Utah Getting around... Salt Lake City and Snowbird/Alta -- questions

[ADKmel]

[/QUOTE]

Canyon Transport is $43 each/each way between LCC and airport, and $60 between BCC and airport. And then we'd have to figure out what to do with our bags while skiing at Brighton on Sat. unless we paid for a van to be on standby for us for the day which would probably be $1000. It seems like renting a car for 24 hrs. would be cheaper and solve the problem of where to leave bags while skiing.

Will the hotel where you are staying store your bags while you ski? if YES call and ask Alta Shuttle (different company than Canyon transport) if they will take you from SB/Alta to the hotel then to airport.

 

[ADKmel]

I’ll chime in with a question too if you don’t mind.
I’m on Mountain Collective. If I ‘register’ at Alta and ski first day there before skiing the second day at Snowbird can I automatically ski across to Alta the second day from Snowbird (at the top of Mineral Basin) or do I have to go down to the bottom of Snowbird and physically go to Alta ticket office to ‘register’ again?

I just found this: You do have to go to ticket window. Off of MT Collective Site"
Bring a printout of your purchase confirmation or present the message with voucher barcode and a photo ID to the Season Pass Office, or any ticket window. Anyone under 18 will need to be accompanied by a guardian (to sign a release form). Additional questions please call the number below.

1-801-933-2200

 

[raytseng]

He's talking about he already got his alta card on day1,
On day2 he goes to snowbird gets snowbird card, then at lunch comes back over via interconnect to alta and using the alta card again then.

 

[dbostedo]

@sbooker... not sure if this is your situation, but I was staying at Alta, and skiing SB on an MCP. I wanted to only crossover to Alta to ski back down to the lodge. If you ask at the little shack at the Mineral Basin cross over they will let you do that without going through the scanner gate. But you don't want to get anywhere near the scanner if you have your Alta pass on you, lest it accidentally scan and use a day.

 

[sbooker]

@sbooker... not sure if this is your situation, but I was staying at Alta, and skiing SB on an MCP. I wanted to only crossover to Alta to ski back down to the lodge. If you ask at the little shack at the Mineral Basin cross over they will let you do that without going through the scanner gate. But you don't want to get anywhere near the scanner if you have your Alta pass on you, lest it accidentally scan and use a day.

Thankyou.

 

[cosmoliu]

Last year the Snowbird ticket office at Tram Plaza gave me a shielded card sleeve to avoid just this problem. Maybe they still have them to give out. JH also gave me one this past Dec for the same issue.

 

[val]

Definitely do not miss the tram. For some crazy reason there are lot of people who don't like it, but i Love It! Packed in with my people. 1st time up get a window on the right. But it's not worth standing long in line for.
Do at least 3 Little Cloud Bowl runs, including the iconic Regulator Johnson.
When you do Mineral Basin - Do one run skiers right down cat track all the way around to get your bearings. Then another run skiers left, be careful in MB, there are a bunch of cliffs and surprise, mandatory double diamonds. Also be careful there in the morning if it was sunny/warm the day before, even time of year.

I'll def be hitting the tram. It's the main symbol of SB that sticks out in my mind from movies/vids and looks like it has some good terrain below. Thanks for the cat track pointer on MB, will remember that.

 

[val]

Crossing from 1 to the other does not punch another day out of your 5. RFID direct to lift for both places.
Super-easy to get from one to the other via the gate at the top of Baldy lift in Mineral Basin, to Sugarloaf on Alta side. That's the only way to get from SB to Alta . There are 2 other ways to go from Alta to SB, off of Wildcatlift. One requires a very short uphill, then drops into the Bird on the Baldy traverse into some fun easier "double black" trees, or a lower run over that is more mellow but still not blue. Look at the respective maps online; they split along the Mt Baldy ridge, front and back.

If you're staying near a lightrail (TRAX) station, seriously consider ditching the rental and taking TRAX to Sandy, then the bus up LCC. Or drive to one of the bus stops. (google "utah ski bus" to get a map & sked). Bus is free with IKON, and if there's traffic or the road is closed, you get to at least commiserate and laugh with 60+ other skiers, instead of fume (and emit fumes from your tailpipe) by yourself. Parking at both on the weekends is really tough if you aren't there crazy early.

Thanks for the specific info on crossing over between resorts, this is helpful. I've also been debating the Bus which raises a question about equipment lockers... If I bring a backpack I assume there are daily lockers you can rent at the lodge to stash gear? Are there overnight lockers at the lodge for skis etc? Thanks again!

 

[skinavy]

Yes, they all have lockers. I'v heard that SB&Alta have overnight check, too, but I've never used it, so no specifics. I'd call them to find out in ahead of time.
Alta, you can rent a locker or there is a designated set of racks, at least at Goldminer's Daughter, if you dont want to use a locker.
SB pretty much forces you to rent, IIRC.
Brighton has a big locker room, rent or leave under a bench, depending on your risk tolerance.
Solitude forces you to rent- I've had to take the long schlep over to the admin building to claim my "relocated" bag that I left under a bench.

 

[Tony]

Crossing from 1 to the other does not punch another day out of your 5. RFID direct to lift for both places.
Super-easy to get from one to the other via the gate at the top of Baldy lift in Mineral Basin, to Sugarloaf on Alta side. That's the only way to get from SB to Alta . There are 2 other ways to go from Alta to SB, off of Wildcatlift. One requires a very short uphill, then drops into the Bird on the Baldy traverse into some fun easier "double black" trees, or a lower run over that is more mellow but still not blue. Look at the respective maps online; they split along the Mt Baldy ridge, front and back.

If you're staying near a lightrail (TRAX) station, seriously consider ditching the rental and taking TRAX to Sandy, then the bus up LCC. Or drive to one of the bus stops. (google "utah ski bus" to get a map & sked). Bus is free with IKON, and if there's traffic or the road is closed, you get to at least commiserate and laugh with 60+ other skiers, instead of fume (and emit fumes from your tailpipe) by yourself. Parking at both on the weekends is really tough if you aren't there crazy early.

While I agree that TRAX/ski bus seems like a good alternative to paying for a car rental that for me would be sitting at Snowbird, hopefully getting buried from Sun/Mon to Fri/Sat, I have to add another way to "Super-easy to get from one to the other via the gate at the top of Baldy lift in Mineral Basin, to Sugarloaf on Alta side. That's the only way to get from SB to Alta." You can also get to Alta from Snowbird with a moderate hike to the top of Baldy after skiing from top of tram and skiing Main Chute, or an easier hike and traverse into Baldy Shoulder. While both runs require favorable conditions and weather plus expert skiing ability, I did them on the same day during the last UT Gathering. Then they would allow you to ski through Checkpoint Charlie from Snowbird's Baldy lift to Alta after 3 if you (said you) were staying at an Alta lodge.

 

[Tony]

We made it from SLC airport to Snowbird on Sunday for $2.50 each. That was cost of TRAX ticket to get us from SLC to Historic Sandy Station where we made a 4 minute connection to Ski Bus no. 994 (free with Ikon) that required a walk of less than 100 yards. The TRAX light station at the airport is a longer walk, you go left from baggage. We also had an almost 15 minute wait at Arena station where we transferred from the Green line that runs to the airport to the Blue line to Sandy.

The total trip time was about 1 hr 45 min, about the same time the schedule flight from Bay Area to SLC. It worked for us because we were arriving in the middle of the day so were not in a hurry to go skiing, buses going up-canyon in PM are nearly empty and we did not have too much luggage. I had medium-size duffel and double ski bag, both rolling, small boot bag and small backpack, and my wife had rolling suitcase and ski boot backpack.

I will be riding same bus down to Sandy Fri PM where I will have less than a mile walk to get rental car that will get us out of Snowbird, to Brighton for skiing, then to airport on Sat.

 

[Tony]

Since I have some time (been sheltering-in-place for a week), I'm writing about my return from Snowbird to SLC. On Fri 3/13, I walked to the end of the stairs at Iron Blosam and caught 3:45 PM Ski Bus to Historic Sandy Station. From there, I walked 1/2 mile W on UT-209 (E 9000 S) to Avis where I had reserved a standard SUV through Costco with dropoff at SLC for $65. Other vehicles were a little cheaper, but I figured I needed the space for double ski bag, etc. I got a Toyota Highlander. It was front wheel drive and even though it snowed, 2WD was not a problem as snow never covered roads at or below Snowbird. I was back at Iron Blosam at 5 PM, in time to join daily après pool/hot tub and beer/cocktail/BS session.

We had skied Solitude and Brighton on the preceding day using friends' SUV so we no longer needed to leave Snowbird until heading for the airport as we had one Altabird day left on our Ikons. My wife decided not to ski as she did not like the idea of changing to go to airport after skiing without a room and was feeling the altitude after 6 nights at 8K, so after doing what I could towards helping another couple get their stuff out of their unit and putting all my stuff in rental car, I skied Snowbird from 9:30 to a little after 2. We had time for stops at two Level Nine stores, a beer from Kiito's and to split a burger and beer at Gordon Biersch at SLC before catching 6:30 PM flight. Flight was under 40% full and at least 6 people were wearing masks. We took a row 3/4 of the way back with nobody near us.

Edited to add that some people staying at Iron Blosam used Uber or Lyft to get from Snowbird to SLC. Cost was in the high thirties for two people without ski bags, much less than the $43 per person Canyon Transport charges.