http://www.alta.com/pages/report.php

Lots of chatter about Alta skiing recently. Go to the above Alta site and note that their base is now about 13 feet at MID mountain...and they provide an accurate measurement. No need to cook the books at Alta...truly a skiers Ski Mecca. I have spent many days skiing at Alta in April, always an amazing natural base. Think about it, their base over 2000+ acres is nearly as much as the total snowfall this season at CV and/or Snowshoe. Can you imagine a ski area closing in late April with fantastic total snow coverage, and less than a half hour from a major metro area....Alta will.
Maybe we should start to plan a DCSki Meet-up at Alta/Snowbird (or Utah in general) for next season.!?
The Colonel

yet another reason why alta sucks and the bird is the word.

Closing april 19th with 150 inch base? how dumb is that?

Yeah, that is pretty lame.

A lot of that decision is out of their hands. Snowbird is private property, but Alta is sitting on a lot of Forest Service land. They actually have to close down operations in the Supreme area even earlier (last year April 5) because it's a watershed area that drains into some key water supplies. (I don't think it has anything to do with wildlife migration, as is popularly rumored).

So I wouldn't say it's dumb. Ski Alta until April 19 and then head to the Bird for the rest of their season.

The bird's private property is just mineral basin.

The front side is just NFS land as well, and would be subjected to the same rules as alta.

alta's clientale local and not local just arent core enough and quit skiing there so the resort doesnt think they can profit.

and its so easy to mess with alta people.

I just don't get it.

I've skied around Utah a bit, Alta's a fun ski area but what's with all the reverence? I'm always hearing about the vibe, maybe i need to stay and ski there for a week, but i'd sure be tempted to spend part of that week at the bird? There's more to skiing in Utah than Alta, I prefer Solitude on a powder day, live and let live and much less comp for the fresh. Maybe i'm just not good enough to get it?

Let me rephrase to say that Snowbird owns enough land on the front side to keep operating lifts on their own schedule, Alta doesn't:



Snowbird owns continuous land clear up to the summits, and a couple lower elevation lift corridors as well.

I usually venture over to Snowbird when I stay at Alta; both are world class resorts in my opinion and I don't have a bad thing to say about either place. For my lodging dollars, Alta has always been a much better value than Snowbird, hence my overall preference. But for raw skiing and snow, both places rank at the top of my list. The vibe aspect is a personal thing, and I can see how different people would prefer one over the other. I like the overall vibe at Alta quite a bit.

I do think Alta is a better place when traveling with beginner or intermediate skiers. They have better green/blue terrain than most of the other LCC/BCC resorts. That has definitely factored in on a couple trips when family members have come along with me.

Let me throw a loop into the discussion by noting that my best powder day this year was at Snowshoe WV. Not at Alta, Snowbird, or Jackson, which were the three western resorts I skied at this season. And two of those western trips even hit the powder jackpot. So for me, what's good/better/best has no real pattern or loyalty.

Compared to the hype, Alta is overrated. Compared to the hype, other places in Utah are underrated.

There are plenty of ski areas around North America which are actually more Alta than Alta. I'll be dammed ( ) if I talk about those places much on the Internet.

Alta is definitely getting more upscale; will this eventually change the vibe? High speed lifts, new magic carpet to board the Supreme lift, upgraded restaurants, higher food and lift ticket prices.

I don't know, a $52-55 lift ticket is still a bargain to me, especially considering what most places on the east coast charge for much less skiing.

That conveyor belt lets them run a consistently higher cable speed on Supreme, instead of always slowing it down for stragglers. But from what I have seen, it confounds quite a few skiers, mostly older touristy folks. Have seen quite a few "set em up, knock em down" bowling-style crashes on the belt.

Alta's reputation goes back decades, so there is some heritage and inertia behind it, whether currently justified or not.

Lift ticket is $64. (Still a bargain compared to Eastern areas, not as much of a bargain compared to other places in Utah.)

I realize you can save $4 by buying the ticket at a ski shop; save a bit more by buying a Super Pass.

Generally still worth the $ (I've skied Alta when the conditions were East Coast poor), but no longer cheap. I've skied Alta when lift prices were cheap.

I only paid $55/day in March, only factors I can think of were reloading an existing AltaCard (saves $5) and a multi-day discount. It ends up being cheaper than the Super Pass if I remember right.

I've got a small personal mecca right now, it's not much of a secret but I won't mention it. It skis flat at times, but that's okay, it's wonderful to explore and it's empty, you catch fresh tracks three days after a storm (midweek, admittedly, most of the fresh tracks get snarfed up on a weekend if they start on Sat morning).

But, on the whole, if my next job is actually in the Rockies, like I MEANT to do at school before I diverted myself elsewhere, then whatever the local hill is will be mecca enough for a while. And maybe I'll finally take up telemarking and skin the good stuff.

why not take up Alpine touring and ski the good stuff the better way.

my guess is your private mecca is Wolf Creek.

I have heard and read that Alta has to close early...something about the forest service deal and perhaps some wildlife issues. Anybody remember the details?
Oops...did not read all the posts before writing the above.
At least I was close!
The Colonel

"why not take up Alpine touring and ski the good stuff the better way."

I plead guilty on not knowing the proper terms. Whatever involves skinning up and then coming down- free heel, strapped in heel, whatever- that would be the way to go, definitely.

Yeah, that's my spot. Not the steepest thing in the world but you can find some nice drops, the main point being is it's just fantastic snow and very, very quiet there. The $52 lift tickets don't hurt, either!

Now I'm off to my other mecca... El Salvador. I ski volcanoes baby!!!

I would guess that Alta's mid-mountain snowbase is now close to 190", folks that is close to 16 feet of snow to ski on.
Amazing!
The Colonel

skier219,
Is there a different ski shop at the Goldminer's Daughter lodge this year?
The Colonel

Same one -- Mother Lode ski shop.