Solitude tips?

[marine-snow]

Hello! A couple of friends and I are planning a trip to Solitude in March. It will be our first time there. We’re looking at booking lodging through the resort to be ski on/ski off (or walk on/walk off). Any tips from experienced visitors on where to stay? Also, how have you found the terrain and conditions - any clear pros or cons in comparison to other nearby resorts?

 

[marzNC]

Welcome! March is a great time to ski Solitude.

Would help to know a more about you and your group. What region do you ski the most? What type of terrain do you prefer? Do you want slopeside lodging in order to avoid renting a car?

I have skied Solitude a few times in the last decade, but have never stayed in the Solitude "village." I've walked around the main plaza and it's clearly very convenient in terms of the short walk to the closet lifts. Looking at the mountain from the base, the village is on the far left and separate from the day lodge and day parking lots. There is a resort shuttle between the two base areas. The trip reports I've read for families with kids have all been positive experiences.

 

[lisaski]

I have skied at Solitude plenty of times. I have never stayed overnight there. I imagine it is kind of quiet with not much to do at night up there. As for the terrain, they have terrain for every type of skier from beginner to super expert. I'm an advanced skier and so my two favorite lifts are Powderhorn and Summit Express. Powderhorn serves a huge area of open bowl type skiing with a few groomers cut into it. The off piste terrain accessed from Powderhorn includes fields of moguls, some limited lines through groves of fir trees and a few small cliffy areas. But, it is basically a large area where you can traverse and drop in wherever you wish. Summit lift serves some interesting blue/black terrain including Honeycomb Canyon, steep Headwall Forest and chutes through trees off "corner chute" for some good expert terrain and blue groomed slopes skier's left along the lift line. Honeycomb Canyon is also kind of a fun challenge for intermediates who follow it down through the canyon with some nice tree'd areas along a traverse skier's right for advanced skiers. I have never explored the long traverse in Honeycomb on skier's left. It always looked like a lot of work for me although good expert terrain can be accessed on that side of the canyon.

 

[marine-snow]

Welcome! March is a great time to ski Solitude.

Would help to know a more about you and your group. What region do you ski the most? What type of terrain do you prefer? Do you want slopeside lodging in order to avoid renting a car?

I have skied Solitude a few times in the last decade, but have never stayed in the Solitude "village." I've walked around the main plaza and it's clearly very convenient in terms of the short walk to the closet lifts. Looking at the mountain from the base, the village is on the far left and separate from the day lodge and day parking lots. There is a resort shuttle between the two base areas. The trip reports I've read for families with kids have all been positive experiences.

We are a small group (4-5) mid 30s-early 40s women who are all leaving our toddlers at home to have a fun ski vacation! We will rent a car or possibly 2, but we would like to be on individual schedules to roll out of bed and go skiing. The skiing level ranges from low advanced to super expert, with some people wanting to push hard and others looking to chill. Moguls, powder, trees are all great. Maybe one person wants to huck themself over cliffs, but the rest do not.

 

[marine-snow]

I have skied at Solitude plenty of times. I have never stayed overnight there. I imagine it is kind of quiet with not much to do at night up there. As for the terrain, they have terrain for every type of skier from beginner to super expert. I'm an advanced skier and so my two favorite lifts are Powderhorn and Summit Express. Powderhorn serves a huge area of open bowl type skiing with a few groomers cut into it. The off piste terrain accessed from Powderhorn includes fields of moguls, some limited lines through groves of fir trees and a few small cliffy areas. But, it is basically a large area where you can traverse and drop in wherever you wish. Summit lift serves some interesting blue/black terrain including Honeycomb Canyon, steep Headwall Forest and chutes through trees off "corner chute" for some good expert terrain and blue groomed slopes skier's left along the lift line. Honeycomb Canyon is also kind of a fun challenge for intermediates who follow it down through the canyon with some nice tree'd areas along a traverse skier's right for advanced skiers. I have never explored the long traverse in Honeycomb on skier's left. It always looked like a lot of work for me although good expert terrain can be accessed on that side of the canyon.

Thank you! The terrain sounds like a great fit for us. Where were you based when you skiied there?

 

[marzNC]

We are a small group (4-5) mid 30s-early 40s women who are all leaving our toddlers at home to have a fun ski vacation! We will rent a car or possibly 2, but we would like to be on individual schedules to roll out of bed and go skiing. The skiing level ranges from low advanced to super expert, with some people wanting to push hard and others looking to chill. Moguls, powder, trees are all great. Maybe one person wants to huck themself over cliffs, but the rest do not.

Good for you!

Solitude is a good fit from a terrain standpoint. I like skiing in the aspen trees there.

A few years ago, @Tennessee and her group of friends rented a house near Brighton. For a group willing to rent a car, that might be worth considering.

Are you planning on buying lift tickets or using an Ikon pass?

 

[santacruz skier]

We will rent a car or possibly 2, but we would like to be on individual schedules to roll out of bed and go skiing. T

Ski in, ski out sounds ideal for your group. I've skied Solitude once or twice decades ago but I'm intrigued now hearing about it. It sounds like some really fun terrain.

 

[marine-snow]

Good for you!

Solitude is a good fit from a terrain standpoint. I like skiing in the aspen trees there.

A few years ago, @Tennessee and her group of friends rented a house near Brighton. For a group willing to rent a car, that might be worth considering.

Are you planning on buying lift tickets or using an Ikon pass?

A couple of us have Ikon passes, but the others do not and will have to buy lift tickets. I haven’t researched this part yet - is there a best way to get lift tickets? I know there is an Ikon friends+family discount option.

 

[marzNC]

A couple of us have Ikon passes, but the others do not and will have to buy lift tickets. I haven’t researched this part yet - is there a best way to get lift tickets? I know there is an Ikon friends+family discount option.

For people with Ikon passes, if the Soli-Bright connector trail is open then it's possible to ski between the two. Uses a Soli day and a Brighton day, but that's not usually an issue for people doing one ski trip to SLC. Brighton has fun trees and glades. Also, with a car and Ikon that opens up the option of doing a day trip to Alta if never been there. Alta happens to be my favorite resort out west for assorted reasons.

The Ikon F&F discount is decent. Note that the discount is taken off the full day ticket price. Worth comparing to the advanced purchase online price would be for a multi-day ticket for Solitude.

I don't know if the SLC Superpass is much of a deal when planning to only ski one resort.

Ski Pass & Lift Tickets | Ski Super Pass Salt Lake, United States

superpass.visitsaltlake.com

 

[lisaski]

Thank you! The terrain sounds like a great fit for us. Where were you based when you skiied there?

I live in Utah in the Wasatch back. So, local...

 

[Tennessee]

Thanks @marzNC for calling my attention to this thread. My group sounds a lot like yours @marine-snow — except we’re all in our 60’s. Different abilities, different get-out-the-door-to-go-skiing times, etc. and we always do ski-in/out so we don’t kill each other. Sometimes we don’t even rent a car. We did Brighton and Solitude in March a few years ago and loved it! We stayed in the neighborhood at Brighton that is beside the far right lift as you look up at the mtn from the bottom. There are also some ski in ski out Airbnb homes on the western side too that looked good. We used the sol-bright trail to get to Solitude from there. But since it was late season the snow was actually much better at Brighton as it’s a bit higher elevation. We ended up skiing at Brighton mostly. Loved the easygoing vibe and the friendly laid-back young rider feel of Brighton. And I liked the roller coaster runs through the trees. Solitude is more open. So check out the Airbnb and VRBO homes at Brighton! And if you have a car I would take a ride over to Alta one day. Contact me personally if you want and I’ll look up the exact home we had. It was awesome.

 

[skivet]

If you listen to podcasts check out The Last Chair - a ski podcast by Ski Utah. They did an episode on Solitude with a few years ago. It's a great podcast to get you stoked for the season, especially if you are planning to ski in Utah.

 

[marzNC]

Storm Skiing did a podcast in 2022 with the new leader, Amber Broadway. Alterra brought her in from Sugarbush. She's accomplished quite a lot in the last couple years.

 

[marine-snow]

Thanks @marzNC for calling my attention to this thread. My group sounds a lot like yours @marine-snow — except we’re all in our 60’s. Different abilities, different get-out-the-door-to-go-skiing times, etc. and we always do ski-in/out so we don’t kill each other. Sometimes we don’t even rent a car. We did Brighton and Solitude in March a few years ago and loved it! We stayed in the neighborhood at Brighton that is beside the far right lift as you look up at the mtn from the bottom. There are also some ski in ski out Airbnb homes on the western side too that looked good. We used the sol-bright trail to get to Solitude from there. But since it was late season the snow was actually much better at Brighton as it’s a bit higher elevation. We ended up skiing at Brighton mostly. Loved the easygoing vibe and the friendly laid-back young rider feel of Brighton. And I liked the roller coaster runs through the trees. Solitude is more open. So check out the Airbnb and VRBO homes at Brighton! And if you have a car I would take a ride over to Alta one day. Contact me personally if you want and I’ll look up the exact home we had. It was awesome.

I don’t know why I didn’t get the email alert for this - just seeing @Tennessee your reply now! We ended up booking a couple of units through the mountain/resort because we were having trouble finding the right size for our group (5) on AirBnB and VRBO at Solitude. I’m excited to hear that Brighton terrain is fun too! I saw that they were interconnected, but my limited research gave me the (wrong) impression that Brighton was geared toward terrain park skiing/boarding.

 

[marine-snow]

Storm Skiing did a podcast in 2022 with the new leader, Amber Broadway. Alterra brought her in from Sugarbush. She's accomplished quite a lot in the last couple years.

Thank you for sharing the podcast. Super stoked to learn that there is a woman at the helm!

 

[marzNC]

I saw that they were interconnected, but my limited research gave me the (wrong) impression that Brighton was geared toward terrain park skiing/boarding.

Your impression is probably a function of who posts online about Brighton. Like Solitude used to me, there is a much smaller percentage of the people on the slopes at Brighton who are travelers to Utah during the winter.

I like the Brighton terrain. There is a fair amount of variety, from narrow groomers in the woods, open areas off the Milly lift, and lots of aspens off Great Western. From the top of Great Western, it's possible to see the top of the Snowbird tram if you know where to look.

In the mid-afternoon midweek, quite a few school buses show up full of kids in various programs. So best to be done and headed back to Solitude before that happens. If the Sol-Bright trail isn't open, there must be a way to get back to Solitude without having a car. Either the UTA bus or perhaps Solitude resort guests can call for a ride from a resort van.

Brighton has the only serious night skiing in the Cottonwoods, so that brings out the park rats after school is out in the afternoon. They can take the bus up. When I took the bus back to Alta from the bus stop at the end of Big Cottonwood Canyon after a friend took me to the city from Alta Lodge, I saw high schoolers getting off the bus . . . sometimes in ski boots or snowboard boots . . . and then getting into a car that was waiting. Presumably a parent doing a pick up.

Be forewarned that the Sol-Bright trail is a little steep in sections going from Solitude to Brighton and a bit too flat in sections heading from Brighton back to Solitude. The cat track going back feels like a long trek if in a hurry.

 

[Ton ton]

Hi. I have ski’d a fair amount of times at solitude - and stayed twice at the base. As some have mentioned it’s not a night time place. But then again that’s pretty much the Utah vibe isn’t it?!
I think for your purposes having some units right there is nicest. You cannot get closer to the mountain!
If you wanted a little splurge and change of pace, get a driver or take the bus down to intersection of 190 and Big cottonwood canyon where there is a happening burger type restaurant. Next to whatever that ski shop is.
I think the amazing skiing at Soli is off piste. Another responder said wasn’t hard to find your way around. Me? Not so much. I would try to get someone to show you around back there. But it is lovely skiing.
have fun!

 

[Chuyi]

For people with Ikon passes, if the Soli-Bright connector trail is open then it's possible to ski between the two. Uses a Soli day and a Brighton day, but that's not usually an issue for people doing one ski trip to SLC. Brighton has fun trees and glades. Also, with a car and Ikon that opens up the option of doing a day trip to Alta if never been there. Alta happens to be my favorite resort out west for assorted reasons.

The Ikon F&F discount is decent. Note that the discount is taken off the full day ticket price. Worth comparing to the advanced purchase online price would be for a multi-day ticket for Solitude.

I don't know if the SLC Superpass is much of a deal when planning to only ski one resort.

Ski Pass & Lift Tickets | Ski Super Pass Salt Lake, United States

superpass.visitsaltlake.com

There is no soli day. Solitude is an Alterra owned resort. The season pass is the Ikon pass. Solitude no longer has blackout dates for ikon passes.

 

[Sheena]

If you wanted a little splurge and change of pace, get a driver or take the bus down to intersection of 190 and Big cottonwood canyon where there is a happening burger type restaurant. Next to whatever that ski shop is.

I wonder if you are thinking of the Porcupine restaurant? That place has a fun vibe. Gets busy though, so trying to time it right my be challenging if you don't have a lot of time.