January 30, 2005, Park City, Utah

Down here for a week of skiing. This is my first time skiing outside of Washington. Although the skiing here is great, I really appreciate the real mountains we have in Washington. <br><br>Today we did easy recreational skiing on the Park City Slopes. This ski area is vast. Fun to watch the hotdoggers in the terrain park. Crowds weren't bad. I read that the slopes are less crowded when the Sundance Film Festival is in session. <br><br>Weather is Winter cool, snow is piled up off the parking lots and streets are bone dry - free of snow and ice. Partly cloudy, some blue sky, some sun.<br><br>Snow is plentiful and groomers are perfect - hard to make a mistake here. It dawned on me that destination resort skiing makes it easy for folks that don't ski all the time. However, there is something for everyone here and it's all about having fun and playing on skis and boards. I just did some easy ripping of intermediate slopes. <br><br>Talking to a ski patroller... says he used to patrol Crystal Mt., said that lots of patrollers are pulling out of the Northwest and showing up down here and other Utah resorts. <br><br>Pretty sites: Snow falling through the city lights last night and seeing the sun shining down on Park City from high up on the slopes.

Traded Crystal Mt. for Park City? Must have pretty low expectations for terrain . . .

You should head over the pass, into the city, then up into either Little or Big Cottonwood Canyons. The best skiing in the continental US, imho, for quality of terrain, consistency of excellent snow and access. You pretty much can't go wrong with any other ski areas over there (Brighton to a lesser extent). Personal favorites - Solitude on a powder day and of course Alta. Snowbird has some excellent terrain too. Don't be persuaded by the joint ticket for Alta and Snowbird - it is very expensive and you can't possibly ski even one of these areas in a day, let alone two. Alta doesn't allow snowboarders, something to consider if you have boarders in your group. Enjoy!

LCC absolutely. I spent a season living in Sandy and got the goods on a regular basis. Park City is a different story.

I didn't bring any BC gear with me. I am down here with my wife for vacation and rec-skiing. So I am going to stick around Park City. And it is a lot of fun. <br><br>Yea, the terrain is not like the Cascades. However, the views from the top looking down on the town are spectacular.<br><br>Today (Monday) - Just got back from skiing Deer Valley. A beautiful sunshine and blue sky day. Great snow, perfectly groomed slopes. Deer Valley is vast. Both Park City and Deer Valley are a maze of runs. The DV slopes were fast, I can see where they can do some racing here. Every once in a while there are signs saying what Olympic Event took place there. DV doesen't allow snowboarders and there million dollar homes and condos lining the runs. I've talked to several Washington people here. Even though I am doing fine on my Pocket Rockets, these slopes are for carving skis - you could pretend to be "Downhill Racer".<br><br>If I can get a chance to ski by myself, I hope to find some ungroomed areas. I noticed some non-groomers at Deer Valley that looked inviting, but they were roped off. I was skiing down a cat track and noticed plenty of tracks that went over the side down into the trees. I didn't feel comfortable dropping into stuff where I couldn't see where I would be going.

I don't doubt that Park City is fun - I've had fun days skiing there in Jupiter Bowl. I even had a fun day way back when trying to learn to telemark at Deer Valley. But the Canyons are have a completely different feel - much more like Washington. Quite a bit more rugged, but enough intermediate terrain for a day of skiing. There are two ski areas in each canyon - Solitude and Brighton in Big CC, Alta and Snowbird in Little CC. Probably 1-1.5 hour drive from Park City, even though they are only a valley away (from the top of Park City, you should be able to see Solitude and Brighton, as Big CC is the next valley over). Alta is one of the most famous ski areas in the country and quite historic. If you rented a car, it's not a big deal - take I-80 toward Salt Lake, go south on I-215, follow the signs. If you didn't rent a car, then forget it.

i was just in Park City on sunday, and at Alta the day before. the snow was nice at Alta, and the groomers at PC were excellent. the slopes off jupiter were soft, with some new snow here and there. it was good to get out and ski. i love the Wasatch.<br>

Just finished the last ski run of my vacation... It has been blue sky and sunshine all week - an "Endless Summer of Skiing!".<br><br>I highly recommend Park City, Utah... 45 minutes from the Salt Lake City Airport. The flight was short. Many, many ski runs between three ski areas right here in town. and a couple more within an hour's drive. They had shuttle busses to take folks to the slopes. We drove around the Wasatch area yesterday - took a look at Snow Bowl ski area. That area had pointy mountains like the cascades, real steep right down to the parking lot.<br><br>See you on the slopes for some Spring skiing soon... - Rux

Correction: That was "Snow Basin" ski area we looked at. After visiting the Shooting Star Saloon for one of their famous burgers.<br><br>Now back in good old Washington... I'm really impressed with Utah skiing. There is so much in easy reach of Salt Lake City airport. Had a few hours between checkout and our flight, so we we visited Antelope Island State Park on the Great Salt Lake about 25 miles North of SLC. There is a bison herd roaming that island on the lake. Had a buffalo burger at the island's burger joint. Nice and sunny to right to lift off.<br><br>When I check the Crystal Mt. Cam this morning, I thought I saw a couple of guys skinning up the slope.

Hey Rux,<br>I am from Utah and skied there for 30 years(since I was 5)and it is definitely the best bang for the buck.<br>I was a snowmaker at Park City for 5 years and a lifty before that. That was better than college for me at the time.<br>The mountains are way bigger here for sure, but the quality there is the best.<br>That is awesome that you made it to the shooting star. awesome burger with a knotwurst(sp?) on top!!!!<br>If you are ever up in that area when it is snowing, go to Powder Mountain. It is a small resort with old lifts. There are snowmobiles that will tow you up some slopes and even a bus that will pick you up when you ski the backcountry like runs called powder country.<br>Snow Basin just expanded and there is actually a nice place to eat lunch. There used to be a few old trailers before the olympics.<br>I had a pass at Alta the past 10 years and definitely love it the most.<br>You can get into some awesome backcountry from there.<br>If anyone is going to Utah and need some good beta, please let me know and I will be happy to help.<br>I am going back at the end of the month as well, so if anyone wants to go, let me know.<br>Tickets on Southwest are $58.00 each way right now.<br>I can find a lot of space for anyone on a budget as well.<br>Good friends in low places.

BcPinhead... My wife and I were so impressed with Utah, that we are working on booking next year's trip. <br><br>The Shooting Star Saloon was a kick! It reminded me of the year I spent in Winslow Arizona 30 years ago. It was like nothing had changed. The ceiling is plastered with autographed one dollar bills... must be a couple thou. Had the double bacon cheese burger and a beer.<br><br>Snow Basin looked like a chunk of the NW set down in Utah, it was crowded because of all the demo tents.<br><br>Even though Park City had a 100+ inch base, it hadn't gotten any fresh snow for a while so the runs were well groomed, and very fast. One night we took a horse and sleigh ride up the Park City ski hill to the Snowed Inn and had dinner with some Utah cowboys!

Awesome!!!<br>I thought that the Snowed inn was gone.<br><br>Hope to ski with you sometime and we can share stories!!!<br><br>Bryan

Spent three days Feb 11-13 (Snowbird, then Alta, then Solitude).  No fresh, but the terrain and general vibe got better each day.  Solitude was a nice surprise. The front side is like Summit Central on steroids.  It has a high speed quad and steepish single black diamond groomers. Fun to watch traditional alpine skiers (male) do massive yard sale wipe-outs from top to bottom.  Off to the east of the summit and powderhorn lifts, but still on the front side, are real in-bounds double-blacks that provide entertaining survival skiing opportunities.  Then the whole "back side" of Honeycomb Canyon is just a beautiful, big-mountain environment with a very convenient "get-back" lift to the front; this later lift also has steeps underneath it.  Maybe its just Sunday in Utah but Solitude was pretty deserted, especially compared to the madhouse of Snowbird.  

dkoelle - you really got around. I thought Utah got some fresh snow the weekend previous. But I guess that wouldn't be fresh for you. (Any snow less than a week old is fresh for Washington).<br><br>I wonder why skiers would wipe out on a single black diamond. Moguls?

You know, going 7 million miles an hour in huge arcs on those "carving skis" and I guess catching an edge or something. Too much Red Bull maybe? The kind of guys who spray you with snow as they hurl by inches from you.