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Juan
from Madrid, España
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Nov 25, 2007 |
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Overall Rating: 4.0   |
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Darryl K, I have read all yours reviews of the eastern coast. They are great...now I have read one of a resort where I have been...and all I can say is if I go to a resort i will follow yours reviews, before head up...
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Ben D.
from Salt Lake City, UT
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Oct 12, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.6 |
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I ridden all over the country, numerous resorts in Colorado (Breckenridge, Copper, Keystone, Arapahoe, Loveland, and Snowmass), Mammoth Mountain in California, Big Sky in Montana, Mt. Bachelor in Oregon, all of the resorts in UT, and Snowbird is unmatched with the only exception being Jackson Hole, WY. However, Snowbird usually gets 100 to 200 more inches of snow per season. I shouldn't even be writing this review because I don't want you to come here. It does get busy, especially on weekends and holidays, and I don't want it getting any busier. So stay home or take your ski vacation to a mountain where you won't get hurt. Go to any of the Colorado resorts. You'll probably enjoy them more. They are catered to people like you, people who are as much interested in apres-ski life as the skiing or snowboarding itself. Snowbird is not partyville for the most part, but I manage to find more drink than I need. If riding the most bad ass mountain in the USA is your interest and you want to couple it with a night life, plan to stay in Salt Lake City and commute 40 min. each morning to the mountain. Don't arrive late because Snowbird is a powderhounds mecca.
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Darryl K. Lewis
from Jamaica, New York
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Mar 22, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.2 |
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Skitown Review
Ski resort reviews can be helpful only if you know the skill level and skiing perspective of the person authoring the review. My perspective is focused on the actual skiing experience (Terrain/Crowd/snow/factors), and not so much on the ancillary aspects surrounding skiing. I am a middle-age advanced skier with no interest in jumping off cornices or cliffs. I will often at high speeds hit a small lip in the terrain and get a little air, but thats about the extent of it. I venture in and out of moderate mogul fields in an attempt to become a better all-around skier, but I tend not to spend a majority of my ski day dealing with the bumps. If I had to describe the type of skier with which I most closely identify, it would be a high speed cruiser who enjoys medium to giant slalom turns. Three other ski buddies and I just finished a weeks skiing trip in Utah. We skied Alta, Solitude, Brighton, and Snowbird. With that said, here are my impressions of Snowbird:
Terrain Rated 5.0:
Snowbird was the last resort we visited. I gave previously visited Alta, Solitude, and Brighton a terrain rating of 5. The reason being, is that all three displayed every terrain variable that a skier could desire (steeps, cliffs, chutes, cruisers, bowls, and glades). In comparison to the other three resorts, a maximum but equal rating of 5 does not do Snowbirds terrain justice. For some things in life, size supposedly doesnt matter, but in the case of Snowbirds terrain it is a humongous factor. We were on the front side of the mountain riding the Gadzoom high speed quad lift, and I couldnt keep my eyes away from the vastness of the available expert terrain. My mouth dropped open at the sight of a huge expert bowl, containing the Shireen and Regulator Johnson trails. We then transferred to the Little Cloud lift that traveled directly over this bowl to Snowbirds summit. The amount of skiable, wide open, expert territory of this bowl was breathtaking as well as amazing. Keep in mind that Snowbirds vertical is a little more than 3,400 feet. This bowl was slightly less than one third and is probably about 1,000 plus feet of vertical. In my neck of the woods there are hosts of ski resorts that in their entirety dont have vertical drops of 1,000 feet, and here at Snowbird we were looking at just one its several bowls.
Please dont be fooled by Snowbirds marketing propaganda of being a family mountain. The only families that this mountain can cater to are those who may be related to Bode Miller or Phil and Steve Mahr. This is truly a skiers mountain to be enjoyed by at least upper intermediates to expert skiers. Snowbird has many connecting catwalks that are listed as intermediate runs or blue square trails. Often they are somewhat narrow, get congested, and allow you to pick up some half-way decent speed. Many lower intermediates would be terrified while traveling such routes, and the options are either crashing into a skier ahead or being dumped off over a steep ridge into double diamond territory. You have to be extremely adept at controlling your speed, and at times may have to resort to a very strong wedge (formerly called a snow-plow). Often the intermediate or blue square trails make unmarked turns. Several times we thought we were following an intermediate trail, to surprisingly find out that it turned into an expert trail. We all were saying that if our wives were with us they would have killed us for unknowingly taking them into territory that was drastically over their heads.
But with all this, you still aint seen nothin yet until you enter Mineral Basin. Almost 1,500 vertical feet of wide open, practically treeless, steeps, sometimes moguls, and cruising terrain. When you are at the top of Mineral Basin, skiers below look like ants. Intimating to look down? Absolutely yes! But once you take your first leap of faith, there is nothing but exhilaration thereafter. Go in any direction you like, and turn wherever you wish. Mineral Basin is Snowbirds icing on the cake, and with regard to terrain, is miles ahead of the other three resorts. Heres one last statistic just to give you a perspective of Mineral Basins size. Mineral Basin, by itself, is 500 acres of skiable territory. This exceeds the acreage of any single ski resort in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. If just Mineral Basin were moved to Vermont, it would be the sixth largest ski resort (of a total of what would be 19 resorts) in the state; and would eclipse such ski resort icons as Stowe, Vermont. On our final day of skiing, we had certainly saved the best for last.
Service Rated 3.0:
The service at Snowbird was on par with most other resorts. I didnt detect any gross negligence concerning customer service practices, nor were there exceptional incidences of superior service. The lifts ran well and the people mover tunnel under the summit into Mineral Basin was a unique ski resort experience. At Snowbirds Mid-Gad Lodge restaurant, I had chili for lunch (you could have guessed it). It was the second worst chili that I have ever had in ski country. It was bland as well as watery. Only Vermonts Burke Mountain had chili that was nastier than Snowbirds. There was no meat that I could readily identify, and it was like eating bland tomato soup with a few beans. Yucky!!!!!
Crowds Rating 3.0:
I was quite surprised at the number of skiers/riders that were present on a Monday. The lifts had no real lines to speak of, but I found the slopes to be busy and active. The traversing catwalks were just short of a horror story. It was like roller-derby on skis. Once you got away from the catwalks, the crowds dispersed and the skiing was fine. The lunchtime crowd at the Mid-Gad Lodge was another horror story. You had to wait in line for almost 20 minutes to place a food order, and seating was very hard to come by. Fortunately I could put up with all this as long as the slopes didnt reflect those same conditions.
Activities Rating 5.0:
Snowbird does have a super half-pipe and a terrain park on the front side of the mountain, but we spent so much time in Mineral Basin that we never encountered it. The choices of activities are numerous due to the ski areas proximity to Salt Lake City. On our day off from skiing, we shopped, visited Temple Square, Trolley Square, the University of Utah, and toured inner Salt Lake City. We took a short trip to Antelope Island, which is a desert isle in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. We got a chance to view bison (buffalo) in the wild, and was told that 700 head of buffalo roam the island in an unrestricted but natural setting. On Antelope Island we also had the opportunity to sample some buffalo burgers. Although its flavor was different, it really was quite good.
Value: - Rating 5.0:
The Cottonwood Canyons Super Pass allows you to ski Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, and Alta at a common but reduced lift ticket price. It also allows you free access on the UTA ski shuttle buses to each of these resorts. In addition, it also gives you free access to the light rail system (TRAX) into downtown Salt Lake City. If you stay at any participating lodging facility (which are quite numerous in the Salt Lake City area), you can purchase your Super Pass right at the front desk. The Super Pass allows you to plan a ski vacation without including the price of a rental car.
In summary, from the pure skiing perspective that I present, Snowbird gives everything you could ask from a ski resort. As a matter of fact, this holds true for Alta, Solitude, as well as Brighton. The sizes of the resorts are the differentiating factors, but you wont go wrong if you choose any one of the four. It is extremely tough to rank them, but if I had to, it would be as follows: #1 Snowbird; #2 Solitude; #3 Alta; and #4 Brighton. If this review was helpful, feel free to consult my reviews of Alta, Solitude, and Brighton.
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Gale Znokes
from Salt Lake City, UT
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Jan 7, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.4 |
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So where is the best place to ski when you come to Utah? The answer is Snowbird. If I were you I wouldn't even consider any place else. Snowbird is so uniquely qualified and positioned as the dominant, superior ski resort in Utah it's almost inexpressible. If I were you I would spend at least 90% of your time getting to know the best ski resort in the lower 48 while you are in UT.
You'll like Snowbird if you like what I call "finger tip skiing". Snowbird employed a novel concept when designing their resort. Basically the planners said, "lets make sure all our lifts go to the top of the mountain or appropriate ridge". For some reason unknown to me most other resorts stop their lifts mid-mountain. Hence at other resorts you have to traverse and hike to get to the best skiing (Alta has a massive telemark culture built around this). Of course you can do this at Snowbird but 99% of the time just get off the lift, point your skis downhill and you will be skiing some of the most challenging spectacular terrain you can imagine. Even when you have to traverse to get to some secret honey hole (there are more of these than any other resort) you are usually encountering great skiing along the way because the lift already took you to the top of the mountain. The other thing is all of Snowbird's runs follow the fall line. Again, go to other resorts--the Canyons (and to a lesser extent Park City) is the worst in this respect) and half the time they have carved their runs diagonally through a stand of trees. The runs actually function perpendicular to the direction gravity is pulling you. Its very annoying. Snowbird is at such an high altitude that you can happily ski acres and acres of open bowls. Also because the resort is mostly on private land they can mow down as many trees as they want. Most resorts in Utah are built in the national forest and have to cater to all the tree huggers if they want to cut down a tree or make a new run.
You'll also like Snowbird's if you can appreciate that its possible for one single lift to access more good skiing terrain than what you would expect at an entire other resort anywhere else. The new Peruvian lift is seriously a ski resort in and of itself. It probably has 3000 vertical feet and 20+ runs down everything from green cruisers via cat tracks and groomers to double blacks that will have you have you crying yourself to sleep at night because you can't shake the steep technical memories of the day (this includes a few cliffs that have been featured on the Warren Millers of the world).
You'll like Snowbird if you don't like to ski in the fog. I can't tell you how many days I've had where Alta, right next door at the back of the the canyon is socked in and snowbird is clear. It isn't always the case but enough to be be a noticeable trend.
You'll like Snowbird if you like to get up and down the mountain. The resort is basically all high-speed quads that go to the top of the mountain. They also have foot rests on all their lifts--something that is lost on so many other resorts. Alta is like one generation removed from the rope tow in terms of its lifts. (I'm going to take a minute and go off on a tangent about Alta.) The only thing Alta has going for it it good snow and the fact they don't allow snowboarders. If you like to traverse and hike all day to get a 50 yard stretch of untracked powder then maybe its a place you want to check it out. I truly believe they keep all their old old slow crappy lifts that only go half way up the mountain to slow down the amount of skiing you get and force people to hike--thus preserving the fresh snow a little longer. Its kind of an interesting concept but when you consider that only about 5% of Alta's terrain is steep enough to ski powder more than 12 inches deep you really start thinking twice about that resort. Its hard to describe Alta terrain. I guess the best way to put it is if you moved the rolling hills of Scotland and stuck them in the Utah mountains. Sure there are a few chutes and steeps but inevitably you end up skiing a bunch of this weird short rolling stuff. Alta is a much less technical mountain than Snowbird.
You might be surprised that the other place I recommend skiing besides Snowbird is Deer Valley. Yes its the lair of Bill and Hillary Clinton and every other rich person in the world but that also means it has a lot of skiers that just dink around on the world famous "snow cat carpet". I personally enjoy going to the resort, and scorching a perfectly parallel streak of 11's from the top of the hill to the bottom. It's really quite exhilarating. The other thing is if you go there on a powder day since nobody on the mountain can ski you can have the powder all to yourself. Just watch out for any one of the 22,000 mountain hosts in green jackets. If you so much as speed past 12 miles an hour they will be chewing you out.
The short story is you'll like Snowbird if you like hitting combo-air jumps, dropping all sizes of cliffs, carving big mountain bowls, banging moguls, suffocating in powder, squeezing through narrow chutes, slaloming trees, bombing 50 degree slopes, and skiing advanced terrain in general.
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Juan Aguil
from Madrid, España
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Mar 11, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.0 |
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Great vertical and steep,the best snow on earth, the tram is always crowded.Nothing to do at night...but I didn´t mind. I haven´t done 18 hours flight to go out at night.
Utah..I´ll go again..
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Dave Maynes
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Jan 15, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.2 |
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Yes, Snowbird is ok...but Alta just has much more tradition. So much tradition you could cut it with a knife. Yes, Snowbird has more skiable vertical but Alta suprisingly, even though its not even a hundred yards away from Snowbird gets at least 3 more feet of snow. Don't ask me how....it just does! It's what we like to call, the Alta phenomenon. Plus, I love the old ski chairlifts and the hippie telemarkers with their neck beards!
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greg vogel
from Portland, OR
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Dec 28, 2005 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.8 |
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This is the best resort in Utah. I've been going to college down here, and by now I've been to most of the resorts. Save Beaver and Brian Head. Snowbird is the best resort. The tram line can get crowded on a weekend though. They get the most snow, and is the closest resort to SLC. As a testament to how good they are. I work at Park City Mountain Resort, but I still buy a pass to Snowbird.
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trevor zobell
from slc, ut
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Sep 27, 2005 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.2 |
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snowbird is by far the best free riding in utah . If its a powder day on saterday, wake up early cause the main runs are completly tracked out by 11am. But even a week after a storm, you can still score pow if you know where to look. Their park pretty much sucks, if your into park riding dont even bother with snowbird. get this, thier super pipe is right next to the beginer park! How screwed up is that? And the pipe isnt that great, its icy most of the year, and its not cut very well.
Snowbird is more crowded then the neiboring cottonwood canyon that holds solitude and brighton, but its not too bad. But be preparted to wait up to 45 minutes on little cloud on a pow day. On non-pow days theirs practically no line at all. Did i mention thier park sucks and not to bother with it?
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Ui-Wing
from New York, NY
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Sep 7, 2005 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.0 |
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The Bird is as advertized.... I consider myself an decent skier and I got my rear handed to me by this mountain on a heavy snow day.
A couple of things:
for terrain, this is one of the best. There are some great trails for all levels. The steeps are tough but that's what skiers/boarders should live for...
On a heavy powder day, get powder chords for your skies... I took a bad spill on a bowl with knee deep powder and lost my ski pole... it could easily have been a ski.
The food at the lodge is terrible... it was the biggest disappointment. No one expects great food at a ski lodge but if you wait 30 mins and get dirt on a plate, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
