Alta Road Trip delivers the goods
Timing is everything when it comes to telling a good joke, being a great cook—especially when skiing road trips are concerned. This week the Backcountry Skiing Canada team hit it big with a short but sweet trip to Alta Ski Resort in Utah. With the recent dry spell that has plagued most of British Columbia and the West Coast in general along with easing Covid travel restrictions, it seemed like an ideal time to get out of dodge to ski somewhere different for a few days.
Fortunately, a low-pressure system was due to bear down on the Wasatch Mountains just before my scheduled arrival in Salt Lake City. While slightly disappointed that I’d miss the brunt of the storm I was more than happy to ski day-old-pow. As luck would have it my timing could not have been better and the real storm materialized the day I arrived and did not let up until I left a few days later. In total, the storm raged for two days and dropped one of the biggest snowfalls Alta Ski Resort had seen all season.
The retired and soon-to-be-replaced two-seater Albion Chair with storm snow piling up on it.
Day one started out with a few fresh inches blanketing the mountain with the storm intensifying over the course of the day and into the night providing an impressive 15” of fresh by morning. When all was said and done the storm total was a nice round 24” or two feet—and skiing was, of course, epic. Having not visited Alta for almost a decade it was nice to be back and rediscover what makes this resort so iconic.
With 2,538-feet of vertical and 116 marked runs, Alta isn’t the largest resort but it does possess a unique vibe that most modern ski resorts lack. Established in 1939, Alta installed the second chairlift in the western United States, shortly after Sun Valley Resort in Idaho. With its roots in silver mining, the town of Alta dates back to 1871 when there were over 180 structures supporting all those hoping to strike it rich.
Alta has a reputation as one of the best ski resorts in North America since it’s a skiers-only mountain (literally, as snowboarders are not allowed) and it typically gets the most snow of all Utah ski resorts, as storms come up Little Cottonwood Canyon and hang at the end of the valley where Alta is located and just dump precipitation. This was the case on the two days I skied there, very little snow in nearby Salt Lake City and nuking at Alta—typical.
After my legs were warmed up and my sense of direction honed skiing in a near white-out for most of the previous day, I was ready to take full advantage of the storm snow that awaited me on the second day. Awoke by avalanche bombing at 6:00 am and Interlodged—not allowed to leave the hotel until 8:00 am due to high avalanche danger meant that this was going to be a big day. First in line at the Sunnyside Chair, I was forced to wait until 10:40 am until the mountain was deemed safe enough to allow skiers to load the chair. The first to fourth laps were on the Supreme Chair where knee-deep skiing to thigh deep snowdrifts were everywhere. First tracks in cold smoke pow was a welcome reward after such a long drought and no better mountain to enjoy it on than Alta with iconic zones like the Catherine’s Area, Baldy Chutes, Devil’s Castle, The Ballroom, and the High T. Alta’s terrain is vast, consisting of 2,624 skiable acres, including chutes, hike to secret stashes, and long fall line bump runs everywhere.
After a delicious lunch at Alta Lodge, it was time to head over to the Collins and Wildcat Chairs to see how things were filling in from the heavy snowfall and gusting winds. The trees provided late afternoon fresh tracks and pushed my legs to do just one more run until the end of the day when I retreated to the Snowpine Lodge, which is located slope side and even has its own chairlift to get you back up the slope to the lodge. Snowpine is a luxury mountain lodge that provides first-class amenities and gourmet food at Swen’s Restaurant. With a games room, spa, pool, and two hot tubs there is always plenty to do après ski.
The rooms are plush at the Snowpine Lodge with slopeside accommodations and great views when it's not snowing.
Over two feet of fresh snow well over the course of two days making for great skiing and very few places to relax poolside.
After only two days of skiing, it was time to head back north of the border, but at least I fulfilled my powder craving and was more than satisfied. Sadly, due to high avalanche conditions, there was no ski touring to be had on this road trip but who needs to tour when you have lift access to twenty-four inches of the good stuff.
Alta remains one of my favourite ski resorts and I’m sure I’ll be back again sometime soon, I just hope that my timing is just as good the next time.