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Alta - first time & Covid questions

teppaz

Angel Diva
From what I could see riding the bus past Hellgate, it's a bit of a hike to the Snowbird Center if you want to buy anything. Not on a walkway, just walking on the snowy road. But there might be a trail that isn't obvious. There is a bus stop somewhere for Hellgate but I have no idea how far the walk is to the actual condo buildings.

Note that if Hellgate condos say "ski in/out" that only applies to people skiing Snowbird or advanced skiers who can ski over from the Wildcat area at Alta. For an intermediate, skiing at Alta requires driving or taking the UTA bus. Driving between Snowbird and Alta is not really worth the effort of dealing with parking. The UTA buses are operating at 50% capacity.

Another issue for the UTA buses is when they will stop running during late season. Most likely the buses will continue until April 18 but worth checking. Alta ends 7-day operations mid-April, but sometimes has a few bonus weekends afterwards. Snowbird stays open longer but closes lifts.

LCC has very little private land available for any type of buildings. Especially in comparison to Park City. Parley's Canyon is much bigger in area, but also much lower. That's why it's not open in April while Alta and Snowbird can stay open for weeks after Park City and Deer Valley close because there isn't enough snow coverage left.

People interested in condo lodging usually stay at the base of LCC and drive up or take the UTA bus. In the spring, the likelihood of the canyon road being closed all day because of a big snowstorm is much less than Jan-Mar. People who stay in SLC and don't want to drive up LCC when it's a powder day in the spring generally go ski a Solitude. The road to BCC isn't as steep and is less prone to avalanche closures. Solitude and Brighton also have pretty good snow in late season.

While it was okay staying at Snowbird in Dec, I would probably still stay in the city and drive when I'm not staying at Alta Lodge. But I tend to want to have a car on a ski trip in general.

I think @teppaz stayed in a condo in LCC at some point.
I stayed at a Hellgate condo on my very first trip to Alta, in 2011. There were 7 of us and we had a great time. We had two cars so we shopped in the valley and drove to Alta or Snowbird but it’s manageable without wheels:
- Hellgate is on the free shuttle route + they have their own shuttle (or did at the time).
- there’s a grocery service that delivers your order in winter.

The only thing is that in case of an interlodge (when they close the road for avalanche control), you are on the wrong side of the gate to go to Alta. I seem to remember that when we signed up for the condo we were forewarned about that, and told we’d have to have enough food on hand for a couple of days in case the road was closed. Interlodge is a crapshoot.
Overall it was a great experience. Of course it helped that my first visit to Alta was during one of their snowiest seasons ever!
 

alison wong

Angel Diva
I stayed at a Hellgate condo on my very first trip to Alta, in 2011. There were 7 of us and we had a great time. We had two cars so we shopped in the valley and drove to Alta or Snowbird but it’s manageable without wheels:
- Hellgate is on the free shuttle route + they have their own shuttle (or did at the time).
- there’s a grocery service that delivers your order in winter.

Hellgate seems to be a fine choice. If you want to be sure, call to confirm?

If you want to take UTA, consider to give them a phone call / email. I have good experience w/ emailing bus services, they always provide detailed response.

Order grocery online and have them delivered on the day of your arrival would be ideal.

I'd be interested to learn more about Hellgate (if you do decide to stay here), I thought it is privately owned and not for rental. The name "Hellgate" stands out and I always wonder why this name?
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I stayed at a Hellgate condo on my very first trip to Alta, in 2011.
Thanks for stopping by.

The only thing is that in case of an interlodge (when they close the road for avalanche control), you are on the wrong side of the gate to go to Alta. I seem to remember that when we signed up for the condo we were forewarned about that, and told we’d have to have enough food on hand for a couple of days in case the road was closed. Interlodge is a crapshoot.
Interlodge for an entire day is pretty rare in April. The only Interlodge events I've experienced during late season were first thing in the morning from 6:00am to 8:30am for work above the town road. Closing the road is different from Interlodge. That happens much more frequently during or after a major snowstorm. During Interlodge no one is allowed outside any building, for any reason.

When the road is closed, people who are staying at Snowbird or Alta can still go skiing once the lifts start up. Needless to say, that's great on a powder day mid-season. Road closures don't happen often during late season and usually only last until mid-morning.

The issue in April is that sometimes the road is closed midday for a few hours if it's going to warm up too fast and there is avalanche danger of wet slides. My first trip with my daughter in 2008 we had to take the 11:00am shuttle for a 4:00pm flight departure to beat the road closure . . . and then the flight was delayed for another two hours! For another trip, I just made it to the Alta Shuttle van in time. We past the lower gate just before the announced closure time, which was 11:30am. I really wanted to ski that afternoon. It was the reason to get up before dawn to take the early flight.
 

altagirl

Moderator
Staff member
Saturday was probably the biggest powder day of the year and DH got turned around. Parking lots were full by 7:30.

Normal years... by April it's much less crowded. This year is hard to say. If it snows - I'd still plan for crowds. But if you are able to stay up in the canyon you should not have an issue getting turned away.
 

teppaz

Angel Diva
May want to check if staying at Hellgate and taking the shuttle to Alta counts toward the capacity at the resort. There was a note on the Alta website Thai weekend that said no dropoffs after the lots were full.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
May want to check if staying at Hellgate and taking the shuttle to Alta counts toward the capacity at the resort. There was a note on the Alta website Thai weekend that said no dropoffs after the lots were full.
Are you thinking of a Hellgate shuttle van? I would expect that taking the UTA bus would still be okay. That's free between Snowbird and Alta. I think one reason the bus route takes the Alta Bypass Road instead of the main road is so that people who stay along that road can use the bus.

One reason to not allow drop offs is that there are/were people who would get a Snowbird parking reservation and start the day by dropping off people at Alta. I assume then the driver would catch the UTA bus to get to Alta. That approach would mess up capacity limits for Alta, which is based on the capacity of the parking designed for Alta and the capacity of the UTA buses (capped at 50%) that run on a schedule.

The UTA bus schedule means there are buses between Snowbird and Alta every 10/15 min in the mornings until around 10:30, then every 30 min, then back to 10/15 min from 3:00-6:00. We were told that after 6:00, it was possible to call and get a van shuttle ride back to the Iron Blosam. They don't do rides in the late afternoon before 6:00 because there is usually so much traffic (heading down canyon) that the van gets stuck in traffic for too long. The evening I had dinner with @Bookworm at Alta Lodge, I got a ride back to the Iron Blosam in the Alta Lodge van.

My impression is that there have been times when UTA has added buses at certain times to account for the 50% capacity limit. The morning after a powder storm in Dec, a few buses went back towards the Snowbird Center with FULL BUS showing. Luckily for us and the few other people waiting at the Iron Blosam bus stop to head to Alta, enough people got off at Snowbird so that we could get on.
 

BReeves215

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Ladies, I’m still deciding between Alta Lodge and Hellgate condo and promise to give you a report either way. Thank you again to everyone for spot-on analysis and insights. I loved the vibe I got from talking to the reservation agent at Alta Lodge today. I can tell it is a very special place and the kind of place I love. I’m just concerned that with the Covid restrictions (and my own super conservative approach to Covid) we won’t really be able to fully appreciate and enjoy everything it has to offer, in particular the community feel. The condo will offer a better value and more room to spread out after skiing. I think we can all agree that room to spread out is pretty key when we’ve all been looking at the same few people every day for the last 10 months I’ll let you know which one we choose.
 

newbieM

Angel Diva
I just got back to Alta and it was great. We stayed at SLC so we drove up. Everyone wore masks and attendants kept making sure people had masks on when going up the lifts. Only one 'group' per lift if they traveled together. We weren't going to eat indoors but that was available, we just grabbed our food, found a small covered corner and ate sitting on the floor. I thought everything was as COVID safe as possible. Have an amazing time!! I wish I could go back. My BF turned around today and is heading back for another week and I am so jealous. Back to reality for me but I hope to make another haul at the end of Feb.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
If there is powder, we will be there. :snow: Especially this year. There won't be as many people here to ski from out of town, though.
Definitely not as many people staying at the lodges in Alta due to capacity limits. Harder to say about people who stay in SLC. Could be some pent up demand.
 

ashkat0323

Certified Ski Diva
Although Alta does a bit of snowmaking during early season, in April the surface is all natural snow. That means most of the groomers don't get slick after a couple hours. Of course, if there are warm temps (over 40 at the base) then it pays to allow time for the snow surface to soften then next morning.

Alta does not have a free mountain tour. I wrote up a self-guided tour a while back. I can dig it up if you are interested. It's not online anywhere at the moment. Needed to be updated after the Supreme lift was upgraded a few years ago.

My favorite section in late season is off the Supreme lift. It's a good area for a mixed-ability group because an intermediate can enjoy the blues while an advanced skier can take alternate routes off-piste that leads to the same end point. Rock-N-Roll is one of my favorite trails.

Rock-N-Roll is also a favorite of mine. One of the most fun Blues I have ever skied. And Devil’s Playground off of RNR is super fun.
 

bsskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Re: Interlodge. Have to share. We had a 12-14 hour Interlodge event at Alta with a crazy and very windy gusty overnight storm. Here's a pic of the storm really getting going at 9:15pm and the line at 9:00am for Collins the next morning. Sorry these images are all out of scale.
1611962005557.png

1611962085775.png
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Wow! End of March??!! We booked Alta Lodge so hopefully we’ll be good in any event!
Deepest snow I've ever skied at Alta was on April 15 a few years ago. There was 26 inches at 9am and still snowing. Storm total was 34 inches by mid-afternoon. It was fluffy powder. Only difference during late season is that it's far more likely to warm up within a day or two to really have to play in the powder ASAP before it gets a little heavy when temps get over 30.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Rock-N-Roll is also a favorite of mine. One of the most fun Blues I have ever skied. And Devil’s Playground off of RNR is super fun.
Was very happy to learn how to get to Devil's Playground at the end of a lesson. When the Cecret lift was taken out, it wasn't clear what would happen to the old green trails. After I knew how to get there, I noticed instructors with kids or intermediates headed there so learned the easiest approach.
 

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