So we are going on our first family ski trip w/o the RV. We will be flying to SLC and staying in Sandy and skiing the two canyons.

In the past, we've always had front row parking and just walked in our ski boots to the lodge/lifts. I'm anticipating that we won't be able to get the boys up at the crack of dawn to get front row parking. Not wanting to walk great distances in ski boots then leads to a few questions:

Do the four resorts (Soli, Brighton, Alta, and Bird) have shuttles that go through the parking lot picking up folks?

If we were to walk to the lodge in shoes, is there a place to stash a shoe bag in the lodge?

Any other thoughts on this or any other insights for first timers to SLC, please post!! Thanks!

Boo Alta! (I snowboard..)

With that out of the way~ I'm sure these questions could be more easily answered by calling any of the resorts. Most, I would assume, at least of some sort of storage service offered through the resort...

If all else fails you could arrange a cab for drop off / pickup.



PS.. HAVE FUN; I am extremely jealous.

AFAIK, only the Bird has a parking lot shuttle in the Cottonwoods (and that's needed since you are basically parking on an access road.)

How close you can park really depends upon snow conditions and day of week. Powder day, fuggedaboutit. No recent snow on a weekday, you may be able to pull in a 11 AM and walk 2 minutes to the lodge. You may be able to pull in at 9:30 and still score a second row parking spot. No set rule.

Lockers are the safest bet for storing a shoe bag. You should be able to stash shoes for the entire family in one locker for what, $5? No stash locations at all at the Bird; Alta (GMD) and Solitude have some pretty obvious stash points in the lodges.

I've never encountered a parking situation in Utah where I didn't feel comfortable walking to the lodge in my boots. But I don't mind hiking 20 minutes up a ridge to get pow turns, so I'm not the typical tourist.

Thanks for the input! Not sure why I didn't think of lockers except that I tend not to see them.

For example, my wife and I just got back from Banff and I don't recall seeing lockers at either Sunshine Village or Lake Louise. Actually, that's not true, there was a bank of about two dozen outside the bathrooms at SSV (for some reason I assumed they were for the employees because there were so few). Most people there just laid their bag outside the lodge along the wall under the roof overhang.

I'll check the resort maps/call to see where the lockers are located.

I stayed in SANDY and walked to the bus in shoes, always found a stash point somewhere. No one ever took my old shoes. Enjoy. Bright is worth a day, don't forget about it.

I make an annual trip out to SLC to ski each year here is a random assortment of info that might be worthwhile:

1) Do not forget about Snowbasin, it's worth the drive. I would skip Brighton for Snowbasin, if you're wed to Brighton skip Solitude for Snowbasin.

2) Bus is easy from Sandy, goes right from the train station, there are a number of stops along that main drive there as well. I would personally drive to the lots at the base of the canyons. You can get the bus at the 6200 lot to both canyons, and that lot doesn't usually fill up that quickly. Even on a powder day if you're there by 9am you'll be fine.

3) Buy your lift tickets from Canyon sports on the cheap. You'll save 15-20% off the walk up price.

4) Buy an Alta ticket so you get the RFID card, refills can be done in future years online.

5) Make sure you hit up Lonestar tacos on Ft Union Bvld. I also liked the Bohemian Brewpub on Ft Union near Fashionplace mall.

6) You can take the train from Sandy to Fashionplace if you need a mall fix.

7) Depending on when your flight lands keep the quick start ticket option open. You can ski free on the day you land at Park City, Deer Valley, Canyons, just register online and bring your boarding pass. Those resorts are a quick 40m drive from the airport, very easy to get there.

8) I've never received a ticket out there, but Utah drivers seem to be slowpokes. People actually seem to obey the speed limit, and obey I mean observe literally as a limit, many people driving slower than the posted speed. I follow the limit + 10 standard as do most people who drive near me.

9) Amazingly SLC drivers seem to be scared of snow. If it snows in the valley be careful, lots of people driving like they've never seen the white stuff.

Have fun!

That is a ton of great information there!

I hadn't really considered the bus option. Does the bus ever fill up before it reaches the lots at the base of the canyons? (I'm assuming that the bus goes through town and then up the canyons or is there also a bus that just runs the length of the canyons?)

Oh, and thanks for the Snowbasin suggestion...anyone else have any thoughts on swapping brighton for Snowbasin?

(actually we are going to be there long enough that we should be able to do all 5)

Google UTA bus and look at the schedules for the ski buses. That will tell you most of what you asked. The buses to the cottonwood canyons begin in the large lot at 6200 S Wasatch. On a powder day the Alta/Snowbird buses often fill completely at that lot and if so they will not stop at anymof the subsequent stops. Big Cottonwood gets a lot less pressure and Solitude is a good bet on those days. I had an Alta pass for the last 2 seasons and rode the bus daily. Going down on a powder day is also difficult. I always got on at Albion, firstnstop going down, to be sure of a seat. Season passes and the cottonwood areas super pass are also bus passes. Otherwise it is $4 each way exact change only.

If I score rock star parking near a lift I'll boot-up at my car, but otherwise I almost always stash my street shoes/boots in my boot bag in a cubby or under a table in ski area base lodges. If there are lockers I stick them in there, but don't pay to lock them. Who wants my old shoes, stinky extra clothes, and peanut butter sandwiches? But obviously you should pay to lock any valuables.

There is a changing area on the bottom level of the giant Snowbird lodge, we stuffed our bags in a corner under a bench there. There is a little old ski lodge building at Brighton that is separate, but near their main base lodge. We stashed our bags under a table there and ate a bag lunch in there. We stashed our bags at Solitude in a changing/locker area inside the ticket office in the village. We had a slopeside room at Alta, but we also operated out of our car trunk.

I brown bag my lunches a lot. One of my favorite things is to bring the supplies up on the mtn early in the day in a back pack and stash the bag on a hook or under a remote table at a scenic on-mountain dining facility, often available at big resorts. Then I return later in the day to eat and collect my stuff. It also gives you convenient access to stored gear/clothing if temperatures drop or rise unexpectedly. All the places mentioned in this thread except perhaps Brighton have on-mtn restaurants.

Have a great trip.
My trip report from last year:
http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=1285&mode=topstory



Outside the Roundhouse Grill at Solitude:
[img:left] [/img]

John Paul Lodge at Snowbasin:
[img:left][/img]

Watson Shelter at Alta:

Thanks guys!

Denis, I thought I remembered you posting something about the buses filling up a while back....thanks for re-posting that information.

Jim, this whole trip is due to your posts last year! I showed the family your thread and they were sold! I didn't realize that you put it in article form...that's a nice concise summary.

IMHO, regarding Snowbasin, since you are based in Sandy you should ski the four convenient cottonwoods ski areas, maybe return to the one you liked best. If you are bent on max exploration, then make the additional trip to Snowbasin (about one hour from sandy??), it's great and worthy of a multiday visit, but given your logistics I wouldn't sacrifice a day at Brighton for it unless you have special motivation. In someways Brighton is the most scenic of the bunch and is particularly well suited for maximum mileage on blue square and single black diamond runs.

To the OP, DCSki has an improved search function. You'll find all you need to know about Utah (and even more) on previous threads. Check this one out:

Utah Info

Jim, Brighton sounds great! We're there for about 7 days so its good to know what our options are. Like you, we like to explore; we did a ski vacation in New Hampshire a few years ago similar to yours where we hit Breton Woods, Wildcat, Attatash, and Loon.

John, I'm embarrassed to say that I had used the search function back when we bought the plane tickets (October), copied the relevant threads into Word documents (including the one you cited) and then, promptly forgot I had done that. Thanks for the reminder!

How old are your boys? When are you skiing? My 11yo DD and I will be at Alta Lodge April 3-10. Meeting up with friends, including a family from DC who have a 11yo son and 9yo daughter. The kids are on spring break that week.

Would you consider dropping off the family, then parking? The Soli, Brighton, Alta parking lots are not really that big. For weekdays without a powder dump, won't be that busy. Alta has two areas, the ski school is at the second, which is called Albion. Have never parked at Snowbird.

This TR includes pics of at the base of Alta, Brighton, and Soli. Went there plus Snowbasin Feb 2011 with pagamony and another ski buddy. Except for Honeycomb Canyon, I generally liked Brighton better than Soli. Snowbasin and Brighton would be where I would like take my DD if we did a trip based in SLC instead of Alta Lodge.

http://www.skinc.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=13490

Hey Marz, nice trip report! My boys are 14 and 16 and we'll be out there from the 29th to the 7th.

I can't really make heads or tails out of the weather forecasts...guess we'll just play it by ear. Looks like there could be some snow early next week....

Thanks again Marz for setting that up, I would not have done it otherwise. My preference was more the terrain at alta and soli, though I could be happy anywhere, so the lesson is try them all! If you get up early enough, parking will not be a problem :-)

btw, hating on deer valley.

It's not been a great snow year and you're getting late in the season. The Cottonwoods (Alta, Bird, Brighton, Solitude) have the highest base elevations.

Park City, Deer Valley, The Canyons, Snowbasin and Powder Mountain have lower base elevations. They'll lose base quicker, especially at the bottom. Check their websites for their exact base elevations; depending upon weather, you'll need to take that into account.

If you don't know the mountains wells, some of the areas can be tricky if you do get a lot of snow and visibility is poor. Avoid Snowbasin at all costs during a low viz or high wind day. Brighton has a lot of treed trails (and nice mellow shots in between); it is a good choice on a low viz day for newbies. Alta and Da Bird can be epic on pow days, but they both have some unavoidable open areas at top (lift dependent) which can swallow up newbies with vertigo and suck them into some serious terrain by accident. If you've skied them before and have paid attention to terrain, then you should be fine and know what areas will be tricky.

hey still out here ... while today was nice late spring skiing conditions (like you would find in the middle of May?) not stellar and quite frankly there are no big storm cycles moving in for the next two weeks ... and then there is this :

CPC 14 day Apr 4-10

We were at Deer Valley today the epitome of snow conditions and I found it very inconsistent and while firm on some runs that supported huge amounts of g-force loading was errrr ... ok not really great due to the re-frozen nature of it.

Unless you are planning to catch a perhaps-dump in early May at Snowbird I'd stay away from UT this season. It basically sucks.

John, I've hiked Alta in the summer but have never skied Utah before so I appreciate the information.

Crush, unfortunately, trip planning is more around when spring breaks align and not when the conditions are good. Next year will be the last year the boys spring breaks align and there is no guarantee that the conditions will be better then. So, we go. Hey, it can't be worse than spring break 2010 when we were skiing Stowe in 80 degree temps!

I disagree with john with respect to Alta. I regard it as one of their strengths that it is difficult to get into trouble by accident. You pretty much have to be looking for it to find it. In storms or difficult light, I don't start out on the traverses, the High T, backside (Greeley), Ballroom, catherine's, Devil's Castle (was it ever open this year?). If you avoid those in poor conditions you should be fine.

Denis, you've just agreed with me.

You've just taken away most of the mountain! Plus toss in a lot of the terrain on the Sugarloaf lift. While mellow in pitch, the entire upper (and most of the lower) is open terrain with little depth perception on a low viz day. I think that it is the worst lift at Alta on low viz days.

That leaves you with the Supreme lift (only a few trails accessible to intermediates) and the Wildcat lift (only the open faces accessible to intermediates, IMHO.) And sorry, but, the lower Albion lifts are not worth the price of a day ticket (season pass on the other hand.)

Edit: the traverses at Alta (and Snowbird) can be heinous for area-newcomers to navigate in poor visibility. I'd seriously rate them double black diamond in a storm. And they serve as expressways for powder-crazed locals getting to the goods. Kinda like driving 40 mph on the Beltway in a Yugo.

Brighton: Snake Creek and Crest lifts are *great* for intermediates to experts on a low viz day. Plus, skier's left off the Milli lift. (Skier's right would be a death trap for an intermediate.) The first few hundred of vertical off the Great Western would be dicey; but if one stuck to the cat track and waited until it hit the trees, then not too bad also.

John, I think Supreme is the best lift of the mountain overall. there is a lot of great terrain there. Sugarloaf is the worst, IMHO. I have been buzzed by kamikazes there too, as well as on the Hi T. Supreme hides some nice secrets if you are willing to poke around. I don't much like Collins unless I can load at mid, but by then a lot of it is tracked. I hate the Corkscrew run down to the lift. It collects too many people of too different abilities and levels of restraint and funnels them into too small a space. The first few runs off the
Hi T, Fred's Trees, Fred's Slot, and Sunspot are very nice, have visible tree lines for those white out days and are often neglected by the hard cores powder hounds who go further out the ridge. Wildcat is a gem, but the traverse leading to the top of Westward Ho can also be intimidating in white out. I guess I have detailed the reasons why I bought my pass elsewhere (Monarch) this year. Then the major thing I used it for was to get half price at Alta. Go figure. I still maintain, however, that it is hard to get into intimidating terrain at Alta without intending to.

OK! So, we're leaving tonight, settling in tomorrow (might do the Ski After 3 thing at Alta to get used to the elevation) and hitting it hard on Saturday.

But where to go? It is supposed to be very windy and warm. Are there any of the 4 Cottonwood Canyon resorts to be especially avoided in the wind due to windholds?

For various reasons, I'm leaning towards Soli on Saturday.

Oh, and the dialog between John and Denis is very helpful. Looking to do Brighton on Sunday in part due to John's commentary regarding it in low-viz days (which I think Sunday will be).

Solitude is an excellent choice for a windy day. It is well sheltered from wind. It is a really good place, but surrounded by such a wealth of riches that it is often relatively uncrowded.

SteveC - you might just get lucky this weekend ... looks like the little storm that was supposed to come in has grown a bit ... and if there is snowfall Alta would be a great place to be ... and btw you can ski from 2:30 to 4:30 for only $30/person a pretty good deal really.

Good luck and have fun ...

I see why you are concerned about high winds!

Personally, I'd hit it hard on Friday, and take it easier on Saturday. From personal experience last year, those wind speeds could cause problems even at Soli (which is a good choice for Sat in general and on a windy day.) If you're staying in SLC, I haven't found altitude to be an issue. Sounds like you've stayed there before.

Remember that pow day doesn't always equate to low viz day.

You may be in for a treat. One of the best set-ups for maximizing freshies in Utah is snow on a Sunday afternoon, especially if it is not an epic dump. A lot of the locals head down the mountain somewhat early to get a head start on the week; 2-4 PM could be fantastic for you. (Brighton does attract more of the teenage crowd and has some night skiing, so it may not clear out as fast on a Sunday PM. Something else to consider, and I know, some conflicting advice.)

Regardless, enjoy!

Thanks everyone!!!!! Loading the car...I'll post out there!!!

We need to get Crush, Denis and myself together this summer and dig out the Utah trail maps. Some conversations should not be shared over the Internets, only in person with a strict code of silence.

Denis,
Supreme lift has some of my favorite terrain at Alta, along with cough-cough and cough-cough. You do have to be careful about bushwacking under the lift, cuz there are some tight rocky chutes there, several cliff areas, and some tougher areas right under the lift that it's embarrassing to be struggling on if you happen upon them.

There is a reason Dummy Chute got it's name.

Stick to the open areas in Alta, generally won't find cliffs (with one exception which has too sweet terrain to mention.) Hit the trees, plenty of cliff areas there. I'll gladly take you to them.

I will admit that it is a bit tougher to get cliffed out at Alta than at say Soli. Some of the obvious drainages off the Powerhorn lift lead to rock ledges or mandatory 10 foot air in the trees.

Got in late Thursday (midnight) and got settled Friday. Skied Alta after 3 with the "ski after 3" program. It was very, very mushy (to be expected as it was, well, after 3PM and 51 degrees) but the boys loved the expanse of the place. Tomorrow is supposed to be warm (80 in the city) and very windy (gusts of 55 mph) so we are thinking of doing a hike (rattlesnake gulch to pipeline trail) and saving our ski tickets for the rest of the week which looks much better weather wise (might get as much as 8 inches on Sunday).

outstanding - smart move ... yeah that is a good deal and save that smart card it will knock 5 pesos off next time - yee haw! Took a look at Sunday - yeah like I said you might get lucky; let us know.

We had a wonderful hike yesterday and are on our way out the door to Brighton....let you know what happens later!! (right now the plan is snowbird tomorrow and Alta on tuesday...)

Wow!!! Brighton was awesome!! We got about 5 inches of snow during the day. Wind was bad on Milly Lift but Snake was the ticket. The trees there were absolutely the best! You could spend a lot of time exploring.

We did one run off of Great Western but the wind seemed to have blown the snow somewhere else and we were left with re-frozen snow. The aspens were beautiful...we might come back when it is slightly warmer to soften things up a bit.

Glad to hear that my area advice didn't suck too badly.

Brighton is a hidden gem in the Cottonwoods. I've found some hidden fantabulous tree shots by poking around. A lot of the trees are north facing, so the snow stays good in them.

I've rarely hit good snow off of Great Western due to it's sun exposure. If you hit it when it's too cold after a warm-up (as I have), a lot of the stuff off it is refrozen coral reef. Hit it on a sunny day next week when it softens up. There are some nice faces off it.

Snowbird advice: looks like it will be below freezing tomorrow. Mineral Basin suffers a lot of the same sun exposure that Great Western does. But you may get some blown in pockets on one side or the other depending upon the wind direction today. Look for where the wind deposited the snow. If you have the skills, some of the sheltered runs off of Gad 2 may have accumulated some snow. Just sayin. (Just be a bit careful, the trees off of Gad 2 are a couple steps above the trees at Brighton.)

Snowbird parking advice (I think this thread started with questions on parking.)

Not a pow day, so you should find good parking. Take the first Snowbird entrance. Park at the Creekside lot. You should be able to park in the lot vs on the access road, but worst comes to worst, if you are on the access road just above the lot, you can generally cross over to the slopes and ski down to the Creekside base. There are lockers in Creekside. (Creekside is a lot more manageable than the Tram base.)

I recommend lunch at Mid Gad. On a clear day, spectacular views looking down Little Cottonwood Canyon to the city and lake below.

BillK: "That cliff sign is just to keep the tourists out."

That was from Snowbird. With very rare exceptions, pay attention to those signs.

Thanks John! The advice on Brighton was spot on! I have never seen my kids enjoy a day of skiing like they did today.

John, great parking advice! Snowbird was beautiful with blue skies for most of the day. Some clouds rolled in in the afternoon as we were going through the tunnel to Mineral Basin. Some more snow had fallen overnight (3 inches?). Its a challenging mountain to say the least....especially since we had sort of overdone it the first day (how could we not with fresh snow in the trees!!). Alta tomorrow (sunny with low winds)..oh the wind on Chips Run Access was crazy!!

Not trying to pull a Colonel ;), but I sent you a PM a few days ago. Some advice on a trail or two for Alta and Solitude.

Thanks John...not sure why I hadn't seen that!

Did Alta today...blue bird sky, warm weather...really good time! I liked how that blacks and blues sort of intertwined off Sugarloaf lift. We did a number of runs off of it mixing up the trails and stepping up our game as the blacks softened up (Amen, Extovert).

Funny thing...I did Nina's Curve and a little kid (10 YO?) was following me. When we got back to the lift, he looks at me and says "good skiing dude"...I'm not sure why I found it so funny, maybe it was because I actually felt flattered!

Oh, and one other thing, I saw a kid about 5 or 6 y.o. telemarking!!!

Solitude: Hit Challenger off the Eagle Express early on. It is a groomed black (steepish at the top) and real sweet when it's all corduroy. A couple more of the double blues are usually groomed. Great way to start off the day. (You can get to the Eagle Express lift the fastest by bypassing the Moonbeam "Express" lift and skate just a bit - wife may not like that - from the Moonbeam Lodge.)

Powderhorn lift is real slow. The trees looker's right of the lift are pretty open and generally have good snow. Provided you can handle the slopes to either side.

The gate off the top of the Powderhorn lift (by the ski patrol shack) is true expert's only. With the exception of that gate and the backside of the very top of the Apex lift, no real surprises on the front side so you can pretty much safely poke around anywhere if you are comfortable in trees. (Summit lift is a bit different.)

Looks like they redid the trail map this year. Powderhorn lift, to Diamond Lane, ski most of the way down on the ridge top to above the Apex lift, then drop right when the ropes end. That used to be one of the primary trails, I think it was called Cirque. You get a real good view prior to dropping in - it's a wide open face. It does get a bit gullyish at the bottom.

Funny, I never heard of any of those trails although I've been skiing there for years. Just looked them up and I have skied them all. Guess I am not much of a trail map skier.

Oh, and one other thing, I saw a kid about 5 or 6 y.o. telemarking!!! [/quote]