There Are Still New Things to Behold
What's New at Utah's Ski Areas
If you would have had the fortunate luck to stand atop Mount Ogden a few Saturdays ago, after a brilliant early season storm had blanketed the Wasatch Mountains with a half-foot of snow, you would have seen workers scurrying like ants to complete the three new lodges and new skier services building that lay strung across the breadth of Snowbasin, which in just over two months will host the world's fastest ski racers.
Last winter, while taking a break from skiing Snowbasin, I stood and watched massive logs hoisted into place along the spine of the 45,000 square foot base lodge, the sort of massive logs you can hardly believe exist anymore. The logs were being anchored to a massive stone fireplace that rose through what is now the middle of the lodge.
In its uniquely Utah way, the lodges at Snowbasin speak both of where Utah skiing has been, and where it is headed. Substantial and luxurious, the lodges are also rustic and quaint, and suggest that skiing here is equal parts old-school funk and new world flash.
What can one say, other than it is going to be a great year for skiing in Utah. I was skiing in and around Solitude yesterday, and was startled both at how much snow there was and how few people there were.
Snowbasin's three lodges are just a blip, however, on the larger screen of what Utah's ski areas are offering new to visitors this Olympic year. From new lifts to special rate packages, resorts are offering a host of new amenities and services in hopes that skiers will not be scared away from their usual ski vacations in Utah. Other than for a few days during the Games, the resorts will be open and especially eager to host skiers and their families.
Alta and Snowbird
There was a time when you could talk about Alta and Snowbird as though they were the most different ski resorts in the world. Alta, with its wool and duct tape crowd, and Snowbird, with its money and flash, seemed to have an uneasy truce even though they were only a mile apart from each other in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Now, they are joined.
This summer Snowbird completed its second high speed detachable quad chair in Mineral Basin which offers an easy link to Alta's Sugarloaf chair, now upgraded to a high speed four-seater. The link means that the formerly unbelievable can now be purchased for $68: skiers can link turns from one resort to another, bridging 4,700 acres, 18 chairs, one tram, and seven rope tows, all blanketed by more than 500 inches of snow annually and just 45 minutes from the Salt Lake City International Airport.
'The Alta Snowbird Pass offers a wonderful broadening experience for local and destination skiers to easily access and enjoy the beautiful scenery of both areas,' said Alan Engen, Alta's director of skiing.
Cry your heart out, Colorado.
The $68 lift pass, available to skiers but not snowboarders, will allow skiers to exit Alta's Sugarloaf lift and ski over Sugarloaf Pass, 10,600 feet/3,231 meters, to Snowbird's Mineral Basin, which can be thought of as Snowbird's 'backside.' Both sides - Mineral and Sugarloaf - offer intermediate skiing in an enormously spectacular setting.
Besides their upgrade of the Sugarloaf lift, Alta took the leftover parts from the old Sugarloaf and used them to change the Supreme lift to a triple chair.
Snowbird, meanwhile, has installed more snowmaking. The Utah Transit Authority is increasing the frequency of its bus shuttles that connect the bases of the two resorts.
Brian Head
This southern Utah gem, packed between the high country of the Markagunt Plateau and the red spire territory of Cedar Breaks National Monument, may be hours away from the Olympic action this February but should not be overlooked.
Brian Head has added a new half pipe, extended its terrain park, upgraded facilities at the Giant Steps base area, created more gladed terrain for powder skiing, expanded their Vertical Club Program for lift ticket savings, and now offers a Ski Las Vegas package that allows skiers and snowboarders to enjoy the slopes and the casinos in one trip (the mountain is about three hours from Sin City).
The Canyons
In my opinion, The Canyons expanded its ski terrain on to the best part of the mountain - Dreamscape.
The resort this summer built its 17th lift in the Dreamscape area at the far eastern edge of the already sprawling resort. The new fixed grip triple chair serves beginner and low-angle gladed terrain between Dreamscape and Peak 5. In addition to offering great cruising terrain, the new area also offers spectacular views - that dot in the far horizon you see while turning over on Dreamscape? It's The Canyons' base lodge where you got your lift ticket this morning.
This will also be the first full year for The Canyons Cabriolet. Not a cute Volkswagen, the Cabriolet is actually a sort of open-air gondola linking the resorts' parking lots to the pedestrian base area, and is great both for its novelty, its quick ride, and its ability to keep traffic and congestion away from the ski lifts.
Also new this year is a terrain park, directly accessed from the Red Hawk lift on the front face of the resort. The resort has also added its fifth snowboarders' rail. The park will be groomed and tweaked daily by the terrain park manager, Eric Brown.
Other new things: paved and expanded parking area and snowmaking.
Deer Valley
Deer Valley needs no saccharine introductions: build upon a solid historical foundation of skiing, this Park City-area resort is perhaps the world's premier luxury ski destination, bar none. Its trails are groomed to perfection, its chairlifts are thickly padded, its restaurants are top-notch, and its bathrooms are the nicest in the business. Deer Valley is class, through and through.
Reflecting that, the resort invested over $8 million this year in improvements, including the completion of the Empire Canyon Lodge at the bottom of the Empire Express and Ruby lifts high on the mountain. The new lodge embodies the same ideal of luxury found in Deer Valley's other slopeside retreats.
The resort also completed a $1 million, two-acre, 15 million gallon snowmaking pond on Bald Mountain adjacent to the Sunset West ski run. The pond features an area for wildlife to drink.
Also, Deer Valley replaced the Quincy triple chair - which serves intermediate and expert terrain from near the Silver Lake Lodge - with a high speed four-seater. The resort also continued its improvements to the Olympic slalom and freestyle mogul and aerial venues, purchased a new reservations system, replaced five snowcats, and purchased eight more snowguns.
Elk Meadows
This great mountain in southern Utah, probably my favorite ski area in the state, continues to think big but so far is still treading water. The resort, which did not open last year due to a management decision, has cut trees for lifts and new runs but so far has not installed any new equipment. Unfortunately, the resort did not return my email requesting more detailed information. When the lifts get going, you'll get to enjoy the mountain's quadruple, triple, and three double chairs and one poma lift. Elk Meadows sports 36 trails which follow the fall line across 420 acres and a 1,400 foot vertical drop.
Park City
The base of Park City these days appears to hold a handful of lodges, some ski lifts waiting for the snow to fall, and a football stadium.
Actually, that tall collection of bleachers and steel supports is not for football but instead will serve as spectator seating during the Olympics. The men's and women's alpine giant slalom and all snowboard events, as well as the men's and women's snowboard halfpipe and men's and women's parallel giant slalom events will all finish near the base of the Eagle lift.
Like most of the resorts in Utah, Park City was ready for the Games long before the Games were ready for it. This year the resort added a racers' handle tow accessing the Eagle lift, a competition management building, a mobile structure used for timing, scoring, sport production and competition administration, a 17-foot wall superpipe served by the early-to-open Payday lift, and a plethora of new activities and skier services, including ski bikes, 'Thrill Sleds,' and a resort identification system that can be used to purchase lift tickets, food, merchandise and services are the resort.
Snowbasin
Like I said earlier, you might go skiing at Snowbasin this year, but you'll want to spend plenty of time in the lux new base lodges.
The main 45,000 square foot lodge will be located on the east side of the lower parking lot and have the same style and architect as the River Run lodge in Sun Valley, Idaho, which has rock, stucco and log on the outside, as well as cedar shingles and copper rain spouts. (Snowbasin is owned by Earl Holding, who owns the Little America hotel chain and the Sun Valley resort.) This day lodge, which will hold 550 people, will include restaurants, a lounge, bar, ski school desk, meetings rooms, and U.S. Forest Service offices. Best of all, it will replace a badly-outdated and overcrowded base lodge that served the resort for decades but got to smelling like damp dirty socks at the end of a particularly crowded lunch hour.
A new skier services building, where you can buy lifts tickets, rent skis and get tune-ups and repairs, is being built across from the day lodge. This building will also house the children's ski school and showers and lockers.
Up on the mountain, workers are also wrapping up a 16,000-square foot day lodge at the top of the Middle Bowl Express gondola and a 12,500-square foot day lodge at the top of the John Paul chair. Both lodges will be fully accessible and feature restaurants, restrooms, and decks and the occasional glimpse down to the Ogden Valley.
This summer the resorts plans to construct new hiking and mountain biking trails that will connect to existing Forest Service trails.
Like other Olympic areas, Snowbasin got the brunt of its Oly construction out of the way years ago. In recent years the mountain has added a plethora of gondolas, trams and chairlifts; the resorts now counts 53 runs, many of which are huge open bowls, served by two gondolas, one high speed quad, four triple chairs, one double chair, and one tram. The Olympic downhill, the sexiest of all Olympic events, will start high on Allen's Peak and No Name and drop down to the parking lot, where a huge runout area has been constructed and a stadium is being erected. Snowbasin will host not only the men's and women's downhill races but also the Super-G races, combined downhills, and paralympic events.
Solitude
Solitude used to be a locals hangout near the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon, but these days the budding resorts features fast lifts and a Euro-style base village. This summer, work was completed on Eagle Springs East, a rust lodge with design and architectural details inspired by the Tuscany region of Italy. It features 46 luxury condo units (picture: natural slate floors, hand-finished furnishings, fireplace) and a central check in for all lodging guests at the resort, as well as two 18-person hot tubs, a swimming pool with slide and waterfall, and locker room and showers.
And if there is an East then there must me a West: Eagle Springs West will break ground next spring and feature 48 condo units and an elevated stone arch walkway connecting the two areas.
This winter will be the first full season for Solitude Back Tracks, a guided backcountry skiing tour for groups of up to ten advanced skiers. Two accomplished guides will take you and your buddies to an out-of-the-way backcountry ski slope and let you loop and figure-8 to your heart's content. Lunch, of course, is included, as is an avalanche beacon, backpack, climbing skins and snacks.
Also new for this season, the Inn at Solitude is offering an all-inclusive rate plan that combines breakfast and dinner at the St. Bernard, an all-day lift pass, and a room at the posh hotel, starting at $205 per person, with the second adult $150 a day and kids $50 each a day.
What's that I said at the beginning about skiing already? That's right: my friend Laura took a telemark skiing class at Solitude yesterday, and I skiing in the backcountry in the morning and then joined her in the afternoon. I'm sure you heard the news: we had nary a skiff of snow on the ground the day before Thanksgiving, and then in five days the mountains picked up darned close to 100 inches. Prest ... winter! You see? You're missing it already.
 |
Back to top |  |
Print this page |  |
E-mail this page |
