Timeless

As someone that has ridden at CB for the last 4 years (most weekends when not in VT or somewhere better) I can say that the crowds this last few weeks have been very bad, this past saturday being the worst I've seen it for a long time. That said, I had some great riding there this weekend. As a passholder a lot of the "observations" above are not really relevant: The upper parking lot is free to the first 20 pass holders so you just need to get up there for first lifts (My kids and I have been up every weekend since they opened and got free parking both days each weekend) The lifts are open to passholders for "first trax" from 7.30 so you get a clear hour scuffing up the new corduroy before everyone is allowed on and there are generally not that many people taking advantage of this (and most that do are decent skier / riders). The food? doesn't seem any more expensive than last year and we don't eat there very often. Liftlines are bad from 10:30 or so onwards, by which time we've had 3 hours of continous laps in decent conditions. Raceway is a triple Conditions this Sunday, up to 11am were fantastic. Hump was the only real disappointment, being covered with "pebbles", I guess because it hasn't had much grooing since they blew it. Anyone who expects decent conditions at CB on a weekend after 11-12 given the size (and type) of crowd they draw is insane, get in early, make the best of it and get out alive. I am really enjoying my season so far at CB.

where did you find a powder trail at Blue Mountain....

I Drove through CB between 7 and 8 yesterday evening and thought the "park" area was open there seemed to be no-one there, very few cars and only 2 people visible on Rhodo. I think this early in the season they made the right choice, weekday ticket sales during the day would be very low. They don't normally start any night skiing until a few weeks into the season anyway, this year has been different in that respect already. I'm looking forward to next week when they can fire up the guns again and we'll get some more terrain to play on.

Tut's was open Saturday but not Friday and who mentioned it leading to honeymoon lane? If you are going to be "not confrontational" then at least read the other posts. CB are always a little wierd with their lift (resort?) management, presumably trying to keep costs in check but in reality just pissing people off.

condtions this weekend were very good but I don't see how you can claim the cover was not a little thin on Tut's (big brown streaks down the sides and especially at the exit onto meadows. Granted, some of the other runs had plenty of snow to continue running through this week but I guess they are just looking after what they have with the hope / intention of having more terrain available as they get towards the more profitable days running up to and around christmas without having to blow in marginal conditions. I was pissed that they didn't open last weekend when they could have and I went to BB instead, but this weekends conditions justified their decision for me. Look at the pasting that Blue has taken from some of it's biggest supporters by trying to rush their opening.

That lift only services the park now so nothing really to worry about. Conditions today were very good, nice surface conditions, Marjies and Rocket both a lot of fun with piles of snow to make things interesting. I was a bit disappointed to see they didn't have Tut's open and the run-out from there, maybe they were saving that for the weekend. Crowds from 9-11.30 were not too bad, especially the first hour but they really could have done with another run / lift combination so that they didn't have everybody piling back to the base quad every run.

I've been to PCMR 3 times, first time was great, 2nd was mediocre due to crowds, 3rd was bad but mostly 'cos the weather was pretty awful. Never tried the Canyons, looks interesting but reviews seem mixed, I can't imagine it's much different to PCMR as it's so close. Snowbasin was different, but good. Solitude just doesn't float my boat for some reason I can't put my finger on. I've had great days there but given the choice I'd be at Brighton. Brighton is great, very under-rated, best tree skiing I've seen. Snowbird is scary for an (advancing) intermediate like me, no place for people that are not 150% comfortable on any double black in PA. If you are not a confident skier / rider of steeps you will have a miserable time here. I know this because a took a couple of work-mates there and they still haven't forgiven me. One of them who considered himself a good skier refuses to come out west with us this year if we go back. Alta sucks balls. I would really like to try Powder Mtn next time I go out. If I had 4 days in Utah: Brighton Powder Mtn Snowbird Snowbird or Brighton depending how I felt. Someone said the Utah peaks are in the 9k range, most if not all are over 10k but if you stay in SLC and drive up everyday then you shouldn't have any problems. Go and have fun.

Me too..... dammit I wasn't going to get into this "discussion" with BlueSteezeManwich

Not getting drawn into this one, thank you. Back to the original question: Go to sno, no question, there are too many people at Camelback anyway. Sno has more vertical, steeper terrain (though still short) and much lower crowds on weekends.

really? misinformation I think

www.canyonsports.com You can get multi-day (2 from 5) tickets for snowbird. If you are going to ride for 4 days then snowbird will keep you busy / happy but you really should try some of the others, especially Brighton. Snowbasin is a bit of a drive but worth it, has a good mix of terrain and is bigger than it first feels.

Going back to the original question, if you mostly think you will be heading to snowbird and you are renting a car, then stay in Sandy you will be close to Canyon Sports for tickets and you are closest to the mouth of the canyon. Midvale or Downtown might be better if you are going to spread your visits around a bit more. There are a couple of decent hotels (Holiday inn, used to be comfort suites) within walking distance of canyon sports which makes your "out the door time" in the morning very quick. If you are only going to snowbird then check out there on-resort deals, they have some good offers.

Don't know that it was all wrong but everywhere we wen't if they sold alcohol you needed to be a member, (usually $5-10 as stated, someplaces in PC were free, go figure), best example would be Molly Green's at Brighton, $5 membership (only for the person paying) for the weekend even if you were buying food with your beer. Either way, none of this should put anyone off of going to SLC, the resorts are great. I can't wait to get back out there.

The only nightlife worth considering is in Park City, there are some bars / clubs in downtown SLC but they are nothing to get exited about. If you are really looking for nightlife then why go to Utah? I agree 100% with what someone said earlier about PC, you can have a great day there but the LCC/BCC resorts are so much better. I've been every year for the past 3, and usually hire a car, stay in Sandy (lots of reasonable hotels and near canyon sports for cheap tickets), for this year I will only be doing Brighton, Snowbird, maybe solitude and taking one "long" trip to either snowbasin or powder mtn.

Anyone been to one of these at CB before? What about MSP films generally? Could I take my ski-nut 8 year old without worrying about the surroundings or film content?

F' the parks (sorry park people), do I see a connection from Pharoah (sp?) to raceway? and now way for people to come out from the raceway lift into your path as you come off of the drop from pharoah into bactrian. I think this looks great. Shame they are going to lose a few trails to the park, but on the whole I'm interested to see the changes. Got my pass, can't wait for the first trax days.

Big gaps down the side of raceway too and holes on the trail connecting the bottom of big pocono back to the base (they could have covered this over I guess). Generally speaking though, the coverage was very good, as long as this week isn't too brutal temperature and rain-wise, they should be OK through the easter weekend.

Maybe because at least they are riding on snow at Christmas (mostly). The conditions yesterday were pretty terrible. I may be spoiled by a week in Utah, but it was sooooo slushy yesterday, even first thing in the morning. It was however very quiet and therefore still much fun. A great deal for all you non CB passholders, come and get some while it lasts. I don't see them lasting past next weekend (easter), they just dont have the base left for it.

Yeah, we got really lucky with the snow, but then we also lucked out last year on both trips in March and early April (though not quite as good as this time). Crowds were not too bad, the main quads at JG and on the okemo side had a big line from 11-1 then got quieter again, the other lifts had no more than 10 "chairs" of people in line at any time. I don't think we waited more than 2-3 minutes for a chair all day.

I was at Okemo over the weekend with my kids and the conditions were unbeliveably good. They were only claiming 10" for Friday night and 2-3" for Saturday night but first lifts on Saturday gave us knee deep (on me, 5'11") and incredibly light powder over the whole mountain. On Sunday we were expecting just nice groomers but were surprised to find another 5-6" of fresh with deeper pockets in many places (I guess because of the wind). Saturdays conditions were possibly the best I've ever ridden, there was even decent tree riding to be had. My 7 year old son had to stop at lunchtime because he was so exhausted, I though I might lose him a couple of times early in the day as he bailed and disappeared under the snow. By 11 on both days the surface of every trail was just continous powder piles whcih were so much fun to either blast over or through as you felt inclined. By mid-afternoon on sunday my legs were shot and both my kids were completely done-in, but very happy. My son wants to know why camelback can't make snow like that...... Our slopeside lodging (at winterplace if you know the area) was really nice (if expensive), but it doesn't matter where you go or how much you spend, you can never guarantee conditions like that, priceless..... Sorry,no pics this time, I left my camera in PA and my daughter only took video while we were out on the hill on Sunday. I'm off to Utah on Thursday, I promise some pic's from there.....

Yeah, not cold enough. Mid 30's at the "summit" this morning. Looks like sunday night should really allow them to get going with the new snow. edit: this post looks wierd 'cos Moe Ghoul has no text in the body of his post, sorry if it confuses anyone.

No they're not. I just got back from the hill and they made some snow last night (Marjies & Cleo's) but not much. They opened Marjies without grooming out the new stuff which was interesting, sticky new snow over ice, quite fun. The rest of the hill really needs some new snow, let's hope the temp keep going down. Cliffhanger was by far the best condition of all the runs today, especially early on before the surface got broken up.

takes too long to get there and Frost is a much nicer place to ride (terrain quality, snow quality, crowds). Don't get me wrong, I like Blue (other than the sketchy snow/grooming) but it would be third choice, maybe lower but I haven't tried sno yet. paradise is a bit like nile without the good (steeper) bits.

Not sure about that, the east side trails seem to be at least as fun/challenging as the "front four" at CB.

That's exactly why CB will lose 3 passholders to JFBB from my family next year. will they care, I doubt it. That would be awesome to see, they need some fresh coverage on several trails.