skiing in Salt Lake City

I am flying to SLC to a meeting, in February, the week before the
Birkie. Is there any skiing near the city, that would not require
renting a car?

wrote:

I am flying to SLC to a meeting, in February, the week before the
Birkie. Is there any skiing near the city, that would not require
renting a car?

There's almost certainly a regular bus service to the ski areas (at
least there used to be!), you can get to either Alta or Solitude that way.

BTW, it used to be that the bus fare was 2.5X higher if you entered the
bus at a downtown hotel vs at a regular bus stop. :-(

Terje

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

Grab one of the "ski buses" that head up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Go to
the Solitude Nordic Center at the top of the Canyon. They rent quality
gear and the snow quality is almost guaranteed (unless we get a storm,
where it sometimes takes a few days to get things groomed out). No real
bus service to any other place.

Dan Vargo
SLC, UT


In article .com,
wrote:

I am flying to SLC to a meeting, in February, the week before the
Birkie. Is there any skiing near the city, that would not require
renting a car?

The problem with skiing on the groomed nordic tracks at Solitude or Alta
(which does have bus service, and more spectacular mountain views from the
tracks), is that they're both at rather high altitude (over 2000m) to be
effective training environments for a short-time visitor. A clear violation
of "sleep high, train low".

My first recommendation for training is to ski lower: in Mill Creek Canyon,
which is also much closer -- it's an extension of the city street 3800
South. It's slope is also fairly evenly graded, for well-calibrated
workouts. The big problem is that I think it's almost 5 miles on the plowed
road until you get to the gate and the (normally in February) snow-covered
ski tracks. Which I guess is why no one else mentioned this option. But if
you're truly dedicated to optimal pre-Birkie training, you could get a taxi
to take you and your skis up past the toll booth to the gate. And if there's
mobile-phone service up there, call the same taxi to come get you (and
assure them that you'll reimburse them for any fee at the toll booth along
the way). Or downhill back to as close to the main road as you need to call
a taxi, or to a bus stop -- maximum 5 miles. Maybe it's easier to wait for
another skier to finish their workout and hitch a ride down with them.

Actually I'd guess the biggest payback is to just take some papers to review
and a laptop on the bus up to Brighton (or Alta, but I think Brighton is a
few meters higher), and just sit in the cafeteria (or in the evening at
Molly's) for a few hours exposure each day. Build your hematocrit the
old-fashioned way.

Of course if you were truly serious about this "sleep high, train low"
hematocrit strategy, you'd take a very warm sleeping bag and a bivy sack
or tent on the bus and get off at Spruces and sleep up there at altitude.
Then again, maybe there's something to be said for the new-fangled "indoor"
approach -- how much do these "ethically responsible" altitude tents cost
nowadays?

Ken

Whoops -- one correction -- the ideas for getting back to the main road
after skiing at Mill Creek Canyon should have said,
"Or could jog or walk downhill back to as close to the main road as you need
to call a taxi, or to a bus stop -- maximum 5 miles. Maybe it's easier to
wait for another skier to finish their workout and hitch a ride down with
them.

I don't want to raise any hope of skiing down part of the plowed road.

Ken

P.S. Thinking about all this reminds of the time I skied all the way up to
turnaround at the top of the Mill Creek road and met another skier. Turned
out he was from the northeast, and he assured me that Lake Placid was the
best place for serious ski training for most of the season, since you didn't
have to worry about muscle-performance limitations of altitude.

Ken, I gave up on the "train high sleep low" thing long time ago. Come
on, let's get real. All the snow is in the mountains. All the housing
(and jobs) is in the valleys. That's how it goes for the most of us.

Solitude Nordic Center sounds like where I want to be.

....obviously I messed up and said how I do it ("train high sleep low"),
not how it should be done

Andrey wrote:
All the snow is in the mountains. All the housing
(and jobs) is in the valleys.

That may be true where you live. It is not usually true of Mill Creek Canyon
in February.

The problem with skiing at Solitude and Alta for short-time visitors from
sea-level is not just a question of optimal training. In my experience it's
the experience of _pain_. Like at Solitude the lodge is at the highest point
on the nordic ski trails, so if you leave the lake area, it's going to be
uphill almost the whole way back to the lodge. I have definite memories of
my dislike of doing that long climb with un-acclimatized blood. And there's
no extra training benefit to that pain.

I think Mill Creek Canyon is just less painful to us seaside dwellers.

Ken

Yes, the initial regimen for the tourist is the same as for the best:
ski slowly. It's important to recognize that different body systems are
competing at altitude, such that going hard, eating large meals,
drinking lots of alcohol and such are going to make sleeping and skiing
less fun.

Gene

wrote:

Ken, I gave up on the "train high sleep low" thing long time ago. Come
on, let's get real. All the snow is in the mountains. All the housing
(and jobs) is in the valleys. That's how it goes for the most of us.

Solitude Nordic Center sounds like where I want to be.

No cell phone service in Mill Creek Canyon, though it is one off the
better places to ski near the Valley.

If you are interested in taking a cab, you could take it to Mountain
Dell, exit 134 off of I-80. There is cell service there, it isn't 8000
ft above sea level and the skiing is good.

Dan Vargo
SLC, UT

In article
, Ken
Roberts wrote:

The problem with skiing on the groomed nordic tracks at Solitude or Alta
(which does have bus service, and more spectacular mountain views from the
tracks), is that they're both at rather high altitude (over 2000m) to be
effective training environments for a short-time visitor. A clear violation
of "sleep high, train low".

My first recommendation for training is to ski lower: in Mill Creek Canyon,
which is also much closer -- it's an extension of the city street 3800
South. It's slope is also fairly evenly graded, for well-calibrated
workouts. The big problem is that I think it's almost 5 miles on the plowed
road until you get to the gate and the (normally in February) snow-covered
ski tracks. Which I guess is why no one else mentioned this option. But if
you're truly dedicated to optimal pre-Birkie training, you could get a taxi
to take you and your skis up past the toll booth to the gate. And if there's
mobile-phone service up there, call the same taxi to come get you (and
assure them that you'll reimburse them for any fee at the toll booth along
the way). Or downhill back to as close to the main road as you need to call
a taxi, or to a bus stop -- maximum 5 miles. Maybe it's easier to wait for
another skier to finish their workout and hitch a ride down with them.

Actually I'd guess the biggest payback is to just take some papers to review
and a laptop on the bus up to Brighton (or Alta, but I think Brighton is a
few meters higher), and just sit in the cafeteria (or in the evening at
Molly's) for a few hours exposure each day. Build your hematocrit the
old-fashioned way.

Of course if you were truly serious about this "sleep high, train low"
hematocrit strategy, you'd take a very warm sleeping bag and a bivy sack
or tent on the bus and get off at Spruces and sleep up there at altitude.
Then again, maybe there's something to be said for the new-fangled "indoor"
approach -- how much do these "ethically responsible" altitude tents cost
nowadays?

Ken