On Mar 4, 10:00 pm, Jolly_O wrote:
I am planning on going on a snowboarding trip to Utah in mid-late
March. I was wondering if anyone knows of any cheap loadging/lift
ticket combo (or separate) deals from Salt lake city? I have heard of
superpass.

The Superpass is a combination lift/ski bus voucher for any one of the
Cottonwood Canyon resorts (Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude) which
can be bought at many of the hotels. You turn it in at the ticket
window of the resort, and get a "real" pass. I stayed at a Best
Western, and they had the passes for the four canyon resorts. It was
$50, and was a good deal - even includes the tram at Snowbird.

The ski bus is pretty cool, and access able. A big benefit of the bus
- the Cottonwood Canyon roads are often restricted to vehicles with
chains or 4WD. If you are up there with a 2WD, you might be SOL when
trying to get back to your motel. The ski busses run unless the road
is closed to all traffic. SLC also has great "around town" public
transportation that you can use to head downtown to see Temple Square
or other sights.

The Embassy Suites hotel in downtown SLC is a good lodging choice. It
has a free buffet breakfast and is across the street from the second
stop on the ski bus morning route. Getting on the bus early can be
important because sometimes it fills up quickly. You may have to stand
for a while and/or there may not be room for your board in the storage
area inside the bus (meaning you'll have to hold it while you sit or
stand). This hotel also has a free reception each evening with snacks
and an open bar, if that's important to you. And the extra space
provided by a suite is nice when you have a lot of gear.

The best thing about the ski bus is that it's cheap -- free with a
Superpass. It may not be entirely convenient for you, however. As
noted, it can get crowded. Also, the ski bus runs only once out of SLC
on weekday mornings, and twice on weekend and holiday mornings (8 and
9 a.m.). There are also only two buses coming back in the afternoon,
so you must keep track of the time while on the slopes. If you are
heading to Solitude or Brighton, you must transfer to another bus on
both the way up and the way down. On the way down you must be careful
to time your departure from Solitude or Brighton to be able to catch
the SLC bus coming from Snowbird/Alta (as mentioned, there are only
two buses going to SLC but there are a half-dozen or so leaving
Solitude/Brighton for the suburbs). Miss the transfer and you'll have
to call a cab.

Shop online for your Superpass before you buy one in a hotel. I bought
the passes for our recent Utah trip last fall, when there happened to
be a "buy two, get one free" special on Travelocity. The price was
discounted to begin with, so the net result was that I was able to
purchase three three-day Superpasses for about $93 each. Hard to beat
a $31 lift ticket that includes round-trip bus transportation! I ended
up missing a day of riding because of lost luggage (see the bag
packing thread), but the passes were still a bargain even when applied
to only two days.

Joe Ramirez