We are heading to Utah the first week of April and planning to ski 1 day at many of the different resorts: Alta, Brighton, Solitude, Snowbird, and Deer Valley. We have the Ikon pass so basically trying to ski everything but Park City.
Looking for suggestions of a good central location where we don't have to drive too far to each resort. There are 5 of us so probably will get a condo somewhere in a central location.
Thanks for any suggestions of areas to stay or specific lodging suggestions.
Any location that's relatively close to one of the Interstate highways inside SLC would work fine. Are you planning on cooking dinner at the condo? Some areas of SLC have more restaurant options than others.
I would suggest staying closer to the entrances to LCC/BCC since you'll be making that drive more often. Although condos or houses closer to the airport are generally less expensive. That adds 10-15 minutes to the drive to Alta/Snowbird but means a slightly shorter drive to Deer Valley. I have a 4BR/2.5BA VRBO house with 1500 sq. ft. that's 10 min from the airport booked for a few nights in early April that was the same price as 3BR/2BA places closer to LCC/BCC.
WilliamP wrote:
We are heading to Utah the first week of April and planning to ski 1 day at many of the different resorts: Alta, Brighton, Solitude, Snowbird, and Deer Valley. We have the Ikon pass so basically trying to ski everything but Park City.
Looking for suggestions of a good central location where we don't have to drive too far to each resort. There are 5 of us so probably will get a condo somewhere in a central location.
Thanks for any suggestions of areas to stay or specific lodging suggestions.
Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, Sandy are all good for Alta/Bird and Sol/Bright (within 20 mins drive on quiet days, with the first two a little closer to DV (45 mins on quiet day). April is usually quieter than mid-season. This year - who knows. The snow is so good it's brought out healthy crowds about five days a week and it's hard to predict which will be the two quiet days :-o
PS: remember, Brighton requires a reservation to use ikon pass there. Alta requires parking reservation on Fri-Sun. Recommend you hit the mouth of the cottonwood canyons by 745am or earlier until you figure out the crowd levels during your week.
WilliamP wrote:
Thank you all for the great advice. I didn't know about the advance parking at Alta or the Brighton reservation requirement so thanks for the heads up!
In general, it's a good idea to read about parking on a resort's website when planning a ski trip. In recent years, parking has been evolving with changes almost every year. Not as big an issue in April but still a consideration for weekends.
When driving to a resort, my approach is to start driving early enough to get to a parking lot about an hour before lifts open. Especially if it's the first time ever at that resort. Then there's time to walk around before deciding where to boot up. There are resorts with free cubbies or a place that locals know it's okay to leave a boot bag. If parked close enough, then there is the option of putting on boots indoors and walking back to the car to leave the boot bag. Have done that at Brighton when parked near the Milly Lodge, which is across the parking lot from the main base buildings. Also at Solitude when parked next to the main lodge.
What type of terrain does your group like to ski? For Alta, the Albion base has the advantage of a small locker room with free cubbies. It's on the top level of the building with the ski school office. Most advanced skiers park at the Wildcat base (first lot when driving up the canyon) and boot up at the car. There is no public locker room. There are some pay lockers on the ground floor of the Goldminer's Daughter, near the restrooms that are open to the public.
Great intel - thanks! My kids can do all of Snowshoe, but we'll probably be sticking with blues and easy blacks at Alta. Thanks for the suggestion of where to park and the free cubbies in the ski school building.
WilliamP wrote:
Great intel - thanks! My kids can do all of Snowshoe, but we'll probably be sticking with blues and easy blacks at Alta. Thanks for the suggestion of where to park and the free cubbies in the ski school building.
In the spring, a few of the easier blacks are sometimes groomed. Note that "black" at Alta is a broad category. There are times the same terrain would be considered "double-black" or even "triple-black" based on snow conditions. Neighboring Snowbird has double-black as a category but Alta leaves it up to the skiers to decide what they are comfortable skiing. For example, Challenger off the top of the Supreme lift can be good fun when the snow is soft but if it's frozen then best to wait until there people obviously having a good time there. If there are only a few people going out who look like tourists . . . better to wait until later.
This webpage is a bit out of date, but can still be found. I provided input to the original version, especially for the self-guided tours.
I suggest you start by riding up Sunnyside for a warm up run the first day. After that, given that the kids can ski everything at Snowshoe, heading to Supreme or Sugarloaf would be fine. Note that if it's windy on Sugarloaf, usually it won't be as windy on Supreme. When you get towards the lower section of the trails off Supreme, the run out is relatively long to it pays to keep up speed. Either way works where the trails forks. The split goes around where the original Supreme triple loading area used to be.
I'll be skiing at Alta starting April 8. Shoot me a PM if you happen to be skiing there that weekend.
