Diva West 2025, Alta Snowbird: Trip Report and Photos

[RachelV]

Such a lovely week! I'm in Ogden visiting some friends today but here are a few pics from the last few days.

Here's most of the group saying hello to @ski diva at dinner on Tuesday. Thanks again @Olesya C for coordinating this meal!


On Wednesday, @MissySki and I were lucky enough to join @SnowHot, Mr SnowHot and friends at Brighton for an industry demo day. Here's a pic of Mr. SnowHot doing a quick reaction video to the one of the skis they'd just tried. Look for the reviews later in the season on SkiTalk!


Really lovely ski day on Thursday at Alta. Here's a few of us on Lower Rustler.
Left to Right: Arelene (friend of Matro), new Ski Diva member @Adaski (welcome!!), @Olesya C, @MissySki, @Matro, @ride_ski, @RachelV


I took a bunch of pics on this run shortly before and put them in a shared album here:

Lower Rustler - Jan 30, 2025 · Thursday, Jan 30, 2025

Shared album · Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

The group skiing down somewhere in the East Greeley area:

 

[rosemarie]

Looks so fun! Can't wait to join one of these trips in the future.

 

[marzNC]

When I decided I could fit in at least part of Diva West into my 2024-25 ski schedule, I set up a Full Day lesson with my Alta instructor, Arthur Haskell. Arthur and I live about 30 minutes apart in central North Carolina. He's a friend of my local bootfitter. Arthur started teaching skiing at Wintergreen and Snowshoe. He's been spending winters in SLC for a couple decades. I started doing semi-private lessons with him with 1-2 friends back in 2014. He's fantastic for any ability level, including a few people with mixed ability levels. I've done several mixed ability lessons with him, and have friends who are intermediates who like working with Arthur.

What I did was split the Full Day into two 3-hour lessons. The morning was for whatever my travelmate wanted to work on. The afternoon was for advanced "adventure skiing" combined with relevant technique ideas. The adventure runs with @Olesya C , @MissySki , and @Marigee were fantastic! We went out Catherine's about 2:00 (gate closes at 2:45) and I thought that was enough. But then we went over to Collins via the EBT. Arthur led us out the High T . . . all the way to what is called Cheater's Thirds. After we dealt with the traverse around towards the backside (below cliffs), we skied a steep run. At the bottom he announced we had done Gunsight! I didn't know there was a way to get into Gunsight besides hiking/side stepping up from the High T, which is not on my list of challenges of interest at Alta.

Top of Catherine's "hike": marigee, Olesya, MissySki with Arthur (orange jacket)
Getting to Catherine's means going left off the Supreme lift. The access is fully groomed with a section in the middle that makes herringboning easy to get about halfway. Most people take off their skis and hike the steeper final section. But can sidestep the rest of the way, which is what I did that time.


Adventure off the High-T



Divas below Gunsight (above Olesya's helmet)

 

[marzNC]

On Wednesday, I led some of the Divas who were skiing Alta out to Catherine's. In the morning, we went all the way out to the Meadow as an introduction to the traverse and for the views. There are many ways to ski down off the traverse but it's not obvious that going farther out is one of the easier ways down. Plus it takes a while for the Meadow to get completely tracked out since most advanced/expert skiers are looking for steeper terrain. We finished the way I learned from Arthur the day before that leads to a groomed runout that can lead to Supreme (turn left) or Albion (go straight).

In the afternoon, @Olesya C and I went back out Catherine's with @Matro and her friend. Dropped in a different place before the Meadow (I didn't take any pictures).

For getting up to Catherine's I used TheSkiPack. For me, it takes far less effort than carrying skis or side stepping. Worth the short time it takes to set up when I'm interested in doing Catherine's more than once on the same day.

Divas and a couple Diva Dudes at Catherine's in the morning, Jan. 29


@marzNC , @ilovepugs , @ride_ski , @Scribble , @Olesya C

 

[marzNC]

There is a new TSD sticker at Alta after this week. Any guesses where?



There was an old chair at the top of Sugarloaf in April 2024 that got a TSD sticker. People were using it for photos. With all the new orange fences near every manmade object, guess ski patrol decided it didn't make sense to keep the chair in that location.

 

[SkiBam]

Wow. Looks wonderful everybody! It was fun to see some familiar faces in the group shots – and great that there are lots of new Divas. Call me jealous! (Though Tremblant has been pretty darn good lately!)

 

[marzNC]

For the record, here's how the snowfall looked thru the end of January 2025 at Alta.

Although the official total for Jan. 25-26 was 5 inches, there were places at the higher elevations where there was more snow at Alta. Ballroom was deeper than runs off the High T because the wind was more of a factor on that side.

It's possible to compare the current season with previous seasons all the way back to 2004-05 on the Alta website.


Daily snowfall January 2025, from Alta website data as displayed by OpenSnow

 

[newbieM]

What great pics! One day I hope to make it out to DevaWest. Love Alta and so stunning to see all the great pics. I’m sure if anyone stayed out today and tomorrow are going to get some lovely snow.

 

[Adaski]

Divas and friends are rolling in to Snowbird & Alta for Diva West! First ski day tomorrow. Here's our group at dinner this evening at the Goldminer's Daughter lodge at Alta:

View attachment 24183
L to R: @bawc, @CarverJill, @MissySki, @ride_ski, Mr ride_ski, Mr tinymoose, @tinymoose, @annetteski

See you all on the hill tomorrow!

So great to connect with you all! Such a fun group to ski with!

 

[Adaski]

View attachment 24227
@Ton ton , @bawc , @ride_ski , @CarverJill , @tinymoose , @MissySki , @RachelV , @Sparky , @skivet

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Snowbird tunnel

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Shuttle to Snowbird from GMD

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Mineral Basin

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@Sparky skiing down

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Hike up to Devil’s Castle…. Though hike is a bit of a misnomer as you didn’t actually need to even take your skis off.

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Devil’s Castle

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Outdoor apres’ view from GMD

Gorgeous!

 

[Adaski]

Happened to see a couple of the long time owners/managers at Alta Lodge at lunch on Wednesday. They noticed the Photo of the Day with Divas.

If anyone is wondering why I didn't stay at Alta Lodge, when I asked about the week of Diva West at the end of my stay in April 2024, it was already all booked up with Advanced Reservations. Plus I knew I wanted to ski elsewhere to start with. Staying lower in Sandy also meant an easier altitude adjustment. I'm headed to Taos next week.

It was great to meet new Divas for the first time! While we didn't get a lot of fresh snow, there is much to be said for blue skies and no lift lines midweek.

So fun to
Meet and ski with you !

 

[Adaski]

Such a lovely week! I'm in Ogden visiting some friends today but here are a few pics from the last few days.

Here's most of the group saying hello to @ski diva at dinner on Tuesday. Thanks again @Olesya C for coordinating this meal!
View attachment 24258

On Wednesday, @MissySki and I were lucky enough to join @SnowHot, Mr SnowHot and friends at Brighton for an industry demo day. Here's a pic of Mr. SnowHot doing a quick reaction video to the one of the skis they'd just tried. Look for the reviews later in the season on SkiTalk!
View attachment 24259

Really lovely ski day on Thursday at Alta. Here's a few of us on Lower Rustler.
Left to Right: Arelene (friend of Matro), new Ski Diva member @Adaski (welcome!!), @Olesya C, @MissySki, @Matro, @ride_ski, @RachelV
View attachment 24260

I took a bunch of pics on this run shortly before and put them in a shared album here:

Lower Rustler - Jan 30, 2025 · Thursday, Jan 30, 2025

Shared album · Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

The group skiing down somewhere in the East Greeley area:
View attachment 24261

Such a serendipitously fantastic day with the Divas!

 

[dloveski]

My one Diva day at Alta was not enough, but what I had (dental implant etc.). It's always good to reconnect and connect with Divas from all over. Rachel did a fabulous job coordinating and herding the skidiva cats.

I'm wondering if Alta plans to share the action shots taken by Tyler on Wednesday. Thanks to Alta for their welcome and pics and socks---they raised the bar for Diva hosting!!

 

[MissySki]

I'm wondering if Alta plans to share the action shots taken by Tyler on Wednesday. Thanks to Alta for their welcome and pics and socks---they raised the bar for Diva hosting!!

I hope so! And I agree, what an amazing welcome we received at Alta. It was very special thanks to one of our Divas.

Perhaps @kapowder can speak to the still pics and videos.

 

[diymom]

My welcome back to Boston at the oversized luggage area. Clearly I’m meant to keep Alta on my mind.

 

[MissySki]

My welcome back to Boston at the oversized luggage area. Clearly I’m meant to keep Alta on my mind.View attachment 24284

Yesssss!

 

[MissySki]

Gorgeous!

So nice to meet and ski with you @Adaski ! Can’t wait to do it again.

 

[RachelV]

The Alta pics were shared in the WhatsApp thread on Tuesday afternoon. I can post the link here if that's ok with @kapowder... I'll PM you both the link in the meantime.

 

[MissySki]

The Alta pics were shared in the WhatsApp thread on Tuesday afternoon. I can post the link here if that's ok with @kapowder... I'll PM you both the link in the meantime.

Sorry, I must have missed that!

 

[RachelV]

Sorry, I must have missed that!

I can't imagine how you could have missed one message over a week in that very orderly and quiet group chat. ;)