Great Skiing near Salt Lake City

The ski areas within an hour’s drive of Salt Lake City are some of the best on earth. Here is a look at three, Solitude, Snowbird and Alta.

Solitude
Solitude Mountain Resort is aptly named: lines are non-existent; runs are wide open, perfectly groomed and—most importantly— uncrowded. Just 40 minutes from the Salt Lake City International Airport, you’ll find seclusion, powder and great value. Solitude has two main bases: the Village and the new Moonbeam.

Expect up to 42 feet of light powder, a quiet ambiance with 1,200 acres of wide-open bowls, gladed runs, steep chutes and smooth groomers.

If you’re into the danger zones, tear down Paradise on the front side from Eagle Ridge, then visit Honeycomb Canyon for some steep and deep. The Summit and Sunrise chairs will afford more adrenalin rushes in Headwall Forest.

But Solitude is not just for the gonzo guys. Its beginner and intermediate terrain is heaven. The ski school is right at the base of the new Moonbeam Lodge. Look for the Snowsports Academy building right next door.

Director of its ski school is Norwegian Olympic skier Leif Grevie, formerly with Vail and Breckenridge. He came to Solitude after many years at these two resorts, finally realizing that crowding is not conducive to learning. Solitude, as I said, is aptly named.

All amenities for lessons—tickets, equipment, instructors, etc.—are available at the Snowsports Academy.

The academy also provides a cool sleigh that takes kids back and forth between the two bases. “The kids just love it,” says Grevie. “We can drop kids at either base and the parents don’t have to worry.”

Getting around the two Solitude base areas is easy. Ski to the village from the top of any lift on the mountain. The quickest route on snow is to ride the Link Lift from the Moonbeam base area, then ski down to the village. If you’re wiped, take the Solitude Shuttle in front of the Moonbeam Lodge to the village.

The original village base area has dining and lodging facilities and the new Moonbeam base facility features a snack bar, shops and shuttle connections to the main village.

Also, check out the Yurt restaurant. You’ll have to snowshoe or cross-country ski to and from dinner, but it’s well worth it. It’s booked every night for a hoot of fabulous food, BYO bottles and lots of swapping of lies!

Go to www.skisolitude.com for more information.

Alta
If you’re looking for a skier’s mountain with some history, longevity, great snow and a throwback to the past, Alta is the place for you. The 67-year-old Alta ski area, just 45 minutes from the Salt Lake City airport, is best known for four features:
• Its exquisite snow and grooming.
• Some extremely difficult terrain.
• The fact that it opened in 1938, making it one of the oldest ski areas in North America.
• The fact that it does not allow snowboarders and has no plans to do so in the future.

But here’s a big surprise! Alta also has the Salt Lake region’s best beginners’ terrain, ski school and access for skiers just starting their hillside career.

Alta, a productive mining town in the late 1800s, is awash in history. Silver was its claim to fame until the Mother Lode diminished and entrepreneurs hauled the old aerial trams out of the mines and erected them as lift towers for the original Collins lift from the village.

Needless to say, the Collins lift has since been upgraded to a detachable quad with an angle station, installed in 2004. This mid-station meeting place is now home to a new mountain lodge, Watson Shelter, a great venue for lunch at the cafeteria or in the European-style fine dining room.

If you’re shopping, check out the Alta Logo store as well. On a bluebird day, views of Mt. Baldy are a knockout from an outdoor dining deck.

Although Alta’s mining days are gone, the place hasn’t changed much. A high percentage of visitors are repeats who return to Alta every year at the same time to re-visit with other families who book during common months. Some folks we met had been coming for 30-plus years.

As you imagine what it would have been like to live here without a road or plumbing, but with the hope of striking it rich, imagine what it would have been like to come to Alta for a day of skiing in 1939, with one T-bar operating and an infinite amount of unskied powder! Minus the one T-bar, everything else is pretty much the same today but with many new improvements.

Even though snowboards are not allowed, Alta has a terrain park. It offers jumps, a luge, rails and a box—all for skiers who enjoy the fun play time.

Every day this season, skiing is free after 3 p.m. on Alta’s Sunnyside detachable triple lift. This area serves beginners from Alta’s Albion base and is a great area for warm-up runs, never-evers or those just getting back into their ski groove.

Alta also offers guided snow-cat skiing (and boarding, but not inside the ski area) in Grizzly Gulch, next to the ski area. Start your day at the Albion base. Following orientation and continental breakfast, board a heated snow cat bound for the top of Grizzly Gulch, elevation 10,500 feet. The guided runs take skiers and boarders on 1,500 feet of vertical drop. Cost is $250 for five runs; phone (801) 799-2271.

Snowbird
Even though you can’t snowboard from Snowbird to Alta, you can ski from Alta to Snowbird and back. The Snowbird/Alta Ski Areas comprise 6,000 acres of skiable terrain of pure powder. Twice the skiing fun on one ticket, the two ski areas together rank Number1 for multi-day options.

First Tracks at Snowbird is a memorable experience. Take the aerial tram to the top, get a head start on the breakfast buffet and then put down your own first tracks on the virgin runs before the mountain opens to the public. There’s nothing like it, especially if it’s a blue-sky day—or even if it’s not.

Ski the steeps of Baldy, the double blacks of Hidden Peak off the Mineral Basin Tram and the Little Cloud Lift. Then take the Gad 2 Lift for more double blacks and some awesome terrain. Actually, any lift you choose will afford some challenging terrain.

If you need more excitement in your snow experience, Wasatch Powderbird Guides offers guided backcountry skiing and snowboarding as well as scenic flights.

For some bluer skies (and runs), take the tram and look for the blues—Chip’s Run and Rothman Way, or the Gadzoom Quad, which accesses Backasswards, Bananas and Election.
Greens are hard to come by if there’s been no grooming. There’s a mountain school learning center off Wilbere Lift, but it’s a tough trip from the base area. The Chickadee Lift, adjacent to the Snowbird Lodge, is perfect for beginners and first-timers. It’s always groomed, even when the other greens are not.

Lynn Rosen and Steve Giordano are members of the North American Snowsport Journalists Association. Steve is chair of the Western Chapter of the Society of American Travel Writers. Both are contributing editors to the guidebook Ski America (www.skisnowboard.com), and Steve is Northwest editor of www.onthesnow.com.