic POV.

 

[Admin]

The LCC crew is so accustomed to nonstop hosannas for the mountains, when people point out the obvious about the city itself, they turn into needy girly men.

Precisely what obvious fact about the city itself did Sharon point out?

 

[Marc_C]

Kinda lame to blanket SLC as a crappy place to live...

Just another sweeping generalization. I suspect she'd say that about pretty much any place that is even remotely (sub)urban. We have about a million people living in a valley that's very roughly 25 miles long and 20 or so miles wide. SLC is a major mid-sized US city with it's attendant suburban surrounding. It's simply not the same as the rural outskirts of a tiny upstate NY town where Sharon lives. Neither is Denver, Phoenix, Vegas, Boise, or Spokane.

Smog? Sure, unfortunately it's a fact of life in all cities and while everywhere is better now than 20 and even 10 years ago, city air in this country is still far from what it should and could be. Yet despite the handful of days when inversions trap the smog in the SL Valley, I endured many more unhealthy air days (on an annual basis) working in Hartford CT for 18 years.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I lived nine years in cities similar to SLC (Albuquerque and Denver/Boulder), so I'm aware of the good and the bad. Every place on earth has them. While I wasn't crazy about the cultural end of things, I was so busy exhausting myself on the outdoor stuff (especially in ABQ), it was a net wash.

I couldn't live full-time in SLC, but my opinion of the city is much more positive than Sharon's.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Living in this urban environment with all the smog is really getting to me. If it wasn't for the great skiing, I would not want to live here. The mountains are beautiful, the skiing excellent, but SLC is a crappy place in and of itself.

When you have a MULTITUDE of options within an hour to 3 hours (national parks, Uintas, etc) its not that hard to cope with.

As for the inversion, Yeah it sucks, but its not everyday and really easy to escape.

the skiing is why most of us are here though. We make sacrifices in order to be able to ski excellent snow roughly 40-100 days a year. I dont think you can say the same about your "sub" urban environment.

Glad you enjoyed the skiing though.

I'm with Skidog here. Sure the inversion sucks, but it is limited. Sharon simply doesn't like cities. I suspect she wouldn't be happy living too close to any major city. Most of SLC is endless "suburbia" but it is relatively easy to escape. While I too would rather live in a more "country environment," living 16 miles from Alta and Snowbird does have its benefits. On the other hand, my wife (who doesn't ski) wants and needs the cultural, culinary and shopping (related to her passionate hobby of designing and making quilts) opportunities that a metropolitan area provides. While I might like living very near great skiing, I have to consider her needs also. SLC provides an excellent balance of attractions for us both. And then, there is the airport, which allows our three adult childern (who all ski or board) to visit us quite easily from the three different areas of the USA in which they live. It works for us. BTW, Sharon is still welcome to visit despite her comment

M

 

[Sharon]

These are simply my own opinions formed from my own experience. My friend who lives in Park City used to live in Ithaca understands because she knows where I'm coming from and what my lifestyle is like. I just don't like cities. I grew up in suburban hell and I dislike sprawling development. That is why I live in the rural rolling hills of CNY.
Does this make me less of a skier?

 

[Admin]

Does this make me less of a skier?

No, but it helps to explain your sweeping generalization above. Understand that your opinion is very different from a blanket statement like:

SLC is a crappy place in and of itself.

It still fails to address, however, a superficially bigoted statement like:

As we descended into the Salt Lake Valley, into the smog, the driver said "this would be a really cool place if someone else got here first". :lol:

Admittedly that quote was attributed to someone else, not you.

 

[Tony Crocker]

As far as I can tell in the SLC metro area the LDS and non-LDS cultures coexist just fine. Not so in rural Utah and Idaho. If you're not LDS in those places, you're pretty isolated socially.

If you want to live in a rural area, you better analyze its culture closely to make sure you'll be comfortable.

 

[icelanticskier]

the skiing is why most of us are here though. We make sacrifices in order to be able to ski excellent snow roughly 40-100 days a year. I dont think you can say the same about your "sub" urban environment.

well, today was day 48 for me this year with 34 of em being pow days. we skied more pow days in the east than you've had in the last two weeks out there. heck mt washington was untracked today and it hasn't snowed much in a week! it's here, more than you transplants could ever imagine. the skiing sure is great out there, great here too and so much more charming here.
rog

 

[Admin]

:roll: Here we go again...

 

[icelanticskier]

:roll: Here we go again...

awe c'mon! it's been too quiet round here + more people will read and contribute. just trying to help
rog

 

[Skidog]

:roll: Here we go again...

awe c'mon! it's been too quiet round here + more people will read and contribute. just trying to help
rog

dude...4" on top of iced over mess does not = pow by any stretch of the imagination!!!

Its all good though...at least you're skiing!

M

 

[Patrick]

dude...4" on top of iced over mess does not = pow by any stretch of the imagination!!!

You don't know are talking about. Perceptions and reality are two different things. :mrgreen:

 

[Admin]

dude...4" on top of iced over mess does not = pow by any stretch of the imagination!!!

You don't know are talking about. Perceptions and reality are two different things. :mrgreen:

dude...4" on top of iced over mess does not = pow by any stretch of the imagination!!!