Utah (SLC area) Trip Advice sought! thanks!

[Bcar]

FINALLY, got a UT trip booked.

My two biggest questions, where to stay on the cheap and to rent a car or not?

Here’s my ballpark thoughts/timeline. I’m open to pretty much anything.
Fri Feb 20-Sun Mar 1.

If anyone is around and wouldn’t mind me tagging along, Id LOVE to make some BC turns and get some BC touring in out there… I’ll buy beers! Expert skier, will ski anything up to 20ftrs (more if the snow is killer) can make it down pretty much anything. I’ll prob have 20 days in by then, have all my gear, avi 1 cert, all the usual prereqs. Def not a rando racer type on the up. My fav places to ski, Silverton, Telluride, A-basin for what that’s worth…

Friday (night) stay in SLC (cheapest)
Sat. ski Solitude or Brighton?? (I’m guessing Solitude will be one of the least crowded places on a Saturday?) Want to be somewhat closer to SLC, have to pick people up that night at airport. Brighton or Solitude?

Sat/Sun stay Park City
Sun ski Canyons
Mon ski Park City (less crowded on a Monday I’d guess)
I know I know, WTF go there (trust me, not my 1st choices), but we’re meeting friends for a few days and that’s where they’ll be, bla bla bla.

Mon stay SLC.
Tues-Friday ski Alta/Bird
Tues-Friday stay Alta or Bird (we’re going to suck it up and pay the extra $ to stay up there) Which is better to stay at? And which lodge is best/better? Or is it pretty easy to stay near Cottonwood Heights and drive in each day?

Friday/Sat stay SLC or at Solitude? Any cheap places to stay in Solitude? Or is it close enough to just stay in SLC and drive in to save some cash?
Sat/Sun ski Solitude (again, less crowds on weekends?) or best to just stay at Alta/Bird for another 2 days?

Thanks in advance! I cant wait...

 

[Admin]

FINALLY, got a UT trip booked.

Glad to hear that you've seen the light. :wink:

If anyone is around and wouldn’t mind me tagging along, Id LOVE to make some BC turns and get some BC touring in out there…

Most of us Utah locals on these boards should be around, but I personally don't do much touring at that time of year when the lift-served is so good. Happy to join you for some lift-served turns, however -- get a hold of me as the date approaches.

Sat. ski Solitude or Brighton??

Given your description of yourself I'd head to the 'tude out of those two.

Tues-Friday stay Alta or Bird (we’re going to suck it up and pay the extra $ to stay up there) Which is better to stay at? And which lodge is best/better? Or is it pretty easy to stay near Cottonwood Heights and drive in each day?

Really easy and saves a ton of coin. There's something to be said, though, for the old-fashioned, meal-inclusive, group-dining type of ski lodge experience at Alta that's a throwback to the ski vacations of the 50s. I've only stayed at Alta Lodge myself, but I've also dined at the Rustler and the Peruvian. The latter has the lowest priced accommodations, while the former is the most high-end of the bunch.

Any cheap places to stay in Solitude?

I haven't priced them, but given the typically low occupancy I can't imagine that they're that pricey.

Or is it close enough to just stay in SLC and drive in to save some cash?

Yes.

Sat/Sun ski Solitude (again, less crowds on weekends?) or best to just stay at Alta/Bird for another 2 days?

Personally I'd opt for the latter given the greater acreage to explore.

 

[rfarren]

I stay in sandy, most often at the holiday in express. It's around 60 bones a night and comes with breakfast and warm cookies in the evening. It is about a 8 minute drive to the mouth of llc. The only problem is: if they close llc due to a big storm you are locked out of the fun.

 

[Admin]

I stay in sandy, most often at the holiday in express. It's around 60 bones a night and comes with breakfast and warm cookies in the evening. It is about a 8 minute drive to the mouth of llc. The only problem is: if they close llc due to a big storm you are locked out of the fun.

That's when there's BCC, and the Park City areas, and the Ogden Valley.

Chances are if LCC road is closed the ski areas are probably under interlodge anyway.

 

[Tony Crocker]

That's when there's BCC, and the Park City areas, and the Ogden Valley.
Chances are if LCC road is closed the ski areas are probably under interlodge anyway.

This is a big reason why you want to have a rental car.

Staying up in LCC is expensive unless you have some kind of connection. It does give you a shot at winning the powder lottery when the lifts are open but the road is not. But I've been 3-4 days at the Iron Blosam since 1996 and it hasn't happened to me yet. It happened the day after I left in 2006. :x

With 10 days I would check out Snowbasin and/or Powder Mt. Unless it's very warm, in which case their snow will go to spring conditions faster than LCC or BCC.

 

[sszycher]

Please don't interpret this as a reason to stay up in the Canyon (although if you/your group can find a midweek "deal", by all means pursue it; life is great staying up in LCC!), but I have had the experience of staying down in the Valley, and not being able to get up to LCC (even when the lifts were running) because they (Utah DOT?) were doing avy control work on the LCC road.

I'm not sure if the locals will agree with this, but my somewhat limited experience is that the BCC road usually opens up before the LCC road. This seems kind of odd, since the BCC road has some serious switchbacks, but maybe it's due to slides on the LCC road?

Speaking of slides on the LCC road, I was out in UT during the crazy month of (going by memory) Jan 95 when one or both of 2 things happened on the mountain roads: (1) a boulder came crashing down on a vehicle, killing or injuring the folks inside; (2) a slide knocked a Utah transit bus of the LCC road, and folks were pulling over to help get the passengers out of the bus whihc had been pushed off the side of the road.

 

[Admin]

I'm not sure if the locals will agree with this, but my somewhat limited experience is that the BCC road usually opens up before the LCC road. This seems kind of odd, since the BCC road has some serious switchbacks, but maybe it's due to slides on the LCC road?

Agree wholeheartedly, which is why BCC was among my list of recommendations for skiing when the LCC road is closed. The BCC road is much less avalanche-prone, so it takes far less control work to get it open. That said, it's my opinion and that of most other locals that I know that the visitor fear of being shut out of accessing the LCC ski resorts is way overblown. The road often closes in the a.m. for control work but opens on time, or only slightly late, and more often than not if the road is closed the ski areas are locked down by interlodge as well.