Took the plunge because of the low airfares. Booked my wife and me for 6 days in SLC. Never been there before. So any advice on where to ski, lodge, & eat will be appreciated.

there has been so much written about this i am not going to even go there

- but -

try out some of the restaurants in the foothill drive area .. they are often overlooked. very very good ethnic foods like indian, etc ....

Congrats. I can't find especially low fares at this time out of DC, maybe later?
Tell us more about your interests, timing, budget. Booked? Does that mean you already have accommodations? Where, slopeside or commute from edge of SLC? Choices range from ski town ambiance of Park City or hardcore ski/eat/sleep of Alta/Snowbird? And others.

Just booked the last week in Feb.

Roundtrip out of Pittsburgh for 2 adults was a grand total of $514 (Continental) with reasonable fly times.

Probably want to stay around Park City. Nothing too fancy, but would like to be within walking distance of town. Probably will just ski Park City and the Canyons. Any reason to rent a car?

If you book something in Park City, there is absolutely no reason to get a car. Just book a van transfer from the Airport. Once you're in town there are free buses that go everywhere and run pretty regularly. I'm sure you can find a bus map online somewhere.

then ...

Kimball Junction/Redstone:
Szechwan Kitchen - :-) me fav Chinese - and good wine pours for a change!!
Red Rock Brew Pub - yup that's fun
Loco Lizard Cantina - (ok I guess)
Happa Grill - beast ! awesome asian fusion !!!
You can try Ghidotti's but I think it is overpriced for average Italian food.

The Canyons:
The Cabin - expensive but oh man ! Good food!
Westgate - noooooo !
Doc's Bar (next to gondola) nice watering hole
Smokies - you can't go there .. that's *my* place !!

PCMR:
Anything, actually. but avoid the Sushi place
Baja Cantina - it was voted one of the best Mexican in Utah.

Deer Valley:
Anything and all of it. Even the crackers and mayo taste good. The fireside dinning thing is awesome mmmm rosti ... but the Goldener Hirch is a bit iffy sometimes, but nice Barvarian experience. Too bad La Pache is gone.

Along 224/North Main (NoMa)/Bonanza Drive/Sidwinder:
Squatters Pub - Yes! Great Place!!! Good beer! Good Food!!
Park City Hotel Restaurant - nope !
Adolphs - next to USSA building - ok yeah if you need *real* Raclette
Cafe Trang's - yes yes yes yes yes!!!
Blind Dog - ditto the above
Grubsteak - if you must have a family steakhouse experience this would be it.
Good Karma - I'd stay away ...

Old Town:
CopperBottom Inn - I'd say yes
Davanzas - best "pie" in town, but if Sidecar on Main still does pizza, they're pretty good as well. Everyone else in Park City does not make "pizza".
Butchers - bleah - overpriced meat factory.
350 Main/The Spur Bar & Grill , Wahso - drool ! yum! Go!
Chimayo, Grappa - eh ... funny the same owner as Washso, but expensive and not that interesting.
Bandits - RIIIIIBBSSS!!! BURRRGGERRS!!! STEEEAAKSS!! Yup!
Hungry Moose - if you really *have* to have cheese fries, then i guess ...
Bankok Thai - yes yes yes yes do me!
Cicero's - yes that would be a good Italian fix and a dance floor spin as well.
Morning Ray - hmmmm - use to like it but not any more.
Eating Establishment - Yeah it's a PC institution.
Shabu - self-aggrandizing asian fusion rich elitist dorks - go to Hapa in Redstone/Kimball instead.
Banjo Pizza - why?
412 Main - well if you really must have Bouillabaisse i guess...
Main Street Pizza & Noodle - don't be stupid.
Zoom - you should do it.
Wasatch Brew Pub - hey another best beer 'n bites !!! Yup!!!
Flying Sumo - oh really really go. This and Hapa are da bomb W00t!
The Mustang - Feh
Taste Of Saigon - Doesn't look like much but the Pho Soups ... oh yeah!
Kristauf's Martini Bar - bottoms up! Good 'cause you can get a sidecar.
La Casita - why ?
No Name Saloon - you should
Zona Rosa - Ok for a Mexican break on main.
Oh Shucks - the free peanuts at this famous dive should be more than enough reason to go, but if you want to feel like a local, this would be the place!!!

Gateway Center:
Jean Louis Restaurant - well jazzy and I guess ok but whatever. Well they have some interesting vegetarian stuff as well.

Same here.. I just booked the week in mid-January including MLK weekend. I am staying at my friends' new house which they just bought and moved in. I am flying Southwest for free using my Reward points from my CreditCard.

Since I am lodging for free at the house (20 min north of SLC airport/15 min south of Ogden) .. I am researching on the 'net to see which ski resorts to hit .. Snowbasin? Powder Mountain?

In the past, I used to lodge in downtown SLC and rode at PCMR, The Canyons, Brighton, Solitude, and Snowbird.

I want to thank my friends for letting me stay at their house by treating them out to a nice restaurant but not sure where to go. My friends don't ski so I will have to figure out where and when.

There are 4 ski resorts in utah everything else is just blah and not anything special.

1.Snowbird if you can ski you like this resort. If you cant ski you will like alta better. Best skiing in utah. Best snow, best exposure, fast lifts. No easy runs or runout. This is where all the pros ski(not A Lot of Traversing Around like every like to think.

2.Snowbasin nobody there, great steeps, great hike to, great groomers, never gets bumps. fast lifts, lots of terrain. Lodges that Deer Vallet wish they had. Gourmet food. when I want to feel like I am on ski vacation that where I go.

3. Solitude - if you only knew but I am glad you dont;). Simply put nobody there almost always untracked snow on pretty decent terrain.

4. ALTA - fun place to ski the reason why everyone likes it because of the pitches are quite tame compared to snowbird. Steeps, groomers sometime good snow but quite often sunbaked crust. Lots of traverse to get anywhere. quite often you traverse to ski bumps which is pretty dumb.


everywhere else pretty much sucks.

The Canyons is huge with great touring but the inbounds blows.

Park City has is pretty much groomers and the snow sucks compared LCC/BCC dont anyway wave the jupiter card. Its a slow lift that service only 1000 feet of vertical. Its a really small area(jupiter could be swallowed several time over by just one part of snowbird)

Deer Valley - aka Bambi Flats, Deer Vallet. This place is the best to ski inbound of the 3 park chity resorts. Sometimes great powder in the trees because their client dont go there to ski that stuff. I will continue to bad mouth though to make sure hard charges dont start skiing all the powders that left there

brighton - great if you have backcountry gear and for night skiing, but other wise flat and kinds of boring.

There used to be a uniquie steak house (probably still there) on the outskirts of Ogden that had covered wagons. Great food, and definitely and positively different.
The Colonel

BushwackerinPA,
I think you are way too harsh on the virtues of the Utah resorts, especially the ones you downplayed. The casual DCSki reader will take away the idea that Deer Valley is "flat", which is difficult for a resort with 3000 vertical feet. By the way, the newest Ski Magazine has a wonderful article on Deer Valley and skiing the hard stuff.
I realize that most of what you said comes from a Utah hard-skiing regular (at least in the past), but it really depends how well HockeyDave skis and how those with him also ski/board.
Board? Oops, remember that boarders are not allowed at Alta and Deer Valley.
HOCKEYDAVE, I'll try to address you post later with much detail. You can do Utah cheap, medium, or expensive. Lots of choices.
The Colonel

hockeydave, not sure if you board or ski, so be sure to note that Alta and Deer Valley do not allow snowboarding. Or as Bushwacker puts it, they are fascists.

I don't know what your lodging budget is, but I happen to think staying slopeside at Alta or Snowbird is pretty awesome. The lodges at Alta are really cool places, and include a meal plan.

I agree with Bush on the LCC/BCC versus Park City sorting. I would say Alta and Snowbird are both world-class ski resorts and to me it's a matter of personal taste which one you like best. Both places have awesome skiing and a great vibe.

I would give Alta the edge if you have any green/blue skiers in your group -- they have some of the best beginner/intermediate terrain around. I took my wife there last March, and she really dug the green trails. I also like the way terrain is distributed at Alta, which makes it easy for skiers of any level to explore and push their limits without getting in too much trouble.

Not sure how these compare to regular prices, but thought I would pass the link along:

http://www.backcountry.com/store/promo/6235/hol08-uac-dki-pass-vm.html

..so wtf happened to you, josh? did you become some sort of a$$hole or something? sorry to hear that - i mean that just came off like someone that has a small dick or something . gee .

I am sorry ski mag is the gaper mag of sking magazines. the fact that they rank DV as the best when its not even top 5 in utah pretty much proves it. Deer Valley is the best skiing in PC. Its has 1500 vertical foot run in loads. the 3000 feet of vertical can not be skied in one shot you must take a chair lift. its a miss leading vertical drop. there is more powder at deer valley inbounds than any other PC resort. which is a really good thing.

Also I do bad mouth alta because for a great skier snowbird is better. doesnt mean I dont ski at alta. Its a great mountain.

online yeah...it keeps the riff raft away;)

plus remember its my opinion just because I dont like Park City Mountain Resort doesnt mean someone wont like it.

also if you seen some of my epic/TGR TR lets just say I can be very misleading on locations sometimes;) some of those were actually from Park City resorts and some from solitude were labeled alta and stuff like that. In fact I should label all smuggs TRs this year as stowe or jay peak.....

- ok - well you missed your moment in utah - you should have gotten together with shawn smith you two would have been best butt buddies . oh ooops - even that pompous a$$ enjoyed a good turn at alta. my mistake.

SeaRide you gonna be there MLK weekend? PM me if you want to hook up, I'll probably be hanging out at PCMR most of my time there. I prefer it of the three ski areas in town and it skis big, I just feel like I haven't had a good chance to fully explore it yet.

The Canyons is nice- 9990 is sweet and the hike-to bowls are fantastic. The problem with Canyons in my book is how many lifts you have to traverse to get from one side of the mountain to the other, and that gaping wreck of a development they call "The Colony," which like a bunch of termites has consumed the mountain. Deer Valley- Crush is dead on it's some of the best food you'll ever eat. When there's snow, it's a real fun place but I think it ices up the fastest of the three- after Orion Bowl the peaks might be a little far east and miss some of the snow or something, I dunno. But Orion Bowl and Empire Mountain are great places to hang out, I haven't been there to check out their new lift yet.

Just my opinion, feel free to sample 'em all and of course the resorts change from year to year (conditions, etc). But if you want to take a few runs togeter PM me and we'll see if we can't meet up. Same goes for anyone else there MLK weekend!

eh you took something out of context to make someone who you ve met to ski with and know what type of person they really are look bad? eh lame dude on so many more levels than me speaking my 'opinion' about the skiing in utah.

whats great is everyone can see I said Alta, its a great mountain, and you decided to leave it out.

I'm getting confused here but let me just say don't go to Alta. Everyplace else is better.

Dennis,
Right on!!!
The Colonel

My favorite is Solitude. You can ski fresh snow days after a storm, especially in Honeycomb Canyon.

Next would be Alta/Snowbird with me liking Alta better because the snow quality is better top to bottom.

Next are the Park City areas. BTW, the vertical numbers for all of them are misleading.

Of these I'd probably take Deer Valley followed closely by Park City due to more consistent snow quality.

Park City has lots of fun trails. I love the runs back around Thaynes and Jupiter. Plus you there are lots of different options for getting back to the base if you're skiing with mixed skill levels. Beginners can cruise Home Run wich meaders along for a few miles while more advanced skiers can take runs like Crescent and Waterfall. Of course you also have the option of skiing straight into downtown Park City and start your apres ski directly.

I'm not a huge fan of The Canyons. It's a huge place and does have a some excellent skiing (Ninety-nine Ninety, Dreamscape areas) but it seems like your forever stuck on some cat-track just to get to a decent run. Also, the worst snow quality you'll experience in Utah.

I haven't skied the other resorts (yet) but I hear nothing but good things about Snowbasin and Powder Mountain.

Check out this link for multi-day discount lift tickets through Travelocity at Utah resorts. Note the Salt Lake Super Pass includes both BCC and LCC resorts, four areas to use your tickets plus bus tickets if the roads are restricted. You can drive your rental to park and ride lots at the bottom of the canyons or catch buses and transfer from throughout the city.

Utah discount lift tickets

Coming from DC any UT resort will be sweet. But snowbird and snowbasin are sweet coming from anywhere.

Thanks for all of the advice. I booked a place in Park City. But we're definitely going to bus it at least one day to Alta early in the trip to make sure that gets checked off of the list. BTW, I am about a 6 (skier) and my wife about a 3 so I'm assuming Alta is the place to go instead of Snowbird.

Great idea! You both will love Park City and Alta. Alta is one of the best places you can find for beginners.

P.S. You would love the beav here in logan as well. But it is a little out of the way.

Cool, you'll like Alta, they have great green and blue trails.

You'll probably want to start your wife on the Sunnyside and Cecret lifts. All the trails in there are great. If she's feeling comfortable and adventurous, head up the Supreme lift. There are great views at the top, and the blue trail leading down (#12 on the map) is a groomed cat track that is an easy blue which links up with a couple medium blues. My wife had no problems on that, and it was a fun long run for her. For yourself, be sure to check out #14 "3 Bears", which is a delightful little run, especially with powder.

The Sugarloaf chair also has some great intermediate terrain, and includes one easy blue run your wife could probably handle: #36 to #55 via a groomed cutoff (that goes around the steep upper part of #55) to #40.

In all these cases where I suggest an easy blue for your wife, you might want to scope it out for yourself ahead of time, but my impression is that if she does OK on the blues off the Sunnyside chair, she can handle those other ones.

Have fun! I hope to get out there myself, and will probably head there in march with my wife for a week.

My daughter had a ball at Alta last season. She had just started skiing the easy blacks at Massanutten and Winterplace. Was skiing on Alta's blue runs pretty much the entire time after one run down a green the first day. She liked Sugarloaf the best.

With airfares running on the low side, we're likely to go again soon. It's my favorite ski area around SLC. Especially since they put in high speed lifts.

S219 has some good advice. For both of you I think sunny side, Sugarloaf, and supreme are the places to hit. If you want to go off the groomers those lifts have multiple short shots where a lvl 6 might enjoy. Or at least not get into too much trouble...

Sunnyside:
#9, vail ridge is actually pretty gnar, but you can lap that off the sunny side lift while the wife skis green groomers. 7, and 8 both often have untouched pow. And are also short shots.

Sugarloaf:
The runs under and to skiers right off the sugarloaf lift should be doable. Don't drop in through the gates on skiers left. If you go skiers left (the gully) it all funnels down a narrow steep draw that a lvl 6 would find VERY challenging. Try 38, 41, and 42 to start. If you are ripping those blues then step it up to 44, 45, 46, 47, 48; they are fairly straight forward short shots.

Supreme:
As you meander down the terrain mellows significantly and you can find a number of nice wooded shots. Particularly #14 3 Bears is a great option for catching some pow in the trees.

Another place to think about would be Catherine's area, but only if you are a strong intermediate. Catherine's is accessed by hiking along the ridge from the top of the supreme lift. Supreme bowl right under the lift is legit double black territory (don't drop in there), but the terrain gets progressively more mellow the further you hike. I would make sure you ski with a person who has been through there before (or with an instructor or guide). It is a little bit off the beaten track and knowing where to drop in is important.

Whatever you do at Alta, if you are not with a "strong" skier, be sure to tell her/him that the runs they see under the Supreme chair, runs down a near cliff, are not what to expect when they come down. I think that Supreme Chair can scare the willies out of a newer skier on the trip to the top. Colonel

Yeah, the lines right under the Supreme chair are killer. I will think twice before skiing them again (and maybe only with skis about half as long as I normally use). I humbly defer to the kids I saw rocking those runs! They really ripped.

I didn't really get a good glimpse of Vail ridge until one of my later trips out there, when I was riding up the Sunnyside lift with my wife, but boy does it have some great terrain. When I went back in April and the place was rife with powder, I took a couple runs through there and it was primo, but challenging in spots.

I decided not to go touring this morning. The local ski hill opens tomorrow here in Logan and the avy danger is through the roof now becuase our snow pack is super rotten underneath and just waiting to avy to the ground. So I am thinking discression... its the better part of valor.

So much good info in this thread. I will have to follow crush's restaurant guide the next time I am in PC.



Thats so true supreme is one of those lifts where you get more scared on the ride up than you necessarily will be on the way down.

I think when the bowl gets more filled in, it will ski easier so its better to go later in the season. As far as what ski to use... I think something softer and fairly long would be easier to ski and still have the stability to point em if needed. If I am in steep rocky terrain I don't want to be fighting my equipment, like something easy to ski.

Vail ridge is a really cool place to go, its like a terrain pack for big moutain skiing.

. yeah - i'm no-good as a skier but wft there are only a few good things i know how to do and eating is in the top 5.

so i rented a condo just off the top lift at hidden valley - but - my subject is the prius.

rented it from alamo and drove it 65-80 mph going from.to hidden valley

it got 48 mpg and used up 8.5 gallons of fuel.

nice - and btw condo ontop of hidden valley (i'll never tell you which one) was cozy, quiet and lovely - built a roaring fire at night and walk to/from the lift.

skiing was nice - i am interested now in completely banking my turns with 100% inclination and very->no hip/knee/ankle angulation and that's pretty much all i did - put my hand down on the snow and got 55 degrees over easy. firm snow but very consistent. for $15 it was a bargain and f&*k ski liberty for charging $50 for that $h1t.

ate a nice dinner with my honey the first night @ hidden valley grill and the next night our friend ed from donegal came over and we had wine/smoked goo-oo-d green-produce and went back to the ex-John Harvard place with plates around $6.00 each - good deal.

it snowed this morning but very windy - and so we departed after burning all firewood in the condo and the prius humm-d along buzz-y sing.song ...

The last time I smoked goo-oo-d green produce I O-Deed on PB& J's..Thats why I switched to manmade stuff...