 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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excitableboy, I would guess the Film festival will push up prices but could be fun. We would do all Park City next time as the drive wasn't that much worse than from SLC and the nightlife was significantly better. Than anywhere else.
Ski in Solitude. I reckon it might even be better than Alta on a big powder day. It will certainly by quieter. Creekside does a nice lunch.
Do the Interconnect back country tour. We didn't, long story, wish we had.
Eat at "Chimayo". Quite amazing food - not cheap but well worth it.
If you must ski Deer Valley...lunch at the River Street Cafe (in the posh bit). The only civilised on mountain dining we had all week. In Alta, we reckoned the best eating was at the foot of "Supreme".
Don't eat at the River Horse Diner. Good food but pretentious and very, very expensive. Virtually no non-American wines on the list. I generally reckon that's a bad indicator.
You'll note that a civilised eating experience is required by my party. FWIW, we're all competent recreational skiers and have many off piste feet under our belts - so it's not just lardy lunches that get Utah the points. We will go back (although Montana and Jackson Hole are also in the queue).
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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excitableboy,
Don't know anything about the condo you mention, so no help there. A couple of thoughts on Utah skiing (keep in mind I'm an intermediate who's only done one trip there. I think if you don't go to the Cottonwoods canyons resorts (Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton) you're cheating yourself. We did a day at Deer Valley, great food, then a day at The Canyons, which is sort of a clumsy layout but we thought the scenery was better and liked skiing there more than Deer Valley. Then we drove over to Alta (45 minutes to 1 hour from Park City). The scenery was much better and it was simply the best day of skiing I've ever had. When we go back we'll definately spend more of our time at Alta than in the Park City area resorts. I hear nothing but good things about Solititude and Snowbasin, so those would be on my short list for my next visit as well. There are companies that will transport you from Park City to the Cottonwood Canyons resorts, it's not wildly expensive. This is not to say the Park City skiing resorts are bad, it's simply that they aren't the best that Utah has to offer, IMO. By reputation, Park City is very packed during the Sundance Film Festival, but the slopes are reputed to be quite empty. Lots of folks in town, but they're mostly not skiing. The Wasatch Brew Pub has excellent beer and decent food at decent prices. The No Name Saloon has the best burgers (Buffalo burgers, actually) I've ever eaten, and prices are very modest. I think the Food at Deer Valley is very good, we had lunch at the Silver Lake Lodge one day and it was spectacular. We did eat at Chimayo, and we thought the presentation was fantastic but we didn't think the quality was worth the price -- perhaps we ordered the wrong dinners or caught them on a bad night.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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RISkier, re Chimayo? You live in the US so maybe you get better selection of Southwestern fine cuisine than we do here? Or maybe we got a "good" night and made the "right" selections. One of our party consistently chose the "wrong" dishes every single night. His impression of Utah dining was rather different to the rest of us he he he...
We didn't get to Snowbasin but heard good things about it. Our potential preference of Solitide over Alta on a snow day was that Solitude wasn't skied out two days after our mini-storm whereas Alta was skied out about lunchtime.
The trees in Solitude are sneakier though...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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David Murdoch,
Solitude doesn't get much press and we didn't get over there but folks who've skied there sure seem to like it. Many like it more than Alta. It's reputed to almost always have small crowds. Definately a place I'd like to visit on our next trip. Snowbasin is a bit lower and probably doesn't get the snow that the Cottonwood Canyon resorts get, but it gets rave reviews. I'd be willing to give Chimayo another try. We thought the food was good. Maybe we expected too much based the presentation but just didn't think it was worth the money.
excitableboy, you might want to visit www.epicski.com. There's lots of information on Utah skiing if you use the search function. There are discussions of local attractions as well as the skiing. And lots of folks who have much more knowledge of the areas than I can offer.
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FAQ
oh yes, nearly forgot, when to go ? At the moment we think 3 rd week in Jan , but is the Sundance Film Festival a hassle or a plus 
. Could the 1st week in Feb be better?