2019.01.18 Alta and Snowbird

2019.01.18 Utah: Alta-Bird, Solitude, Deer Valley

This was our first visit to Alta. My sense of snow was reborn here. We spent all of your 5 pass days at the Alta base because it was very comfortable and accessible. We made the trip over the Snowbird side, but really fell at home in Alta.

Alta has the best snow. (I’ll write more on this later)

Alta is my “favorite” ski area. Not the biggest. Mountain Vertical measured their “true-up” vertical rise at 2005 ft, modest by western-USA standards, about average for Utah. The majority of the terrain is covered by three high-speed quads (4-seat chair lift) and one old-fashioned fixed grip. There are also a couple small lifts in the green area, and a surface tow connecting bases. For most runs at Alta, you have three main lifts to choose from. So it’s not a big place, but yet, every time I go I visit areas I hadn’t been to before. The geology is such that space is folded in wrinkles and there is more skiable area than typical for so many square units of flat-plane horizontal area. Also, many areas are difficult to get to, so one can find new ways around with more time on slope.

Alta is a bowl at the top of a high-elevation canyon. This characteristic feature of Utah geology acts like a snow globe during storms. The prevailing storm direction is West-to-East, so incoming winter storms pass first over the lake, picking up moisture, and then get stuck at the end of the cul-de-sac called Little Cottonwood Canyon, and concentrate their snowfall in the Alta bowl. Such storms come on average a few times per week, meaning that Alta almost always has a fresh coat. Bonus, skis only, no boards to plow the snowpack. This combination of factors work together to produce what they claim is the best snow on earth. So far, I aint seen nun better.

HIGH TRAVERSE

Parts of Alta require some work to get there. While I have limited interest in hiking, especially up-hill, in the layout of Alta, these hikes are a feature, not a bug.

If you prefer to ski under lifts all day, Alta’s big 3 plus Wildcat cover the mountain nicely. But if you look around, you’ll see many slopes and open mountain faces with no obvious down-hill access. A quick hike up about 15 vertical feet off Collins lift will reveal a path to Greeley bowl, with plenty of runs to drop into the bowl along the way.

Because it is more difficult to get here, these bowls and faces hold their powder surface much longer after a storm compared to the main drag. Combine this with Alta’s lion share of nearly every passing storm, and you are almost guaranteed to find powder somewhere, once you learn how to navigate the folded space, and exert some effort to cross the precipice.