This was our first trip to Solitude Ski Resort in Utah to ski. We usually visit larger acreage resorts, but Solitude (1200 acres) was easy to get to with a direct flight and we found a great deal on a superb condo. Plus, we were being lazy and didn't want to have to drive far from the airport this year because our lives had been so hectic. Purchasing tickets online ahead of time saved us about $30 per day.
Conditions when we first arrived were hard-pack and icy. And very crowded. Solitude advertises that its slopes are uncrowded, but, unfortunately for us, we didn't find it so most of the days we were there (the 2nd and 3rd week of January). Although the MLK weekend was during part of our visit, we wisely did not ski those days. Just watching the crowded mountain from our condo let us know that it was a good idea to take a few days off. If you're coming up in the morning from the city, come early or you'll sit in a traffic jam, especially on weekends. The road, after all, is a (mostly) single lane canyon road.
If you are learning to ski, the green runs are all accessed through a single lift, which keeps true beginners safely separated from other skiers. And probably a bit more comfortable.
We admired the beautiful cross country ski and snowshoe trails right at the base of the main condo village (but didn't have time to try out the trails). The base village doesn't have very much in the way of retail and restaurants, so no night-life to speak of. It was very quiet, even over the holiday weekend, which was nice.
The lifts (except for one) are high speed and easy to use because Solitude uses an RFID ticket system. Just place your ticket in a jacket pocket and the gate before the lift opens up to let you through. Quick and maybe easier for the lift operators. And even when it was crowded, we didn't have to wait more than a few minutes for the lifts we hit (we avoided the more crowded ones).
The resort (and the canyon drive to get there from Salt Lake) is easy and quite a pretty drive. I think it took around 45 minutes to get there from the airport.
After a few days, the resort (and both Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons) received about 18"+ of snow over 3 days (knee deep powder!). I have to admit that it was some of the best quality snow (light and fluffy) I've ever skied in my life. The canyon road was closed for a time one afternoon and almost half of the next day, so we had low crowds and first tracks on a few of the runs. We had a blast. However, the morning after the dump (it was still snowing lightly), the resort was skied out by 10:30 (except for some of the single and double blacks, which didn't open because of avalanche danger). We spent most of the time lapping the Eagle Express lift, which wasn't quite as crowded. Because it stayed overcast and cold, the snow held up and became piled powder we could just blast through.
The next day, the first sunny day, the resort had groomed approximately half of the named runs (almost all of the blues AND blacks with the exception of Honeycomb Canyon runs) instead of leaving the chopped up powder. The unfortunate result of the overnight grooming was to create packed, icy conditions (especially on the blacks and steeper blues) within a couple hours of the resort opening. Heard a bit of grumbling from a few locals we spoke with regarding the puzzling over-grooming. Could zoom along pretty fast, though.
Solitude has some great, challenging runs that are blue and black. A couple of the blue runs would probably be labeled black at other resorts we've visited. If you're looking for steep terrain, they definitely have it. And after a dump, it's great fun on every run you can access. Off of the Summit Express lift, we enjoyed both the blues and the single blacks accessible from the gate at the top and the Woodlawn run. The top part of Woodlawn run, an access point for Honeycomb canyon, however, was closed after the snowfall due to avalanche danger for the rest of our trip. We could have accessed the canyon through another gate, but the drop was way too steep for us. :-) On our last day there, we joked that there must have been an unscheduled ski race starting from the top of the Summit Express lift. Straight lining seemed to be the technique of the day.
Would we return? As a destination for more than 3 or 4 days, probably not. I would estimate that most of the skiers were locals from the city (everyone we talked to was nice). If I was looking for a short, fun trip (knowing that it could be pretty crowded at times), I would consider returning due to the easy access from the airport and a direct flight from Atlanta, our home base.
Conditions when we first arrived were hard-pack and icy. And very crowded. Solitude advertises that its slopes are uncrowded, but, unfortunately for us, we didn't find it so most of the days we were there (the 2nd and 3rd week of January). Although the MLK weekend was during part of our visit, we wisely did not ski those days. Just watching the crowded mountain from our condo let us know that it was a good idea to take a few days off. If you're coming up in the morning from the city, come early or you'll sit in a traffic jam, especially on weekends. The road, after all, is a (mostly) single lane canyon road.
If you are learning to ski, the green runs are all accessed through a single lift, which keeps true beginners safely separated from other skiers. And probably a bit more comfortable.
We admired the beautiful cross country ski and snowshoe trails right at the base of the main condo village (but didn't have time to try out the trails). The base village doesn't have very much in the way of retail and restaurants, so no night-life to speak of. It was very quiet, even over the holiday weekend, which was nice.
The lifts (except for one) are high speed and easy to use because Solitude uses an RFID ticket system. Just place your ticket in a jacket pocket and the gate before the lift opens up to let you through. Quick and maybe easier for the lift operators. And even when it was crowded, we didn't have to wait more than a few minutes for the lifts we hit (we avoided the more crowded ones).
The resort (and the canyon drive to get there from Salt Lake) is easy and quite a pretty drive. I think it took around 45 minutes to get there from the airport.
After a few days, the resort (and both Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons) received about 18"+ of snow over 3 days (knee deep powder!). I have to admit that it was some of the best quality snow (light and fluffy) I've ever skied in my life. The canyon road was closed for a time one afternoon and almost half of the next day, so we had low crowds and first tracks on a few of the runs. We had a blast. However, the morning after the dump (it was still snowing lightly), the resort was skied out by 10:30 (except for some of the single and double blacks, which didn't open because of avalanche danger). We spent most of the time lapping the Eagle Express lift, which wasn't quite as crowded. Because it stayed overcast and cold, the snow held up and became piled powder we could just blast through.
The next day, the first sunny day, the resort had groomed approximately half of the named runs (almost all of the blues AND blacks with the exception of Honeycomb Canyon runs) instead of leaving the chopped up powder. The unfortunate result of the overnight grooming was to create packed, icy conditions (especially on the blacks and steeper blues) within a couple hours of the resort opening. Heard a bit of grumbling from a few locals we spoke with regarding the puzzling over-grooming. Could zoom along pretty fast, though.
Solitude has some great, challenging runs that are blue and black. A couple of the blue runs would probably be labeled black at other resorts we've visited. If you're looking for steep terrain, they definitely have it. And after a dump, it's great fun on every run you can access. Off of the Summit Express lift, we enjoyed both the blues and the single blacks accessible from the gate at the top and the Woodlawn run. The top part of Woodlawn run, an access point for Honeycomb canyon, however, was closed after the snowfall due to avalanche danger for the rest of our trip. We could have accessed the canyon through another gate, but the drop was way too steep for us. :-) On our last day there, we joked that there must have been an unscheduled ski race starting from the top of the Summit Express lift. Straight lining seemed to be the technique of the day.
Would we return? As a destination for more than 3 or 4 days, probably not. I would estimate that most of the skiers were locals from the city (everyone we talked to was nice). If I was looking for a short, fun trip (knowing that it could be pretty crowded at times), I would consider returning due to the easy access from the airport and a direct flight from Atlanta, our home base.
