Utah in Feb

Walt wrote:

The only thing they lack is enough really green stuff.

Agreed. I think they'd serve their clientelle better by having more
really easy stuff.

It's something too many resorts lack. DV and the Canyons also. People just
can't establish their skills in an enjoyable environment. as for Snowbird's
green (Emma), ye gods!

I never did ski everything off Jupiter, but had a lot of fun trying!
The run off the top down into McConkey's basin is brilliant and
worth the crawl to the summit.

Did we do McConkey's basin? I think so...

Yep. We're bound to have done McConkey's lift, it's a 6, some good big steep
groomers off that. I dont' think I showed you my favourite trees off Pioneer
though. Love those trees.

Alta's good for the lower end types too, more green (real green)
than its neighbour.

Alta has more real green than most resorts. Nothing from the top down
though.

No, that's a point. But it's a great place for the low-enders who are
freaked by their partner's choice down the road a bit. I put a lot of them
on the bus up the hill.

If you are at PCMR for the powder, you'll see them all mobbing
Payday. So, the evil trick is to scoot down to the old race lift....
mental blank can't remember its name

Eagle lift? Anyway, good tip.

eagle! That's it. We always nicked off down to that, went through the trees
at the unload, skiied the usually-ungroomed thing there down to ... argh,
another mental blank!... and took that up, then took one of the front runs
down back to line-up (men's slalom was my favourite, excellent big bumps,
the boarders tended to bail so they were nice). They called it the
Supervisor's Loop.


Yeah. DV is a bit of a fizzer. I headed over there sometiems (hell,
it was free)

I'd ski it for free anytime.

I had some really pleasant days there, usually unexpected, due to the people
I met and skiied with. Useful shortcut home too, via Empire.... (I'm sure
I showed you the string!).


--
ant
Don't try to email me!
I'm using the latest spammer/scammer's
email addy.

mikec wrote:
Happy New Year. I was lucky enough to score a few days at a friends

Hi Scottie ?

condo in Park City coming up at the end of Feb. Never been to Utah and
am planning on at least one of the days at Alta and the other two at
Park City. Not equipped to go outside the ropes and won't be doing so -

Yeah Scat, we know...

I'm an advanced-expert level skier

Correction, you are definitely NOT SCott

"mikec" wrote in message
...
Happy New Year. I was lucky enough to score a few days at a friends
condo in Park City coming up at the end of Feb. Never been to Utah and
am planning on at least one of the days at Alta and the other two at
Park City. Not equipped to go outside the ropes and won't be doing so -
I'm an advanced-expert level skier so if anyone has some suggestions on
what to hit while I'm there or a good place to grab a beer after skiing
it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

This will start a ****ing match but I'd recommend the Canyons if you get a
dump while you're here. The Canyons is almost 50% black runs and off piste,
and if you get away from the center of the resort, either off of Condor,
9990, or DreamScape, there's some great stuff that most people won't visit.

Best,

SkiFastBadly wrote:

This will start a ****ing match but I'd recommend the Canyons if you
get a dump while you're here. The Canyons is almost 50% black runs

except they're mostly not black

and off piste, and if you get away from the center of the resort,
either off of Condor, 9990, or DreamScape, there's some great stuff
that most people won't visit.

9990 is nice for a morning, and there's some interesting stuff far skiier's
left (around the back) but that Dutch's Draw avvy put me off.

And the food is TERRIBLE except the little restaurant at the top of that
chairlift all by itself. They do an excellent hamburger with a big mushroom
in it instead of the meat. Something-Cabin, very nice.

--
ant
Don't try to email me!
I'm using the latest spammer/scammer's
email addy.

On Jan 9, 10:28*am, "SkiFastBadly"
wrote:
This will start a ****ing match but I'd recommend the Canyons if you get a
dump while you're here.

But if you get a dump at The Canyons, that means there is an even
bigger dump at Alta and Snowbird so what are you doing at The Canyons.

snoig

On Jan 10, 10:46*am, snoig wrote:
On Jan 9, 10:28*am, "SkiFastBadly"
wrote:

This will start a ****ing match but I'd recommend the Canyons if you get a
dump while you're here.

But if you get a dump at The Canyons, that means there is an even
bigger dump at Alta and Snowbird so what are you doing at The Canyons.

snoig

Precisely. I think Alta is reporting about 89". That should put the
crayons at about 14".

snoig wrote:
On Jan 9, 10:28 am, "SkiFastBadly" wrote:

This will start a ****ing match but I'd recommend the Canyons if you get a
dump while you're here.

But if you get a dump at The Canyons, that means there is an even
bigger dump at Alta and Snowbird so what are you doing at The Canyons.

Skiing, instead of sitting at the mouth of LCC waiting for the road to
open. Depends on the size of the dump of course.


//Walt

ant wrote:
Walt wrote:
mikec wrote:
Happy New Year. I was lucky enough to score a few days at a friends
condo in Park City coming up at the end of Feb. Never been to Utah
and am planning on at least one of the days at Alta and the other
two at Park City. Not equipped to go outside the ropes and won't be
doing so - I'm an advanced-expert level skier so if anyone has some
suggestions on what to hit while I'm there or a good place to grab a
beer after skiing it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Sounds like you have the right idea. Since you're staying in PC, do
two days there, and since you're in SLC a daytrip to Alta is a
must-do.
PC has a ton of blue cruisers with lots of high speed lifts to move
you around. You have to go out of your way to find the gnarly stuff
(e.g. the Jupiter Lift), but there's plenty of easily accessed groomed
cruisers, steeps and bumps. Last time I was there our party had the
luxury of getting a grand tour by a charming young Australian woman
from the ski school on her day off. She showed us most of the area,
except for the expert stuff (per my request to ski the cruisers).

erp. Dunno about the charming or young bit. Big place, innit? There's
something there for everybody, which is why it's good for groups. Heaps of
cruisers, some excellent trees (you have to know where they are though, me
and a colleague spent two winters experimenting and concluded that some of
the trees just weren't skiable! They were more like shrubberies), some
enjoyable steeps, and stellar bumps.

The only thing they lack is enough really green stuff. That trail to the
bottom gets a lot of tired beginners where it gets steeper at the bottom.

I never did ski everything off Jupiter, but had a lot of fun trying! The run
off the top down into McConkey's basin is brilliant and worth the crawl to
the summit.

Alta is a very different vibe - fewer lifts, fewer cruisers, but
hundreds of acres of open terrain. The real stuff there isn't really
marked trails so much as open mountain where you pick your own line.
However, you don't "go outside the ropes" to get to it, it's in-bounds
off-piste. If that's not your cup of tea, there are still a lot of
marked pistes, some groomed, some not. Definitely do a day there if
you can arrange it.

Alta's good for the lower end types too, more green (real green) than its
neighbour. We spent a very exciting day there in spring, some days after a
heavy fall. Alta had been closed, and in the interim the sun had come out
and baked a few inches of the surface of the new snow solid. gawd that stuff
was hard to ski! a couple of us hooked up with a ski school chap by the
name of JW who took us around to, I think, High Rustler, and in the pine
trees it was still soft. Great skiing there. Nice relaxed vibe, too, without
the attitude found, er, elsewhere.

Alta is in it's glory after a fresh dump of a foot or more, but that's
assuming you can get there before it's skied out (or at all) and that
you know how to ski deep powder once you do. Although this may seem
counter-intuitive, if there's a big dump you're probably better off
staying in PC rather than trying to make the drive to Alta.

The powder people come out wherever you are, queuing up at the lifts before
they open.

If you are at PCMR for the powder, you'll see them all mobbing Payday. So,
the evil trick is to scoot down to the old race lift.... mental blank can't
remember its name, but it loads down near First Time and takes you up over
the olympic runs. great shortcut.

If Ski Team's open, it's worth the walk up to that, too (or use first time
and skate over to it). Silver King with fresh on is magic.


Some people have recommended Deer Valley. I actually prefer PCMR -
longer runs with more vertical. DV is spread out over a bunch of
hills, none of which are all that big on their own; although it has
over 3k of vert, you can't ski it top to bottom and most runs are
about 1200' or so. But DV is a sui generis and has to be experienced
to appreciate it. Everybody should go there once, so maybe you should
hit it this trip. If it were me, I'd skip DV and spend two days at
PCMR.

Yeah. DV is a bit of a fizzer. I headed over there sometiems (hell, it was
free), and what was nice was how you'd find all these people skiing alone on
the lifts, who'd hook up with you and show you around. In my second season
there, I met a rabbi who really loved DV and he showed me his favourite
trees, which was a revelation. Food at Empire is hard to beat though. And
despite what people say, it's actually good value for money.


As for watering holes, none to recommend other than the deck of
whatever resort you just skied. But you should be aware of the funny
Utah liquor laws. See http://www.slcparty.com/Laws.htm

bars seem to change every season there, best thing is to ask people on the
lifts where's good. O'Shucks in the main street was a bit of a local's
place, ditto No Name (Alamo) which is next door. Proper locals place though
was at the racquet club, going back towards the Meadows district.


Walt/Ant - Thank you, this is good intel. Hope to get to ski some fresh
snow no matter where we end up. I'm going to rent skis that are up to
the task - living on the east coast my Superstars are all i need for the
best Vermont can offer, but anything deeper than a few inches and the
fun factor goes way down.

PCMR looks like the best bet, but i'm pushing for one day at Alta.
Growing up on the east coast we never made it past Colorado - but
Alta/Snowbird was always on the list to do before i die. Thanks again
for the info.

BrritSki wrote:
mikec wrote:
Happy New Year. I was lucky enough to score a few days at a friends

Hi Scottie ?

condo in Park City coming up at the end of Feb. Never been to Utah and
am planning on at least one of the days at Alta and the other two at
Park City. Not equipped to go outside the ropes and won't be doing so -

Yeah Scat, we know...

I'm an advanced-expert level skier

Correction, you are definitely NOT SCott

phewww... thank you for not requiring me to post a pay stub, deed to my
home, and my mother's address to prove i'm not him

"mikec" wrote in message news:4786ace5$0$13888


PCMR looks like the best bet, but i'm pushing for one day at Alta. Growing up
on the east coast we never made it past Colorado - but Alta/Snowbird was
always on the list to do before i die. Thanks again for the info.

One consideration about PC and DV from when I went there several years ago. The
slopes are groomed to death, with no texture on slopes steeper than slopes that
never get groomed where I am. There are lots of people basically going straight
down, turning only when the trail turns, at incredible speeds. To me, it's
boring and dangerous. I couldn't find any decent mogul slopes, until I ended up
at what is now called The Canyons, down the road, with the snowboarders and
telemarkers.