Utah No cheap lodging in Alta/Snowbird

[Josh Matta]

always, I mean always beat the road closure.

If it stays closed you will literally have the best day of your life. I have been up canyon with a closed road at least 10 times now. Riding a noon tram with just 30 people on it, is a pretty surreal experience.

 

[TQA]

I stay in Studio 6 in Murray. It is an efficiency apartemnt with a kitchen. $50 a night.

20 to 30 minutes to Alta.

On a powder day when Alta is crazy busy go ski Canyons

 

[focker]

UT is interesting in that the on mountain lodging is very expensive (even at Solitude) but the stuff in the city is super super cheap. Probably the big city effect where in town has so many options they are all cheaper and the on mountain options are so limited.

UT on mountain is more expensive than a lot of other places we've looked into, but their regular hotels are just dirt cheap, even compared to a place like Kansas City.

 

[givethepigeye]

always, I mean always beat the road closure.

If it stays closed you will literally have the best day of your life. I have been up canyon with a closed road at least 10 times now. Riding a noon tram with just 30 people on it, is a pretty surreal experience.

^this 10x - once it happens, you are kind of ruined. - if you are staying in Sandy or whatever - that's an early bell. Think the road closes around 6am usually. UDOT has twitter. I've been at Alta when I was the first car in the lot - just go in to GMD - crash on the couch, wait for breakfast service to start..

 

[Mike Rogers]

always, I mean always beat the road closure.

If it stays closed you will literally have the best day of your life. I have been up canyon with a closed road at least 10 times now. Riding a noon tram with just 30 people on it, is a pretty surreal experience.

How early do you have to be to beat the closure?

 

[givethepigeye]

UDOT has twitter and they let you know. Think it's usually 6AM. At least it has been in my limited "winning" days.

 

[jmills115]

Canyon closures are 6:00-8:00am and have seen an afternoon closure (2:30-4:00pm) this season and the 60 minutes it took to get from Alta past the Bird was well worth it skiing untracked above the knees at 4pm. It was actually the Sunday of the gathering at Snowbasin
Link below is Unified Police with a twitter, Facebook, or a text option

http://updsl.org/page_canyonAlerts.php

 

[RJS]

Is the road plowed before the canyon closure?

My big concern is getting into the canyons safely on a powder day. It's very difficult to rent a car with winter tires, as far as I know.

 

[New2]

Is the road plowed before the canyon closure?

My big concern is getting into the canyons safely on a powder day. It's very difficult to rent a car with winter tires, as far as I know.

Plows are few and far between overnight in Utah. And while chances are pretty remote that an avalanche would get you when trying to beat a closure, it's certainly a possibility. If safety and responsible use of a rental car are priorities, I wouldn't recommend it. Either pay to stay up at the resorts, or--on the offhand chance that there's a closure--go to Snowbasin, Park City, Deer Valley, or Sundance instead.

 

[tch]

As TQA said, if it's a powder day and you're not already on the mountain....you're better off going somewhere else. Powder days and LCC are my absolute definition of the downhill ski sh*t show. Horned-up, testosterone-fueled pow hounds pushing and shoving their way up the road, to the tram/onto the lifts, onto the traverses. You've see the video here:
https://www.pugski.com/threads/resort-powder-gone-in-60-seconds.8967/

Why would you even bother...?

 

[givethepigeye]

As TQA said, if it's a powder day and you're not already on the mountain....you're better off going somewhere else. Powder days and LCC are my absolute definition of the downhill ski sh*t show. Horned-up, testosterone-fueled pow hounds pushing and shoving their way up the road, to the tram/onto the lifts, onto the traverses. You've see the video here:
https://www.pugski.com/threads/resort-powder-gone-in-60-seconds.8967/

Why would you even bother...?

Because if you beat the closure, well, you have beat the closure. - you will have it to yourself for a while. Also, when people get on the Wasach Blvd and see it backed up to the base of BCC - they go up BCC or turn around. That said it isn't plowed. I alway do 4wd in SLC - use priceline. Had a Ford Explorer last week for $49/day.

 

[jmills115]

always, I mean always beat the road closure.

If it stays closed you will literally have the best day of your life. I have been up canyon with a closed road at least 10 times now. Riding a noon tram with just 30 people on it, is a pretty surreal experience.

On top of what Josh said, UPD will almost always announce the closure the night before so you can plan for it. With my house being 35 minutes from Alta I leave early enough even without closures for parking. Wake up early and you will make it.

 

[RJS]

Because if you beat the closure, well, you have beat the closure. - you will have it to yourself for a while. Also, when people get on the Wasach Blvd and see it backed up to the base of BCC - they go up BCC or turn around. That said it isn't plowed. I alway do 4wd in SLC - use priceline. Had a Ford Explorer last week for $49/day.

I've been able to get 4WD rentals in Salt Lake, but what about winter tires? In terms of safety, the winter tires are much more important than the 4WD.

 

[Ogg]

I've been able to get 4WD rentals in Salt Lake, but what about winter tires? In terms of safety, the winter tires are much more important than the 4WD.

The SUV we rented in SLC last time had the same aggressive snow rated AT tires that I put on my own truck but YMMV.

 

[givethepigeye]

I've been able to get 4WD rentals in Salt Lake, but what about winter tires? In terms of safety, the winter tires are much more important than the 4WD.

Just my experience, so take from it whatever you like, BUT - in talking with rental car folks at SLC - even when I have just rented an "SUV" - they say that they are all either AWD or have 4WD and understand why people rent them in the Winter - so never had a problem with the tires even up BCC which is steeper at the start than LCC. Again, that's my experience and yours may vary widely. I am totally comfortable driving either of those canyons in a 4WD - its not like they are 12+ inches of snow and virgin - people go up and down them all night.

But again, each person has their own comfort and "pucker factor" range

 

[hollyberry]

Highly recommend the dorm rooms at one of the lodges in Alta. Stayed at Peruvian last year and it was great. Made some many friends. I think all the lodges are great and most people stay at one and keep going back to the same.

Another thought is to book a spot in town in advance for the duration, and look at the forecast a couple days to a week or two out. If there are any days that might hit big *then* book a night or two at GMD (or another lodge at Alta).

Has anyone checked out the really cheap backpacker style hostels in town in SLC? I mean like $19/person/night? Probably a flea motel but I could put up with rough conditions to save money and ski more. $19 is much more my speed (vs $200 or more per night!!)

 

[RJS]

Has anyone checked out the really cheap backpacker style hostels in town in SLC? I mean like $19/person/night? Probably a flea motel but I could put up with rough conditions to save money and ski more. $19 is much more my speed (vs $200 or more per night!!)

I can't speak to any backpacker style hostels in SLC, but I do want to point out that there is a big middle ground between $19 and $200 per night. There are many motels and cheaper hotels in the valley that you could reasonably book for $50 a night within walking distance of UTA bus stops. You can also get pretty good deals on rooms in people's houses through AirBnb.

 

[hollyberry]

I can't speak to any backpacker style hostels in SLC, but I do want to point out that there is a big middle ground between $19 and $200 per night. There are many motels and cheaper hotels in the valley that you could reasonably book for $50 a night within walking distance of UTA bus stops. You can also get pretty good deals on rooms in people's houses through AirBnb.

That’s what we ended up doing. We found a nice airbnb for $36 a night in Midvale right near a ski bus stop heading to Alta/Snowbird. We found another airbnb in Ogden along the UTA route to Snowbasin for $40 a night. Both pretty good deals.

Now we are considering booking a trip to Jackson Hole/ Big Sky in March during our Spring break too, because the SLC trip ended up being much more affordable than we had expected, and we get two days at each of those resorts on the MCP, too. My husband also has a Delta CC that gives him one free companion flight per year, so we are thinking of using it for a flight to Jackson Hole airport. Only one problem- it REALLY seems like there are no affordable hotels out there! (By affordable I mean less than $60/night.) Aren’t there any backpacker hostels? I found one airbnb for $30/night, but it’s an hour and a half away, on the other side of the mountain. I imagine if it dumps, we won’t be able to get to the other side. Ideas?

 

[cosmoliu]

The hostel at the base of the mountain is, I hear, clean and inexpensive. Very short walk to the tram. A friend stayed there just short of a week last December and thought it was great. Variety of rooming choices, including private room with private bath, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[mdf]

The hostel at the base of the mountain is, I hear, clean and inexpensive. Very short walk to the tram. A friend stayed there just short of a week last December and thought it was great. Variety of rooming choices, including private room with private bath, if I'm not mistaken.

It is nice. I've stayed there. But it isnt cheap. Compared to other base area options it is cheap, but not in absolute terms.

The four motels in the town square group are reasonable and have their own excellent free bus. There is also a public transit bus, so maybe Airbnb near a stop?