Deep, dry powder is the hallmark of Utah skiing in Little Cottonwood Canyon, where two resorts entirely different in character rub shoulders along the same ridge, and even share some of the same boundary.
Powder skiers call this canyon snow trap ”the promised land,” and the snow ”champagne powder.” Even Canadian helicopter-skiing guides measure their own powder by Little Cottonwood standards. ”The powder`s good, but it`s not quite Little Cottonwood good,” they say. Both resorts, with their bases only a mile from each other, get an average of 500 inches of snow a year.
So what`s the difference? Snowbird has 1,000 more vertical feet of it, but Alta`s terrain of tree skiing and sheltered, hidden gullies, tends to keep powder longer than Snowbird`s open bowls.
Another difference is atmosphere. Snowbird celebrates its 20th anniversary in 1992; Alta is over 50. That means Snowbird is sleek, high-tech; Alta is homey, with people at its heart. Where Snowbird is huge, Alta is manageable. The Snowbird tram whisks 125 skiers at a time to its summit in eight minutes; Alta still has a rope tow.
Alta has wooden chalets; Snowbird has the stark and monstrous Cliff Lodge. The gray concrete-and-glass hotel, spa and conference center exudes total functionality in its bomb-shelter image. Its blocklike form seems to shout down the valley, ”This is a no-nonsense, purpose-built resort.” It`s a building some would call a facility rather than a hotel. After all, it`s concrete on the inside, too, and its interior pillars are the variety that hold up triple-decker freeways. Nevertheless, the views from inside are spectacular.
No-fuss Alta
In contrast, there is absolutely nothing in Alta or about Alta or emanating from Alta that makes it commercial, brochure-slick, or ultra-anything. Alta doesn`t-simply does not-advertise. It sometimes gives the impression that Alta regulars, operators included, rather wish all the fuss about its powder would cease so fewer people would arrive up-canyon. Yet once they`ve arrived, visitors get such a hearty dose of friendliness that keen observers shake their heads, not sure what Altans want.
Alta`s history might explain the dichotomy. At a time when glamorous international figures were being courted by the new Sun Valley, Alta, a mining town that popped and poofed, was reborn with the unpretentious desire to provide a place Salt Lake residents could ski without having to climb uphill. Beginning in 1939 using its old ore tram, it has been cranking skiers up to its ridges well nigh into their third generation. It still bears the original name, Alta Ski Lifts, the word ”resort” never even whispered in the same breath. Here it doesn`t matter if your ski clothes match. Alta seems to be beyond that. Flannel shirts and Sorel boots work as well as play here.
A word about the similarities: They`re about the same size in terms of acreage, although Snowbird`s summit reaches a higher elevation and its base is lower so it has 3,000 vertical feet to Alta`s 2,050. Both transport about the same number of people up its slopes per hour. The difference here is that Snowbird skiers get a longer run down. Both have good ski schools, both have child care. Neither one has a town to speak of, just a smattering of condominiums; and neither has much of a night life.
Now, the skiing: The famous Bonzai photograph of skiers jumping off Snowbird`s tram into a sea of powder leads people to believe that Snowbird is only for experts. Actually, half of its runs are labeled ”expert.”
Alta for intermediates
For intermediates, the nod would have to go to Alta because it has at least twice the usable intermediate terrain of Snowbird, and its intermediate runs are more varied, with some mellow intermediate slopes. Intermediates going to Snowbird should expect to be pushed. Snowbird has no place to train those in the upper beginner and lower intermediate categories.
Alta`s ideal breakdown of 25 percent beginner, 40 percent intermediate and 35 percent advanced terrain makes it a good place for families or mixed-level ski groups.
Alta has a front and back side separated by Rustler Ridge, with two base stations along the canyon road. The first one, Wildcat, serves most of the mountain, including advanced terrain, narrow trails, bump runs and many glades. On the Wildcat chairlift, a midway unloading station three-quarters of the way up accesses intermediate terrain, but the top, Peruvian Ridge, the boundary Alta shares with Snowbird, is expert. From the Wildcat-area skiers can access an entirely different ridge, West Rustler, by taking the Germania lift to more steep and deep as well as less intimidating intermediate slopes. The second base station is Albion, where lifts stretch slowly across a rolling beginner`s playground, but at the top, experts can reach the 10,595-foot summit, and from there have plenty of steep tree skiing, tremendously popular with knowing Salt Lake skiers. Up there you can ski all day without ever going the same way twice.
On the mountain, the only way to return to Wildcat from Albion is the dreaded Germania Shuffle, a huff-and-puff traverse around the rim of a huge bowl. The only other Albion-to-Wildcat route is all the way down at the base on a two-way transfer tow. Alta owners don`t seem to recognize a need for any upper mountain linkage. They like it just fine, thank you, for reasons unknown.
Hidden Peak
Snowbird`s tram mounts one lower peak, hangs across a cirque and rises to an 11,000-foot summit, Hidden Peak, unseen from the base. The choices are to drop down under the tram into Peruvian Gulch, with intermediate, advanced and super-expert routes down, or to head left into the Little Cloud area, advanced only.
From Peruvian, intermediates peel off at Chip`s Run leading to a network of varied options, while experts tackle The Cirque, a gasp-causing plunge dropping into almost 3,000 vertical feet of expert slopes. Anyone who has negotiated Silver Fox, Great Scott or Upper Cirque deserves to be treated with respect.
The skiing is somewhat tamer on the Little Cloud side of Hidden Peak, but that`s tamer defined by Snowbird standards. It`s an enormous bowl scooped out of the side of the mountain, with cliffs above and swoops below.
Thrill seekers stay close under the tram on Cirque Traverse where a web of yellow caution routes mark Snowbird`s steepest tree skiing on Wilbere Bowl, Wilbere Chute and the well-named Barry Barry Steep.
Other than the tram, five lifts serve beginners and intermediates and give them the feel of covering a lot of ground.
Anyway you look at it, the two resorts make Little Cottonwood Canyon prime ski country.
