Utah 2021-2022 Utah Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[dbostedo]

good value if they are putting you in biz.

I'd say the odds of that are awfully low...

 

[silverback]

The best thing about Strawberry is how hard it is to get to in a storm. Once you pay the price, the skiing is uncrowded. Sure, a new lift over there would be swell if you had the mountain to yourself. Without the brutal commute it would be mobbed like every where else.

The club Med won’t compete with WPR. WPR will be a private club like a smaller/more exclusive Yellowstone Club (no hotels or tickets) and will require a minimum mid seven figure buy-in.

If Club Med is a cruise ship, WPR is a mega yacht.

 

[Lorenzzo]

Meanwhile, Vail announced 2 new lifts at Park City. 8 person lift to upgrade Silverlode capacity and 6 person lift to replace Eagle 3 seater. They are trying to stay ahead of crowds. Their pass sale products were up 42 percent in units this coming season!!!!!

Park City looking like it will be the most affordable place to ski in Northern Utah the way things are trending!- ha!!! Never would have believed it 10-plus years ago.

I’m trying to decide whether or not to get Epic Pass access to PC for the coming season.Partly crowd anticipation, partly because they loopholed out of their pass refund guarantee if you didn’t use it. Small print was you had to apply shortly after the end of the ski season. It may have been there somewhere but I usually read the small print. Either way gotcha policies in business are two strikes in my book.

 

[Wasatchman]

I’m trying to decide whether or not to get Epic Pass access to PC for the coming season.Partly crowd anticipation, partly because they loopholed out of their pass refund guarantee if you didn’t use it. Small print was you had to apply shortly after the end of the ski season. It may have been there somewhere but I usually read the small print. Either way gotcha policies in business are two strikes in my book.

I'm not getting an epic pass but I would have if I knew I was going to be able to ski a lot this winter for the price they were charging. $550 for a local pass doesn't take much to break even. And PCMR might be the best place on a pow day in Utah these days

 

[Lorenzzo]

I'm not getting an epic pass but I would have if I knew I was going to be able to ski a lot this winter for the price they were charging. $550 for a local pass doesn't take much to break even. And PCMR might be the best place on a pow day in Utah these days

Yes but the low cost may move it off best place on a powder day. Although if you’re right I’d miss out. With a little hiking there are always places to go.

 

[Wasatchman]

Yes but the low cost may move it off best place on a powder day. Although if you’re right I’d miss out. With a little hiking there are always places to go.

The lift lines on Jupe and 9990 on a pow day are as good as it gets. Or used to be anyway. And no hiking required on those days with free refills.

 

[Lorenzzo]

The lift lines on Jupe and 9990 on a pow day are as good as it gets. Or used to be anyway. And no hiking required on those days with free refills.

My experience particularly last few years is those places need a really good snow year to avoid being heavily bumped, which is fine. One of the reasons I’ve gotten used to hiking for lines. Then again there are always those wondrous surprise days. At some point we should plan a day…wherever. Maybe Snowbasin so we can ski Amy’s lines before she gets there.

 

[AmyPJ]

My experience particularly last few years is those places need a really good snow year to avoid being heavily bumped, which is fine. One of the reasons I’ve gotten used to hiking for lines. Then again there are always those wondrous surprise days. At some point we should plan a day…wherever. Maybe Snowbasin so we can ski Amy’s lines before she gets there.

Someone will have beat you to it, I promise. Heck, last year the only way we got fresh tracks on the one really good powder weekend was to hire an instructor for the day so we could cut lines. Got first tracks in DeMoisy Bowl mostly by luck.

 

[tromano]

Headline Huntsville - Internet rejoices as Snowbasin goes FULL SEND with all inclusive Jerry watching resort concept

 

[Lorenzzo]

Someone will have beat you to it, I promise. Heck, last year the only way we got fresh tracks on the one really good powder weekend was to hire an instructor for the day so we could cut lines. Got first tracks in DeMoisy Bowl mostly by luck.

Do they do early tracks? Always tough when you get first chair but end up where a large group beat you to it.

 

[AmyPJ]

Do they do early tracks? Always tough when you get first chair but end up where a large group beat you to it.

Yes, they do early load but it’s often limited to Wildcat chair due to avy control. We got first gondola car on Strawberry by timing it just right. It was honestly mayhem—a feeding frenzy behind us that had me so frazzled that I didn’t enjoy it like I should have.

 

[Johnfmh]

From my understanding, the proposed Strawberry chair would have only gone from the base to the first cut to Dan’s. It would allow the resort to clear the base of Strawberry when the gondola goes on wind holds, but it would not allow skiers to access all of Strawberry’s a terrain—a good piece of the upper mountain would be inaccessible from the proposed lift.

I am an East Coast skier who has been traveling to Snowbasin for 1-week ski trips on most seasons since 2012. In the 9 years I have skied the mountain, I have seen a lot of changes. It was a miracle in 2012–first rate facilities and lifts and nary a person to be seen on the slope. Every year since then its popularity has grown but its still a lot less crowded than many other destination venues in the West, even on powder days. I bought an Epic pass for this season with the idea of using 7 days at Snowbasin. I plan to stay in Ogden, which is a lot cheaper than your average ski town and offers some decent restaurants, and take the UTA bus to the resort to spare me the hassle of having to park far away from Earl’s, driving on snowy roads, and paying exorbitant rental car fees. My wife and I have skied a lot of mountains in Europe and the U.S. and Snowbasin is still are favorite. We love the diversity of terrain—everything from Arlberg style pistes on Strawberry and Porky to the very cool gullies and other terrain features in the Middle and Wildcat bowls. Skiing the steeps of JP gives one an understanding of World Cup skiing that few other mountains offer. Powder days at Basin are magical if you know where to go.

The mountain is not without some shortcomings. As @AmyPJ noted, the base is low and often gets slushy at the end of the day and can be icy in the morning. The gold fixtures in Earl’s now are looking dated, and the food quality has declined over the years. But the biggest issue is the crowds, especially at some of the bottlenecks on the Needles side, Bear Springs, the top of Strawberry, etc. I remember having to attend a video meeting one morning on a powder day and arriving at the mountain at 930. Ugh. That was not fun.

 

[tromano]

@AmyPJ You are thinking of that pres weekend storm right?

I recall getting fresh tracks right before noon on the pres. weekend storm. Ran in to my kids devo groups just before they went in for lunch. My youngest daughter popped out of her skis and the snow was so deep she was up to her chest. We had climb and help her get sorted. Was the deepest I had skied in years. We had plenty of time to help/watch them ski and still got 2 solidly untracked laps.

Then we went to strawberry for uncrowded laps of soft chop during the lunch hour.

 

[AmyPJ]

@AmyPJ You are thinking of that pres weekend storm right?

I recall getting fresh tracks right before noon on the pres. weekend storm. Ran in to my kids devo groups just before they went in for lunch. My youngest daughter popped out of her skis and the snow was so deep she was up to her chest. We had climb and help her get sorted. Was the deepest I had skied in years. We had plenty of time to help/watch them ski and still got 2 solidly untracked laps.

Then we went to strawberry for uncrowded laps of soft chop during the lunch hour.

No, it was later in February. It was very crowded except later in the day after it had been skied out. It was on a Sunday. We went to JP after lunch and still had fun in some soft snow, and were exhausted. President's Day tends to be less busy due to blackouts. I rarely ski on Saturdays anymore. Too busy. We had been at Big Sky and Jackson two weeks prior and found both to be less crowded even on a Friday and Saturday powder days. Jackson just spreads people out--took us awhile to get up the mountain, but once everyone got off the base, we had short lines and a lot of really fun, fresh snow. The really low tide conditions at Basin didn't help things last season. It just doesn't snow like it used to, so when we do get fresh snow, it's madness. Thankfully, I enjoy great groomer skiing and we did have some great groomer conditions last year. In fact, it seemed there were fewer freeze/thaw cycles than in years past.

 

[Wasatchman]

I am an East Coast skier who has been traveling to Snowbasin for 1-week ski trips on most seasons since 2012. In the 9 years I have skied the mountain, I have seen a lot of changes. It was a miracle in 2012–first rate facilities and lifts and nary a person to be seen on the slope. Every year since then its popularity has grown but its still a lot less crowded than many other destination venues in the West, even on powder days. I bought an Epic pass for this season with the idea of using 7 days at Snowbasin. I plan to stay in Ogden, which is a lot cheaper than your average ski town and offers some decent restaurants, and take the UTA bus to the resort to spare me the hassle of having to park far away from Earl’s, driving on snowy roads, and paying exorbitant rental car fees. My wife and I have skied a lot of mountains in Europe and the U.S. and Snowbasin is still are favorite.

What do you think of the announced changes at Snowbasin?

 

[4ster]

From my understanding, the proposed Strawberry chair would have only gone from the base to the first cut to Dan’s. It would allow the resort to clear the base of Strawberry when the gondola goes on wind holds, but it would not allow skiers to access all of Strawberry’s a terrain—a good piece of the upper mountain would be inaccessible from the proposed lift.

Yes, that is a good synopsis. Since the lift would terminate below the avalanche hazard zone it would also allow opening while reduction/mitigation work was still in progress. It would also be below the worst of the flat light & once AVI work was done, access to Moonshine bowl & the SE boundary. The lift would also open up the easier bottom half for the more intermediate/blue terrain skiers.
I did not like the idea of this lift when it was first proposed because it didn’t add any new terrain but I came around to liking the idea, not so much for me personally but that it would be good for the majority of the skiing public.
The sad thing is that this lift was proposed at the same time the detachable Little Cat chair went in, maybe 12 or 13 years ago. It is my understanding due to the extra time needed to do an environmental impact study, the strawberry lift was put on hold while they went ahead with the Little Cat chair.

 

[tromano]

Yes, that is a good synopsis. Since the lift would terminate below the avalanche hazard zone it would also allow opening while reduction/mitigation work was still in progress. It would also be below the worst of the flat light & once AVI work was done, access to Moonshine bowl & the SE boundary. The lift would also open up the easier bottom half for the more intermediate/blue terrain skiers.
I did not like the idea of this lift when it was first proposed because it didn’t add any new terrain but I came around to liking the idea, not so much for me personally but that it would be good for the majority of the skiing public.
The sad thing is that this lift was proposed at the same time the detachable Little Cat chair went in, maybe 12 or 13 years ago. It is my understanding due to the extra time needed to do an environmental impact study, the strawberry lift was scrapped and they went ahead with the Little Cat chair.
View attachment 143104

That strawberry chair makes too much sense to not happen eventually. But sadly they are taking way too much time. The crowding on the Berry gondi was so bad last season that I rarely ventured over there on a weekend. Even if it was no new snow.

 

[AmyPJ]

Yep, if you'd venture over there and it was busy, you were stuck. And sometimes stuck for a very long time. That wasn't just last season during Covid, either. Been that way for a few years now.

 

[4ster]

That strawberry chair makes too much sense to not happen eventually. But sadly they are taking way too much time. The crowding on the Berry gondi was so bad last season that I rarely ventured over there on a weekend. Even if it was no new snow.

I don’t think I skied Strawberry till after my first vaccine in March, same with needles gondola & even then it wasn’t very often.
Anyway, from my perspective they are going about this backwards. Historically ski areas have always expanded the terrain & enhanced the on mountain experience before lodges & hotels. That is what attracted me to Snowbasin in the first place. At that time they were doing it right!
It was always inevitable that lodging and a village would happen, just not like this.

 

[jmills115]

A nice afternoon walking uphill at Alta makes driving around Oktoberfest patrons in the road worthwhile.

From Lower Rustler looking uphill and down



The reinvented Schuss Gully