Ski School at Alta

[MaryVA]

Hi All,

We're heading to Alta the last week of March with our two kids (5 and 7 yo) and I have them booked in Alta's ski school for each day of our trip. While we took them to Alta for spring break last year as well, it snowed 5 feet our first day and when the lifts finally re-opened after a 60-hour interlodge, the road up the canyon stayed closed all week and there was no ski school. We had a great time exploring the mountain as a family, but I know that the kids will have even more fun in ski school skiing with peers, and my husband and I will appreciate the chance to hang out one-on-one and ski some of the stuff we couldn't take the kids on last year.

That said, I do want to do at least a few solid runs together as a family, and possibly bring them over to Snowbird so they can try some new terrain and check out the Tram and the Peruvian Tunnel (my 5-year-old is very into tunnels at the moment, and neither kid has ridden anything but a chairlift before). But ski school apparently runs until 3:15 every day, and most lifts close at 4, which doesn't seem to leave much time us to fit in family runs. Does anyone here with experience putting their kids in the Alta ski school (or really any big resort ski school) have a sense of how easy it would be to pick the kids up an hour or two early one day? I don't really want to forego ski school for an entire day of the trip (and I'm guessing that after several days of skiing with fun coaches and new friends, the kids won't be thrilled about spending a whole day their parents instead, either), but is that necessary if I want to ensure some quality family ski time?

 

[marzNC]

What level class applies for your kids? Alta Ski School has an afternoon option for beginners and intermediates. What happens is that the groups that started in the morning stop by the Albion base to pick up any PM-only students.

You can ask the instructor where that group is going to have lunch if you want to pick up kids early. Not sure about how that would work, but might be possible. Parents are supposed to sign out their kids in the log at ski school. But that doesn't always happen when a parent doesn't go into the building at pick up time. In that case, I assume the instructor initials for Sign Out.

I suggest you call Alta Ski School.

My daughter, her friends we made at Alta Lodge, and my friend's kids did Alta Ski School during spring break trips from 2008 through 2019 until they aged out. They all loved their instructors.

Note that Sunnyside and Collins stay open until 4:30. If you are staying on the Wildcat side or parked there, when picking up from ski school at 3:15, there is just enough time to ride up Sunnyside and load Sugarloaf to go across to Collins. Assuming the EBT-Collins Return cat track is open.

Skiing Snowbird in late season, it makes a big difference if there is a freeze/thaw cycle in action for the front side. Can take until well past 11am before the front side softens at times.

 

[PollySid]

I’ve heard that Alta has one of the very best ski schools in America. The quality of the terrain and the micro-climate that dumps light snow throughout the winter is unique. So it would follow that the area attracts top skiers, and the Alf Engen Ski School therefore has the advantage of being highly selective. Families return year after year to get the instructor they had the year before. That says a lot about the ski school.

 

[DawnL]

We just got back from a trip to Snowbird/Alta. My son got one day of ski school at Alta because the mountain was starting closing operations. The ski school is great and a relative bargain at 215 a day.

I can attest that it did take a bit for the snow to soften during the day. That said, it was great to be more relaxed in the morning and not feel like you needed to be there to catch the first chair.