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Which IKON resort to go while in SLC

MotherDuck

Certified Ski Diva
I will be in SLC 3/4-7 and would like to squeeze out 1 day (3/5 or 3/6) to check out Utah skiing. It will be my first time skiing out of Tahoe/Mammoth area. I am intermediate/advance skier and I'd love some recommendations to help me narrow down a destination. I will be staying in downtown area so a resort with shuttle bus would be a plus.

THANKS!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I will be in SLC 3/4-7 and would like to squeeze out 1 day (3/5 or 3/6) to check out Utah skiing. It will be my first time skiing out of Tahoe/Mammoth area. I am intermediate/advance skier and I'd love some recommendations to help me narrow down a destination. I will be staying in downtown area so a resort with shuttle bus would be a plus.

THANKS!
Hmm, not quite enough info to make much of recommendation. Which ski resort in Tahoe is a favorite? What type of terrain?

The UTA Ski Bus goes to Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, and Brighton. Time and distance from downtown is essentially the same. All four are plenty of fun for a day. My favorite is Alta, but I've skied all of them. With Ikon you could get a taste of both Alta and Snowbird on a day when Mineral Basin is open. Brighton is more of an area for locals but has good open trees, including aspens. Solitude has good steep groomers if that's of interest but a somewhat funky layout that's a little hard to learn quickly.

From downtown, not worth the extra travel time to Deer Valley.

Have you looked in the Utah thread? There are posts about the ski bus in it. Ikon works as a UTA transit pass.
https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/i...-travel-planning-deals-snow-conditions.24114/
 

MotherDuck

Certified Ski Diva
I like pretty much every resort in Tahoe :-) For a new place where I would only have 1 day, I would like to have choices on more groomed terrains with views. For that reason, go to a resort like Heavenly in Utah would be the best. Or a resort that offers the most distinct "Utah experience".

Will check out the UTA Ski Bus and the Utah thread. Thanks so much for the pointers.
 

MotherDuck

Certified Ski Diva
Oh yeah, I will only bring my boots so plan to do a demo day. Which Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, and Brighton would be good for demo?
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Oh yeah, I will only bring my boots so plan to do a demo day. Which Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, and Brighton would be good for demo?
Far more on-mountain demo options at Alta or Snowbird than in BCC. Each has more than one shop that offers demo skis. Solitude and Brighton are smaller in terms of skiable terrain, have fewer travelers, and so not many people bother to get demo skis there. A traveler would be more likely to rent at a shop in town for the day.

For a new place where I would only have 1 day, I would like to have choices on more groomed terrains with views. For that reason, go to a resort like Heavenly in Utah would be the best. Or a resort that offers the most distinct "Utah experience".
In that case, going to Little Cottonwood Canyon (LCC) to ski Alta or Snowbird or a little of both makes the most sense. After all, Alta has been a ski area since the 1930s and was already a destination resort by the early 1950s. Snowbird has the iconic tram.

Alta and Snowbird have the reputation as being the favorite of many expert skiers. But they also have plenty of groomers that are enjoyed by local beginners/intermediates as well as intermediate travelers. Both have great views, assuming good visibility. Very different from the views around Tahoe.

Snowbird has free mountain tours on green and/or blue trails that are quite good. For Alta, you could follow the self-guided introduction I wrote up here.
 

MotherDuck

Certified Ski Diva
I ended up renting a car for 1 day. UTA bus is cheap at $5 roundtrip but would take at least 2 extra hours from my day which I'd rather spend on the mountain. Without any kiddos in tow and on a weekday, I scooped 23,724FT vertical and 27.4 MI distance, chatted with many cheerful chair mates from the east coast (4 groups from NY, 1 from NH, 1 from MD, 1 from CT) that day.

Very satisfied :-)

I demoed(I'm glad you asked so that I can make a note for myself too):

FISHER RANGER 96 (158cm)
HEAD KORE 99 (162cm)
black crows camox birdie 9.7/18 (162.3cm)

I loved ALL of them. Much more stable and funner than my old 150cm beginner skis. However, being demoing for the first time, I couldn't really tell the subtle differences among them :-(

Came back home and skied with my old 150cm skis at Squaw yesterday after a fresh 2-4 inches of snow, I was surprised that I can still tolerate them :-) But I now believe that I could indeed ski much faster and more gracefully had I had the newer/longer skis. Well, I'm blissed to just being able to get on the mountain at this stage of my life.

Alta is running sale for the demos and the HEAD KORE was priced at $349 only. But I hope that I could demo Stöckli Stormrider, Blizzard BP and Santa Anas soon that was talked about in the other thread. Then when I have the budget, I would know which one to take home :-)
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I demoed(I'm glad you asked so that I can make a note for myself too):

FISHER RANGER 96 (158cm)
HEAD KORE 99 (162cm)
black crows camox birdie 9.7/18 (162.3cm)

I loved ALL of them. Much more stable and funner than my old 150cm beginner skis. However, being demoing for the first time, I couldn't really tell the subtle differences among them :-(
That's a good variety of options. Most people have plenty of skis that they like equally well. That's one reason I tend to learn more from the rare situations when I don't like a pair of skis. Eventually I've figured out which brands I generally like better and which brands I find too much work for some reason.

Sounds like the key point you learned was that longer skis would be better.

Alta is running sale for the demos and the HEAD KORE was priced at $349 only. But I hope that I could demo Stöckli Stormrider, Blizzard BP and Santa Anas soon that was talked about in the other thread. Then when I have the budget, I would know which one to take home :-)
Interesting that the Head Kore 99 is still available. Which shop did you rent from at Alta?

The only risk to demo'ing the Stormrider is that you'll really like them. Definitely not a low budget option. But I certainly love mine.
 

MotherDuck

Certified Ski Diva
Sounds like the key point you learned was that longer skis would be better.
You nailed it!

Interesting that the Head Kore 99 is still available.
Is Head Kore 99 too popular to last till this time?

Which shop did you rent from at Alta?
The Alta Ski Shop at Albion base.

The only risk to demo'ing the Stormrider is that you'll really like them. Definitely not a low budget option. But I certainly love mine.
LoL! Good to be alerted that they're not a low budget option, so I should make sure that I demo them for a longer time to make the most of my demo fee :bounce:
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Is Head Kore 99 too popular to last till this time?

The Alta Ski Shop at Albion base.
Alta Ski Shop marks down a pair of demo skis every time it gets rented. So popular skis can be gone by mid-Feb. That's why I've been pretty flexible about what to rent for a powder day when I'm at Alta in April. Under $400 is quite a good price for the Kore 99, so I'm just intrigued that it's still available.

In general, have read more about the Kore 93 than the Kore 99. Could be that the alternatives at around 100 underfoot are more popular in Utah.
 

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