Steep and Deep: The Snow Skiing/Boarding Thread

[Goatnapper'96]

What did you end up doing and how was the weekend?

We went to Big Sky and it was fabulous. Big Sky's skiing infrastructure is the best I have seen. We skied out of the main base area riding the SwiftCurrent and Ramcatcher lifts-and they made anything I usually ride at Park City/Canyons look like Watts-and I am talking summer of 1968 Watts. The lodges were not as nice as Sun Valley but they were as good as PC. They had record early season snow-just like Grand Targhee, so it was a fabulous Thanksgiving week day. Most I visited with who are locals or ski there exclusively said it was the best opening week they had ever seen. Apparently, Big Sky can be as rocky early season as Targhee but I think I might have seen a couple of baby pines sticking up through the snow. It was fabulous conditions and the drive there from Island Park was like the introductions of a thousand Hallmark Christmas movies!

Our boys and girls play in Carey's Holiday Tournament this Friday and Saturday (teams are Rockland, Salmon, Wood River and Carey) so I was considering spending the morning at Sun Valley but alas the snow will not allow me to get there early enough to ski up there Friday morning. Next opportunity to ski will be mid December down at PC.

To anyone who likes skiing take RC's advice and hit up Big Sky-lots of terrain and the amenities are a bit of another world. Listen to this man, people!

[RC Vikings]

Snowbird is not for rookies - Alta has a really nice beginner run though - that slopes down the mountain at an easy controllable pace.

https://youtu.be/PZapNgIrO5M

This is a good video that talks about Snowbird and it's beginner area.

[clackamascoug]

Snowbird is not for rookies - Alta has a really nice beginner run though - that slopes down the mountain at an easy controllable pace.

[BigPiney]

We have Ikon Base Passes for everyone, so no additional cost for lift tickets at any of the listed resorts. Three school-aged children and one adult.

When are you coming up to Mammoth?

[RC Vikings]

If some beginning skiers were to choose between some combination of Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird over two or three days in December, what would you choose and why?

I'd go to Brighton my first day, they have a couple of runs that are perfect for beginners. Second day I would go to Solitude just because it's a little better hill than Brighton and I would stay away from Snowbird. It's been a long time since I skied it but I remember it's a tough hill.

[Commando]

If some beginning skiers were to choose between some combination of Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird over two or three days in December, what would you choose and why?

Beginning skiers? Just go to Brighton. You'll pay less and get the same value. I would 10/10 times pick Snowbird under any other circumstances, though.

[All-American]

We have Ikon Base Passes for everyone, so no additional cost for lift tickets at any of the listed resorts. Three school-aged children and one adult.

Got it.

Solitude is the other one we did a lot as I grew up. Very similar to Brighton in terms of terrain type, expertise, etc. Between those two you couldn't go wrong. (Probably true of Snowbird too, but I'm less familiar with it.)

[Joe Public]

Same here.

What are the ages? I understand Brighton has some fantastic rates for kids.

We have Ikon Base Passes for everyone, so no additional cost for lift tickets at any of the listed resorts. Three school-aged children and one adult.

[All-American]

I learned to Ski at Brighton. Love that place.

Same here.

What are the ages? I understand Brighton has some fantastic rates for kids.

[Jeff Lebowski]

If some beginning skiers were to choose between some combination of Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird over two or three days in December, what would you choose and why?

I learned to Ski at Brighton. Love that place.

[Joe Public]

If some beginning skiers were to choose between some combination of Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird over two or three days in December, what would you choose and why?

[RC Vikings]

I am in Island Park next week for Thanksgiving. I want to go skiing on Friday, 25 Nov. I will be equal distance from both Big Sky and Targhee. I have never skied at Big Sky so I kind of want to go there, but Targhee opens tomorrow so I figure that there will be more groomed runs up there and more ready for the season than Big Sky will be as it opens on 23 or 24 Nov I think. Also weather indicates it will be unseasonably warm in Driggs on 25 Nov so like skiing Targhee when it is double digits is not something one should take likely.

What is your take-where would we have a better early season experience?

What did you end up doing and how was the weekend?

[Shaka]

I could have read that all - even if it was three times longer. Like PAC - you're such a good writer.

As I look back on my life - the funnest days - were the skiing days. Best of all - there was a 7-11 at the mouth of Little Cottonwood and we would stop there and get 16 oz bottles of Dr. Pepper. No drink ever tasted so good as after a day of skiing. Night skiing at Sundance with a date was the best. I wonder how Ms. Mendenhall is doing nowadays.

Nod to Copeland reference.

If only I know what a paragraph was.

I hit the same 7-11 every time I came down.

[clackamascoug]

Bindings no. Skis have changed significantly. Shaped skis (parabolic they used to be called) changed the industry when they started getting popular in the late nineties. They carve better, ski crud better, and float in powder much better. The best part is you can downsize your skis significantly and still get similar performance. For example, in my teens which was my skiing heyday, I rode 205cm Kastle National Team SL which is the exact ski the Pirmin Zurbriggen used at the time. I was an all-mountain guy but loved skiing bumps. In my mid-twenties, when I blew out my left knee (the right was torched in high school), I switched to snowboarding full-time because the long skis were just too much for my knees. I kept up with ski tech and eventually one of my buddies who worked at Copeland Sports in Provo convinced me to give a pair of mid-fats (Rossignol Bandit XX) a try. Mid-fat means they have a wider waist than normal with even wider tips. The best part is my ski size went down to around 185 which put far less rotational force on my knees. The mid-fats were a revelation. They didn't ski bumps as well as my old Kastles (I'd mostly given up bumps anyway) but they carved extremely well and ripped in the crud and powder. Powder became far less work and a lot more fun. I now ski about 80% of the time and save snowboarding for powder days.

I could have read that all - even if it was three times longer. Like PAC - you're such a good writer.

As I look back on my life - the funnest days - were the skiing days. Best of all - there was a 7-11 at the mouth of Little Cottonwood and we would stop there and get 16 oz bottles of Dr. Pepper. No drink ever tasted so good as after a day of skiing. Night skiing at Sundance with a date was the best. I wonder how Ms. Mendenhall is doing nowadays.

Nod to Copeland reference.

[Commando]

I skied a lot in the 70's and 80's - K2's and Tyrolia 360's - has equipment changed (improved) since that time. Is modern equipment that much better than the old days?

Absolutely. It's improved so much it's almost not even the same sport.