UTAH Park City and Brighton/Solitude Q's

A snowHead

Help! We are 3 powder hungry but indecisive snowboarders trying to sort out a 10 day end-of-january trip to North America. We had our eyes on Fernie but flights to Salt Lake City are cheaper so that is becoming an option.

We are thinking we might spend 5 days in Brighton/Solitude for maximum chances of pow then 5 days in Park City for a bit more culture, nightlife, and to check out The Canyons as well. If any snowhead could offer answers to these Q's we would be most grateful.

1) We are thinking we will stay in Brighton/Solitude rather than Alta/Snowbird because snowboarding is banned in Alta grrr. Is this a wise move for us, i.e. more terrain and fewer people in Brighton/Solitude?

2) There appears to be cheap accommodation in Park City here: http://www.chateauapres.com/rates.htm
Has anyone stayed there? What's it like? The rooms look very reasonably priced - $45ish pppn B&B.
Is there any similarly cheap accommodation in Brighton or Solitude?

3) Our proposed dates (23 Jan - 2 Feb) clash with the Park City Sundance Film Festival (17-27 Jan). Is this a big no-no time of year to ski the Utah resorts? Will they all be ridiculously busy, or only Park City? If for example we stayed in Brighton/Solitude 23-28 Jan then moved over to Park City for the rest of our holiday would we avoid the worst of the crowds?

Any advice much appreciated. Smile

A snowHead

Sundance Festival always coincides with great snow ( to annoy all the filmy types trying to walk round town) and quiet slopes (least ways that is what the locals all said...). Its a great week to be in PC. We played pool with Kiefer Sutherland during Sundance week the winter I worked there...legendary...saw Eddie Van Halen wandering about on the bottom of the slopes in a knee length fur coat as well...what more can you say...

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

offpisteskiing, is it more expensive to stay in PC during Sundance?

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hd, I think significantly more expensive...

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

hd, your chances of powder will not be affected by where you stay. Inter-area drives are not lengthy. The snow gods don't care where you sleep.

Solitude is IMHO, excellent. Weather the one day we had in Brighton was shockingly bad so don't feel qualified to comment. I would stay in Solitude at the drop of a hat even though there isn't much going on. Very nice restaurant though. No idea how expensive Solitude is but it's limited in accommodation options. I'd stay there at the drop of a hat however.

Outside of Sundance dates things should be much quieter and cheaper in PC unless you coincide with some other festival/US hioliday. So sounds like a sound plan. Some excellent eating, drinking and dancing in Park City. I would not expect Sundance to make anything other than the PC/Deer Valley/Canyons resorts busier as it's very much a film festival rather than a festival of filmmakers looking for an excuse to go skiing wink

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I'm not going to be too much help here since I've not been to Solitude or Brighton (Alta, however is my favorite place to ski). Solitude is reputed to be quiet on the slopes almost all the time. Brighton is very popular with local Utah Snowboarders. I'm not sure there's any lodging at Brighton (might be wrong). At any rate, there's not much of a village at any of the Cottonwoods Canyons resorts (Solitude, Brighton, Alta, Snowbird). There are some nice lodges and a few restaurants but little else. Don 't know anything about the accomodation that you're looking at in Park City. Hotels, bars, and restaurants in Park City are generally very busy during the Sundance film festival and lodging would likely be more expensive. And if you haven't lined it up, difficult to get for this year. Most of the folks attending Sundance don't ski so the ski areas are generally pretty quiet. Probably won't have any impact at lodging outside of the Park City area.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

What about staying in SLC and taking the savings from accomadations to pay for a car rental, then you can hit Powder Mtn. and Snowbasin too.

After all it is free

Cheers for the advice everyone.

David Murdoch, Snowbird/Alta and Brighton/Solitude claim to receive significantly more snow on average per season that PC (500 vs 300-350 inches per year respectively). I'll look into Solitue accommodation. What's good about the village as a place to stay that makes you recommend it?

pinhead, we are concerned that staying in a 2nd rate budget hotel/motel in a SLC suburb will be a bit dull. The resorts may be quiet as well (excluding PC) but at least you have the experience of staying right up in the mountains. But just for info - can anyone recommend a cheap place to stay in SLC?

If we stay in PC for a few days just after the Sundance festival will we miss the worst of the crowds or do they hang on? And do prices remain high?

hd, Solitude is, as the name suggest, quiet. When we were there Alta was pretty busy whereas Solitude was nearly empty. The inbounds off piste was, over the two days we skied there far less tracked out than Alta. the village didn't impress really at all - seemed nice enough. I'd stay there to just to be in the slopes straight out of my condo esp. if it has snowed. Also, although we had one epic day at Alta we weren't so impressed with Snowbird (and it was very busy) whereas we arrived in Solitude on a local's recommendation with no high expectations and were very impressed. Probably an expectation/perception thing.

What I meant about it not mattering so much where you stay is that no matter how much snow places claim to get, if you're not there when it snows it makes no difference. If you have 50cms on a 2m base it's usually just as good as 50cms on a 3m base. Total snow fall is as misleading a metric as resort height IMHO.

Also, the weather around there does seem to be canyon specific and sometimes it's worth deciding which area to ski on the morning after hearing the forecast. It can be pelting powder in one valley and bright and sunny next door.

For SLC we found Expedia, etc to be as good a place as any to look. We didn't go particularly budget.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

hd, More than likely a good deal more expensive, and probably a bit trickier to find somewhere as well.. Can't be too objective as its been a few years since I worked there...
Enjoy though, Utah skiing is fantastic when its 'on'.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

hd, We'll be in the Canyons 27/1-2/2, and probably doing a few resorts in the area.
Solitude is excellent cause it is so quiet. Brighton is smaller, and very popular with boarders.

If you were looking for accomodation, you might be better to stay in SLC - I've used the Extended Stay America in Midvale and the one in Sandy, and the LaQuinta, which I think is also Midvale. You're looking at a 20-30 minute drive from there to Solitude, an extra 5 to Brighton, and maybe about 30 to Snowbird. Last time I stayed there it was about $50 per room (with 2 double beds in it) including a light breakfast. They are budget motels, but think more in terms of Holiday Inn Express standards rather than TravelLodge on the M1 type places.

LCC (Alta/bird) and BCC (Solitude/Brighton) get more snow than PC/DV because of the shape of the valleys (or so I was told by locals) - if the weather is coming up from the city direction, then it gets funnelled up the valleys and has nowhere to go but to dump in the resorts, but PC/DV are on hills that flatten out to a plain, so the snow can be more widespread.

If you're looking for people to meet up with, the EpicSki Gathering is taking place in Utah 1-4 February. They tend to go to a different resort every day, and you'll have locals to show you around.

snow reports

hd,

I've stayed at the chateau apres. It's pretty basic, but OK and convenient for the PC lifts and the free shuttle bus. They have two types of accommodation: rooms and a communal bunkhouse.

The rooms have en-suite showers and are on a per room basis, so the more people who share a room, the cheaper it is. The bunkhouse is the cheapest option, and has attached bathroom and communal showers.

B&B is a bit misleading. Although they have a small dining room with a kitchen attached, actually they just provide materials from which you prepare your own breakfast (at least, that's the way it worked when I stayed there: maybe they just couldn't get any kitchen staff that year!).

re: Sundance Film Festival

My stay overlapped with this. Quite a few of the places I contacted were fully booked up for Sundance, which is one reason I ended up at the Chateau Apres (although this was fine - especially price-wise). I did NOT find accommodation was more expensive - just harder to find (but not that difficult).

It's also recommended that you book a table if you're going to eat out, during festival time, although I only did this once, and didn't have any problems getting in to a restaurant when I hadn't. The best thing is that most of the accommodation is taken up with film industry folk, but they're at the festival all day, and not skiing, so that the slopes are pretty empty.

Used to crash on friends floors, now I hit any cheap hotel in SLC it is a very large city and even surrounded by Mormons, it is the least Mormon town in UT.
Places to party are not hard to find, have spent some time in the Dead Goat, they do get good bands and hey the bus system can get you in and out of the ski areas, meaning you can apres party at the resort and then head off Mtn. Last visit SLC had 3 breweries, too.

You know it makes sense.

Went last winter and we stayed in PC for 2 weeks. It's certainly the only one of the ski areas with anything like a resort to have fun in - Sollitude/Brighton have virtually nothing in terms of a village, just a base area, as I remember. PC is a decent village, plenty of restaurants and bars. We didn't stay at that hotel, but I remember walking past it and it's quite handy for both the town and the lifts.

That said, we found the ski areas locally (PC, The Canyons, Deer valley) to be the least interesting and so spent most days driving elsewhere - Alta/Snowbird being the best fun, Sollitude/Brighton were fun and very quiet which makes them good after a dump (so to speak). Also we really liked both Snowbasin and Powder Mountain, certainly worth the effort to drive over there but don't bother staying there.

We tried to book up the previous year during the film festival as we'd heard it was a good time to ski because the slopes are quiet (but difficult to get a table in a restaurant, apparently), but couldn't get accomodation so didn't end up going there that year.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll have fun.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Billy M,

I agree with your comments. Park City is THE ski village in Utah. It offers lots of restaurants and pubs. I really like Park City. If you stay in SLC you are staying in an American urban area and if you stay in the suburbs near the entrence to big and little Cottonwoods Canyons you are staying in suburban America -- Just doesn't have the feel of being in a ski village. And the "village" areas at Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, or Solitude have some real decent lodges, but are very limited. I love Alta and could imagine spending a long weekend at one of the lodges, but I don't think we could do a week there. Somewhere on this forum I posted a long post giving my detailed impressions of the Utah experience. I also agree that while there is very good skiing in the Park City area, you're missing the best Utah has to offer if you don't venture into the Cottonwoods Canyons. And for that matter, Powder Mountain and Snowbasin are also fantastic ski areas.

A snowHead

RISkier, that pretty much confirms our suspicions, so we'll probably stay 3 or 4 nights in one of the cottonwood canyon resorts, probably brighton/solitude as they're less busy and we can't snowboard alta anyway. Then we'll move on to park city for the rest of our holiday. As said I'm not keen on staying in a town for a ski holiday - we want to be in the mountains!

We're still trying to decide between the Utah resorts or Fernie, arrrggghhh!!! Ultimately it comes down to where is more likely to be dumped on whilst we're there, which can't be predicted, although with it being a la nina year would fernie be a slightly safer bet? Confused

A snowHead

hd, define "dumped on"!
I've been to Utah and had 30cm+ snowfall on 10 out of 14 days, I've also been there when we've only had maybe 2 days of anything over 15cm. My two favourite words in Utah are "lake effect" when you hear that on a forecast, you know it's going to be a big dump.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

hd,

There is at least one company, and perhaps more, that provides a shuttle/lift ticket package between Park City and the Cottonwoods Canyons ski areas. Unfortunately I don't recall the name or the details but I do recall thinking the price wasn't bad. If you're staying in Park City and want to go back to the Cottonwoods Canyons areas that would be a possibility for you. Public transportation in the Park City area is pretty good. Unfortunately, no area can gaurantee a big dump. We spent a week in UT last year and didn't have any fresh snow. Still had a great time. That said, Utah probably gives folks among the higher probabilities of getting fresh powder. FWIW, we enjoyed stopping at the Wasatch Brew Pub for a beer or two before dinner. Try the Polygamy Porter. Why stop at just one? We thought the food at the Wasatch Brew Pub was good pub grub but not special. Just a fun place. And we really liked the Buffalo burgers at the No Name Saloon.

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RISkier, we were thinking we would hire a car, however if public transport is good between the areas maybe we won't bother. How would we get from SLC airport to Park City? Are there buses? Our flights would land around 7pm.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I guess it depends on how much travelling between the ski areas you are going to do. We hired a car and I think that's the way to go, personally. Gives you the freedom to just get up and go. We would check the snowfalls on the website when we woke up in the morning and just get in the car and go to the area with the most new snow.

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hd,

"dumped on" in Fernie can be rain as well as snow. (But when it's snow.... snowHead

)

There's a shuttle that runs from SLC airport to Park City. Check out

http://www.parkcityshuttle.com/airport_transfers.htm

for this and shuttles to BCC and LCC.

Also, you can buy (slightly) discounted lift tix at a shop at the airport right across from the bus company desk.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

What would Park City be like at Xmas? Looking for a place for next year and want to have some stuff going on. Looking at Telluride or Utah, and the brilliant thread above makes PC seem an option.

After all it is free

I think I'd hire a car too, especially if you want to go to different areas. And with three people you'd spend almost as much on airport shuttles. Besides, given the current exchange rate you should be able to go first class. As an aside, we'd really like to go back to the Alps but the current exchange rate is really a killer for us. Earlier, I was simply making a point that if spent a few days at Solitude/Brighton and then went to the PC areas and then decided you wanted to go back to the Cottonwoods Canyons, that there is a service that's not too bad an option. A few comments on cars. Most roads are well maintained and the roads from the SLC airport to PC are freeways that don't pose much scary mountain challenge. So those roads are almost always fine. The roads up the the Cottonwoods Canyons resorts are also well maintained but access is sometimes restricted to cars with chains or all wheel drive. Additionally these roads are occassionaly closed for avalanche control -- this is especially true of the road up to Alta and Snowbird. And if you're staying up in the canyons folks are occassionaly restricted to their lodges because of avalanche danger -- this is rare but it has happened. There are bus stops at the entrence to the canyons if you don't have all wheel drive or chains, or just don't want to struggle with bad roads. Get there early cause on powder days the buses up to the resorts are busy. If it's not snowing the roads up the canyons to the ski areas are not difficult to handle at all. I'd probably only consider not renting a car if you planned to spend most of your time in the Park City area.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Utah snow versus Fernie snow, I've skiied both and would prefer UT, snow drier lighter and even without La Nina you still have Lake effect snow. Fernie nothing like waking up to find out it rained all night then froze.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Stay in the city. Get a car. There is a bus but it takes a long time. Rooms in town are less than in park city and there are a lot of good restaurants. The snow is great. I agree with Riskier on roads. Solitude is a real nice place it snowed 18 in. in the 4 hours I was there. Fresh tracks all day. Snowbird snowed to much to see the place but what I saw was great. Don't take the tram it sucks use a lift. Also Snow basin is one of my favorite spots The place is nice too where $10.50 will buy you a damn good meal at the top of the hill and you can take a dump in a marble stall with a wood door. The hill is great too lots of vertical if you go on a weekday morning I doubt there will be a line untill school gets out.

Park city will have more of the apreski vibe then SLC if your looking for that, it is a real ski town. I have heard Sean White and Bode Miller have houses there. I don't know the altitude at PC ? I have a hard time sleeping above 7000ft. What ever you do be sure to check out as many places as possable don't just ski PC.

This is my friends blog he's on a 9 week ski trip he knows UT ask him anything about UT. http://www.skimadness.blogspot.com/ Also post some comments about how gay he looks.
Anyway have fun

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UTAH Park City and Brighton/Solitude Q's

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