Alta still rocks!

[David_Parker]

Just had 5 powder days in a row in Utah including 20" of new at Alta on New Years day. It had been awhile since I'd skiied there and it still is the best place on the kind powder day....no friggin boarders!!!!!!!!! I saw more tele skiers in the first 5 minutes than I've seen all year in Washington. But that was partly because anyone with 1/2 a brain was NOT in the backcountry that day. Man, I am so glad to get powder days in Utah!!

 

Hey, Larrythellama, how's that Sierra Cement?

[JayB]

Way to time it.

 

After skiing at Snowbird it's clear to me that both the terrain and the snow in Utah just absolutely destroy anything that Colorado has to offer.

[blue_morph]

Fuck Alta!

[ken4ord]

Agreed, F Alta and their no boarding rule! Not that I would want to ride that terrain when Snowbird is right their, and in the next canyon there is Brighton and Solitude.

[crazy_t]

Regarding the terrain, ever heard of Crested Butte?

[JayB]

The Butte does apparently have some decent terrain - but how oftent is it open consistently? A-Basin has some decent terrain - bit it too suffers from an inconsistent snowpack most years. One lift with decent terrain out of several dozen is still pretty sad.

 

I probably logged around 80 days in Summit County and during my stay in Colorado and it wasn't terrible - but it certainly didn't live up to the hype. I grew up dreaming about skiing at the big Colorado resorts after taking in the hype in the magazines and elsewhere - and shortly after arriving concluded that they were good places for church groups from Texas and middle aged executives to shred corduroy in their one-pieces and white rear-entry one-buckles, but had very little to offer in the way of steeps, and even less in the way of deeps.

 

Seems like no matter where I go my favorite resorts are Blackcomb/Whister and Crystal, in that order. Incredible terrain, and tons of deep snow just about every time I ski there. It's heavier than the continental stuff, but the bottom line is that if you couldn't ski the stuff with the old straight skis, the problem had nothing to do with the skis, and if you can't ski it with the new mid-fats, you suck beyond all redemption and should probably hang up the boards for good, and/or contemplate suicide.

[JRCO]

JayB,

 

I can't argue the terrain but you can't argue the $320 season pass to five resorts.

[JoshK]

Yeah, I can vouch for the overrated terrain of CO. All my friends at school, from all around the country, have been up skiing a bunch since the resorts all open early due to snowmaking. I don't know how they can get excited for a couple of open groomers?? None of them even know what real terrain is...

 

I have heard Utah is much better, and I believe it. Too bad the state itself sucks balls.

[JayB]

JRCO- you've got a point there. That was a pretty sweet deal, and when the snow actually started to kick in in late March/early April the skiing there was actually pretty sweet.

 

If you are a jibber CO Summit county is also pretty good - as Breckenridge, Vail, and Copper all have reasonably good parks. The Park at Keystone sucked big time - get enough air to clear the table-tops and you were sure to knock out some fillings on the way-too-flat landings. Multiple knee injuries kept me out of the parks most of the time, and my retinue of tricks was limited to weak old-school maneuvers and combos thereof - but it made things quite a bit more engaging when the conditions sucked.

[David_Parker]

Agreed, F Alta and their no boarding rule! Not that I would want to ride that terrain when Snowbird is right their, and in the next canyon there is Brighton and Solitude.

 

Ken, I'm so sorry you went straight to snowboarding before learning to ski. If you had learned to ski first, you would probably be doing both now, and then you could go to Alta!

 

Alta is not the best for snowboarding anyways, especially with the Bird next door. So much of Alta is traversing out and hiking to get the real goods which explains why there are so many tele skiiers. Snowbird requires much less hiking but also gets trashed sooner on a powder day.

 

When I lived in Utah, we had a saying...."Colorado is for people who haven't discovered Utah!"

 

As far as Utah being a "fucked" state, well what are you talking about? The people or the state itself. I think Utah is one of the most diverse and beautiful states in the lower 48.

 

If you can't figure out how to party in Park City, go the fuck home!

[ken4ord]

Agreed, F Alta and their no boarding rule! Not that I would want to ride that terrain when Snowbird is right their, and in the next canyon there is Brighton and Solitude.

 

Ken, I'm so sorry you went straight to snowboarding before learning to ski. If you had learned to ski first, you would probably be doing both now, and then you could go to Alta!

 

Alta is not the best for snowboarding anyways, especially with the Bird next door. So much of Alta is traversing out and hiking to get the real goods which explains why there are so many tele skiiers. Snowbird requires much less hiking but also gets trashed sooner on a powder day.

 

When I lived in Utah, we had a saying...."Colorado is for people who haven't discovered Utah!"

 

As far as Utah being a "fucked" state, well what are you talking about? The people or the state itself. I think Utah is one of the most diverse and beautiful states in the lower 48.

 

If you can't figure out how to party in Park City, go the fuck home!

 

I use to ski Utah, it is where it all started for me, hell I live between the two canyons there near Wasatch Blvd. When I was skiing I liked Alta, but prefered the other resorts over it. Definitely aggree that with all the traversing terrain it would not make a good snowboarding mountain anyway. I just find it somewhat humorous some skiers and in this case resorts attitude towards snowboarding.

 

As for Utah being fucked up I am sure they meant the people, becasue like you said it is amazing country out there and would be the ultimate place to live if the ocean was nearby as well.