Steep and Deep: The Snow Skiing/Boarding Thread

[Shaka]

Small ski areas are great, and often have more flavor even if they have less vertical pitch than the big boys. Sundance is a fun place. I am disappointed that you would stop at Solitude when another 5 minutes up the canyon would put you at an equally affordable lift ticket at much better resort.

Solitude is awesome. When I was a teenager (mid to late eighties) it was THE place. Season passes were a few hundred bucks and most the best bump skiers in the area went there. You could start at the top of Inspiration and then go all the way to the bottom on some of the best carved bumps you've ever seen. Solitude also had amazing tree and glade skiing. Honecomb Canyon (when it was open) was more like a back country run with lift access.

I have skied and boarded both since I was very young and there is nothing in me that thinks Brighton is a better resort than Solitude. I love both but they have different vibes.

[Shaka]

I started out on skis. Once I switched to snowboarding in the mid 90's (on a ghetto K2 Farmer and some Sorels fitted w/ ski boot linings) I never looked back.

Snowboarding is the superior sport as far as fun factor goes. Skiing is right up there with rollerblading in my book.

I don't want to get into the skiing vs boarding argument as I love both. My feeling is that skiing is initially easy but hard to become an expert. Snowboarding is initially tough but fairly easy to get to a point where you can take most runs. I'm an all mountain freerider type and in that context snowboarding became somewhat boring unless it was a powder day. When the freshies aren't present I find that I can go places and do things with skis that just aren't possible on a board.

Another thing I would point out is that most of the guys I know who are good at both ski quite a bit more than they board.

[pellegrino]

Solitude is awesome. When I was a teenager (mid to late eighties) it was THE place. Season passes were a few hundred bucks and most the best bump skiers in the area went there. You could start at the top of Inspiration and then go all the way to the bottom on some of the best carved bumps you've ever seen. Solitude also had amazing tree and glade skiing. Honecomb Canyon (when it was open) was more like a back country run with lift access.

I have skied and boarded both since I was very young and there is nothing in me that thinks Brighton is a better resort than Solitude. I love both but they have different vibes.

The headwall, milk run and cirque were some of my favorites. If you wanted good, consistent bumps, sunshine was always fun too. My friends and I were more into the steeps and trees, we were always looking for anything steep and if it had a cliff or a jump we were all over it. Honeycomb could be hit or miss, but there was a string of years in the early 90s when it was open all the time and we hit it every time we could. I found that the access from Summit was open more often than the others. We loved Honeycomb because it let us live out our Warren Miller dreams.

[Shaka]

The headwall, milk run and cirque were some of my favorites. If you wanted good, consistent bumps, sunshine was always fun too. My friends and I were more into the steeps and trees, we were always looking for anything steep and if it had a cliff or a jump we were all over it. Honeycomb could be hit or miss, but there was a string of years in the early 90s when it was open all the time and we hit it every time we could. I found that the access from Summit was open more often than the others. We loved Honeycomb because it let us live out our Warren Miller dreams.

Ahhh Milk Run. I'd forgotten completely. We skied the whole mountain and had great times. I prefer the Cirque at Snowbird.

It's funny that my resort preference cycles as time passes. When I was a kid it was all about Alta, Brighton, and Park City. My teenage years were spent mostly at Solitude and Snowbird. I boarded mostly through my twenties so Snowbird, Park West (Canyons), and Brighton were my places. As I transitioned back to skiing Alta and Snowbird got most my runs. Now I tend to hit Alta when I want to ski and Snowbird on the powder days so I can ski and board. Mineral Basin on big powder days is one of the greatest things ever.

[pellegrino]

Ahhh Milk Run. I'd forgotten completely. We skied the whole mountain and had great times. I prefer the Cirque at Snowbird.

It's funny that my resort preference cycles as time passes. When I was a kid it was all about Alta, Brighton, and Park City. My teenage years were spent mostly at Solitude and Snowbird. I boarded mostly through my twenties so Snowbird, Park West (Canyons), and Brighton were my places. As I transitioned back to skiing Alta and Snowbird got most my runs. Now I tend to hit Alta when I want to ski and Snowbird on the powder days so I can ski and board. Mineral Basin on big powder days is one of the greatest things ever.

I know what you mean about resort preferences changing. Solitude was a lot of fun, especially because of the deals I could get there, but we all loved to go to Snowbird too and after my mission that was where we went all the time. We quit buying season passes to our home-town resort of Sundance and bought the ten ticket passes to Snowbird. Between work and school that was about all the time we had in a season anyways. I like the cirque at Snowbird, but some of my best memories were in Gad II lift, going off over towards the boundary, I can't remember the area's name. For some reason when the cirque was windy, that area wouldn't be. Good times, good times.

[Surfah]

For you snowboard bashers :moon:



My favorite place on earth. Backside of Brighton.

[Lost Student]

Hey now, no reason to mock. I admitted that it was an inferior resort, but it was where I grew up and for that it will always be a special place. That said, I can't count how many times I've seen Bob (as they call him in the lift lines) on his own mountain. I even came close to sharing a lift with him once, he nearly always rides alone at Sundance and there's usually a ski patrol guy that shadows him to keep people from getting to close. It was always a treat to say "I skied with Robert Redford" at the end of the day, even though everyone knew what that meant.

I've only skied Sundance a couple of times, the last time being about three years ago, but both of those times were epic powder days. Beautiful. And yes, we saw Bob, on the mountain and also at that small lodge at the top, so I can say that I've skied with Robert Redford.

[Lost Student]

Based on the responses in this thread so far, there are more skiers/boarders on CUF than I thought. It seems that a Cuffer ski/board day sometime in the future is imperative. The skiers will have to make the sacrifice for our snowboarding bretheren and go somewhere other than Alta, but it will still be great fun.

[Shaka]

I'm out. I'm not yet cleared to ski or board.

[chrisrenrut]

For me Solitude was cheaper and at the time they didn't allow snowboarders. They still don't on the summit lift and in Honeycomb canyon.

Huh? Are you saying Solitude doesn't allow snowboarders on the Summit lift and in Honeycomb canyon? I can't remember a time when that was true. I've snowboarded there for years.

We do a 3 run/lift cycle all day long. Up Powderhorn, down the chutes to Summit. Up Summit, down Honeycomb. Up the Honeycomb lift, then a speed run to the bottom of Powderhorn.

You may not have seen too many snowboarders in Honeycomb before the put the Honeycomb lift in. The cat track out of Honeycomb to the quad was a major pain in the. . . calves.

Everytime we go to Solitude the song in this commercial gets stuck in my head:
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[Portland Ute]

I love Alta's purity. Snowboards also wreck the bumps. I support snowboards never being allowed there.

This is the ONE reason that I hope Alta never changes.

There is, possibly, only one place left on earth where you can find a good set of bumps with a true "line".

Other places may have moguls, but they are schizo. No lines. Just randomness.

For instance, there used to be some GREAT mogul runs at Targhee off of the old Bannock lift (now Dream Catcher). You'd ski down into the Chief Joseph Bowl, hit the moguls...get to the bottom of that set then ski to your left...hit the next line and drop....get to the bottom of that set and then to the left again.

Those days are gone. Except at Alta.

My gripe has nothing to do with the culture or act of snowboarding. It's just that the boarders DESTROY mogul runs.

There is something very fun about hitting a great line and just getting in the rhythm. A rhythm that has been set by the first couple people skiing a powder run. Then followed by others. The track and rhythm repeated. Then, it is your turn. Your chance to take part in the rhythm. Your chance to experience the mountain.

A good line on a nice set of moguls is dreamy.

[Portland Ute]

I agree about Alta. My favorite place to ski in Utah and maybe second-fave overall, after Teton Village (although Targhee comes close for sentimental reasons).

I have a theory that the snow stays better longer at Alta because there are no snowboards with their larger surface area to pack it down. I have noticed after skiing consecutive days at Snowbird and Alta (a few weeks after the most recent snow storm) that Alta had significantly better snow.

Not that I have anything against boarders--most of family snowboards--just something I noticed.

I think this also has to do with the fact that boarders tend to "scrape" the hill.

[Viking]

The old Germania lift was great, but my favorite area in Alta will always be the East Greeley area. The chutes there are steep, deep and a lot of fun to get down, plus there's hardly anyone there, even on the busiest days. Alta was always a great place to go but it doesn't hold the nostalgia that Solitude and Sundance have for me.

I know, I know, you're wondering how I could prefer Solitude and Sundance to perhaps the greatest ski resort in the world. I will admit freely that Alta is a better, but growing up, for reasons of economy (Solitude) and proximity (Sundance) those were the resorts I went to the most. When it's open, Solitude's Honeycomb Canyon has some of the best chutes around. The powder is awesome and, once again, nobody around. I spent an entire day in Honeycomb and every run down was first tracks. The Summit lift also has some really fun runs when you go to the left of the lift into an area called the headwall. We'd spend most of our mornings on the Summit lift, hit Honeycomb just before lunch, then after lunch more of the summit and Honeycomb once or twice to finish off. There's a reason why Solitude is called Solitude, not many people around, especially on the Summit lift and honeycomb. One last thing that's awesome about Solitude is that you ski free on your birthday. I

I'll take a lot of crap for promoting Sundance, but that was my base resort. I lived fifteen minutes from there and my senior year in particular I spent more time on that mountain than I did in class. Sure, it's tiny, the snow isn't that great, and it's not very challenging. But that's kind of where I cut my teeth, so to speak. I have fond memories of mastering Bishops Bowl, hitting the stump jump, and going way way back, night skiing with our elementary school group.

I don't get out on the mountain as much as I used to. Knee injuries have taken some of the joy away and now I live far away from the greatest snow on earth that I knew and loved in my youth. The snow here is heavier, icier, and I have to drive two hours, pay $50 to wait in line 30 minutes just to ski down what most Western skiers would consider a bunny hill with bumps here and there. Sometimes you don't realize what you have or how lucky you are until it's gone.

you probably know a bunch of my cousins

[pellegrino]

Huh? Are you saying Solitude doesn't allow snowboarders on the Summit lift and in Honeycomb canyon? I can't remember a time when that was true. I've snowboarded there for years.

We do a 3 run/lift cycle all day long. Up Powderhorn, down the chutes to Summit. Up Summit, down Honeycomb. Up the Honeycomb lift, then a speed run to the bottom of Powderhorn.

You may not have seen too many snowboarders in Honeycomb before the put the Honeycomb lift in. The cat track out of Honeycomb to the quad was a major pain in the. . . calves.

The last time I skied Solitude was 1993. Snowboarders had just barely been allowed, but not many went there because they couldn't go up the summit lift. I remember seeing signs and I never saw a board there. Most boarders went to Brighton because it was cheaper and they were one of the first resorts to cater to them. IIRC Snowbird and Sundance didn't allow boarders either, it wasn't until 92 or 94 that the floodgates open so to speak and resorts began to change their policies. Solitude allowed boarders but restricted their access. IIRC they also couldn't go down the bumps on the sunshine bowl.

[hostile]

Lost a ski yesterday at Snowbird. If anyone finds a red Volkl AC 4 on Little Cloud let me know.