Utah on a spring break

[eaf]

Today was murder! An absolute murder...

I’ve never seen so many people at EWR. TSA line before the escalators was running across the entire terminal. Literally, end to end.

We were stupidly expecting an easy flight, hardly any lines, because you know, COVID, but nope! Having arrived at the terminal 90 minutes ahead of the flight, we hardly made it to the gate in time. 10 mins more and we would not have made it. Even this was a pure luck because we begged and were allowed to cut a short piece of the line near the scanners. Ah, spring break!

But in the end yay, we’ve made it! The skis have made it too, and I was fully expecting them to end up somewhere in Florida or Aruba in this chaos.

It is sunny in SLC! It’s so warm that people walk around in T-shirts, both in downtown and in the mountains. The thermometer may show 55F, but the sun is merciless! Got a Highlander, which was nice, as it has tons of space for everything, but yet is such a waste in a weather like this.

It is going to be a rather short trip, only three days on the snow.

[eaf]

[eaf]

[eaf]

Wow, out of nowhere ran into Bigfoot tracks.

Is it even safe to ski here?!

[saltyant]

10 minutes ago, eaf said:

Wow, out of nowhere ran into Bigfoot tracks.

Is @toast21602 there?

[saltyant]

Are you at Snowbasin today? I think you said Snowbasin two days and Brighton one day?

[toast21602]

17 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Is @toast21602 there?

LQD!

[toast21602]

7 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Are you at Snowbasin today? I think you said Snowbasin two days and Brighton one day?

Those look like the Moose Knuckle condos or something right in that area.

[Justo8484]

4 hours ago, toast21602 said:

Those look like the Moose Knuckle condos or something right in that area.

place across the street from moose hollow maybe?

[eaf]

These are condos at the bottom of Solitude where we’re skiing for two days.

They look 100% identical to what I’ve seen at Keystone, both inside and outside. Living area, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, balcony, TV, fireplace. I keep having dejavu moments all the time.

But the arrangement is awesome. Walking distance to the slopes, 3 hours of skiing, lunch break at home, and off for three more hours.

Nice to travel with a chef too 🤣

[saltyant]

Wow you're living fancy. I'm too cheap to pay for mountain side lodging and a rental car.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

That salad will make for a nice poop. 

[Kyle]

1 hour ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

That salad will make for a nice poop. 

LOG IT! 

[eaf]

3 hours ago, saltyant said:

Wow you're living fancy. I'm too cheap to pay for mountain side lodging and a rental car.

Well, it’s kinda worth it. If it snows crazy, I’d rather be stuck in my room than in the middle of the canyon. And if the weather is nice, it works out even better as you can take a brief rest, bite and then just wander around while the sun is still high.

We still need a car to bypass buses, load on groceries and haul all the stuff for a day at Brighton after we checkout.

[eaf]

8 hours ago, saltyant said:

Are you at Snowbasin today? I think you said Snowbasin two days and Brighton one day?

Initially I had 2 days at Solitude, a day at Brighton and a day trip from SLC to Snowbasin, but then had to cut it short as we need to be back by Friday.

[pcklein31]

2 minutes ago, eaf said:

Well, it’s kinda worth it. If it snows crazy, I’d rather be stuck in my room than in the middle of the canyon. And if the weather is nice, it works out even better as you can take a brief rest, bite and then just wander around while the sun is still high.

We still need a car to bypass buses, load on groceries and haul all the stuff for a day at Brighton after we checkout.

Looks nice! Im thinking about looking at  the lodging at Solitude for a few days during next seaons trip.  As you said, it would be nice to not have drive back out of the canyon every night.  .. and with night skiing at Brighton, it gives more options.

[eaf]

So, spring skiing here has been amazing so far. Awesome weather, mostly sunny, hardly any people especially after lunch, we never saw any lines here.

The temperatures are going down, though not as fast as it was forecasted, and I expected lots of ice after yesterday’s 60F, but nope, groomers were A-OK from the start. Softish, fast, wiiiiiiide and fast, super enjoyable. Ungroomed trails were on the other hand rough and icy, so screw them.

Partly cloudy in the morning changed to about an hour of strong snow after lunch with terrible visibility, but then things gradually improved and it’s now fully sunny again. The difference between skiing here in snow and under sun is so drastic, I just can’t get over it.

The only thing I feel bad about now is that they close at 4pm. Just why??

[eaf]

[Schif]

Which lifts/ areas have you been skiing? I really liked Solitude when i was there but the snow just wasn't good in January. Also you can see it in your picture how the summit chair goes way down and then back up through a little gulley and I did not like that feeling at all. 

[JFskiDan]

Looks like Headwall Forest/Evergreen.  super fun area.  

[eaf]

1 hour ago, Schif said:

Which lifts/ areas have you been skiing? I really liked Solitude when i was there but the snow just wasn't good in January. Also you can see it in your picture how the summit chair goes way down and then back up through a little gulley and I did not like that feeling at all. 

It’s fully open now, so we’re all over the place, but stay on groomers as the difference between groomed and ungroomed is drastic - the latter is just frozen.

The only trail that has some spring coverage issues is Solbright and only in the very beginning - rocks start showing up.

Summit Express that you’re referring to indeed goes down and up twice but features the best views, so we’re on it quite often.

[eaf]

44 minutes ago, JFskiDan said:

Looks like Headwall Forest/Evergreen.  super fun area.  

Yeah, that’s it.

[eaf]

Who can guess what this is? It sits on the slopes, just a little higher than the base area. There’s a Nordic groomed trail going by it. We haven’t seen a soul over there, but it’s supposed to be a popular and “most unique” place.

I’ll post the answer after we come back from the afternoon session. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

It looks like a yurt. 

[saltyant]

11 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

It looks like a yurt. 

Correct. Ar Snowbasin I got my lift ticket from a yirt.