SKI SALT LAKE CITY

As we awoke at 4am we wondered if our trip across the Atlantic to ski Utah for the first time would be worthwhile. With the taxi booked for 4.30am we were soon on our way for the first of 4 flights of the day. On arrival at Aberdeen Airport we were met by unusually long queues for a Saturday morning.

For some reason KLM had introduced a new form to be filled in by all passengers prior to check in, whose final destination was the good old USA. This form contained all the usual information included on the green US immigration form so why it had to be completed at Aberdeen, and as I found out later not at Edinburgh, is still a mystery.

All this information had then to be entered into some computer system by the check in operative and with 20 plus passengers travelling to the USA this was the reason for the big hold up. There was also some confusion at the check in regarding the carriage of skis and boots being classed as one piece of luggage. Must have been a few new starts on the desks!

Having survived this new routine at Aberdeen all went well until Detroit where we arrived on time but only three immigration desks were open and with several hundred passengers this was clearly inadequate. Eventually 5 desks were opened but not in time to catch our forward flight to Minneapolis.

Still, we managed to arrive at our hotel, The Best Western Garden Inn, around midnight and in possession of all our luggage after being re-routed through Atlanta.
Some of our party, who had been re-routed via Cincinnati from Detroit, were not so lucky, arriving at SLC minus their entire luggage resulting in loosing out on the first days skiing.

Our stay at the Best Western included breakfast, consisting of as much as you could eat scrambled eggs, pan fried diced spuds, pancakes, toast and maple syrup and the usual selection of coffee, tea and juices. And of course the bread pudding which looked like porridge. All of which, except the porridge, we took full advantage of! Another perk of being a guest of the hotel was membership of the hotel bar.

With a whirlwind 12 days skiing at 10 resorts it is difficult to assess the pros and cons of each of them. Apart for the middle weekend, when we used the local bus service to get to Alta, we had the use of a private coach to reach the resorts. One thing was for sure, we were certain that it would be an excellent trip.

Lunch was normally bacon cheeseburgers with fries which tended to negate the need for a substantial meal at night. Beer, a sandwich and chips from the filling station next to the hotel were the norm on most nights while watching the sport on the TV. As a treat we visited the Chez Michelle restaurant for dinner on four occasions. Located in the hotel it had plenty of choice on the menu and good well prepared food at reasonable prices. 17$ for a sizable sirloin steak with all the trimmings and 22$ for a large juicy fillet.

Sunday 5th February - Canyons

With broken cloud, variable light and being our first day we decided to take it easy. Finding a sizeable queue at the gondola we headed for the Golden Eagle chair.

At 3500 skiable acres it is far too large an area to do justice in just one day for one of my age and style! Spent the day skiing off the Super Condor and Sun Peak lifts in quiet, well pisted packed powder. No complaints and well worth a few more days to explore all the terrain. Perhaps in a future trip I would give myself a little longer at each resort I enjoyed or any that I felt I had not seen enough of. The Canyons is certainly in that category at present.

Monday 6th February - Park City

On a glorious day, we skied off the King-Con, Silverlobe, Motherlobe and Thaynes lifts on packed powder topped up with a few inches of fresh. Plenty satisfying groomed blues and not so groomed blacks to keep me happy all day and no lift lines in sight.

To make the most of your trip to Park City make sure and get a copy of the excellent Daily Grooming report. Watch out for their lift prices if buying on a daily basis which can vary from day to day.

An innovation, unique I think to Park City, are "Signature Runs" which "Combine new equipment and more than 125 collective years of grooming expertise, our team has developed Signature Runs" These groomed advanced trails offer accomplished skiers and riders the opportunity to conquer more of the Mountain."

Chilli bread bowl for lunch at the Summit House was good value for money. Get in early or later as it tends to be very busy between 12 - 1.30. Again, with 3300 skiable acres it is too large an area for me to do justice in only one day.

Utah Jazz at the Delta Centre

Two surprise gifts received at Xmas were tickets to see Utah Jazz play Chicago Bulls at the Delta Centre on the first Monday of the holiday. While not considering myself a basketball fan in any shape or form I was ensured by those in the know that it would be a good night out and thoroughly enjoyable.

And so it proved for us and the 19,000 crowd from the moment we arrived at the centre at 1830 until we left at 2200 the entertainment was non stop. Perhaps we were lucky, that after regulation time the teams were tied at 93 apiece which started 15 minutes of overtime.

To fire up the Jazz fans to fever pitch Braveheart and Mel Gibson were shown on the big screens. The noise was deafening, and with the fans on their feet and 0.7 seconds on the clock the Jazz scored the winning basket. The Nu-Skin Cheerleaders were fit and tasty and the mascot definitely earned his wages.

Mascot bowling is the latest craze?! Hard to explain but the mascot sits on a glorified skate board, hurled down the basketball court at high speed towards 10 inflated large pins, propelled by stretched elastic. The idea being to knock down all the pins for some worthy cause. Well worth the 42$ a ticket for a good seat and a must do if the Jazz have a home game during any visit to Salt Lake City. Prices vary from 9$ for the gods up to 99$. If you feel flush phone up and get prices for any of the four front rows.

Tuesday 7th February - Deer Valley

A glorious day and perfect for a fair weather skier like me. At 1825 skiable acres a bit more realistic for me to cover a greater % of the hill. But, as is my usual, finding quiet, well groomed, quality pistes we stuck to the Empire Canyon at 9570 ft and Flagstaff Mt at 9100 ft. Another perfect day and a change not to see boarders lying about at every turn!!

From the minute you arrive at the base of the mountain Deer Valley stands out as a high quality resort which is reflected in the price. At 74$ a day, along with Park City, the most expensive of our tour. You will be met by a posse of hosts to answer your every query regarding Deer Valley.

Wednesday 8th February - Brighton

At 1050 acres with 1745 ft vertical and given the perfect overhead conditions plus loads of packed powder on quiet pistes. This is my kind of resort! Is that a skier I see below? Spent the greater part of the day skiing off the Great Western with its cruising blues, some friendly and not so friendly grizzly blacks and a few runs around Snake Creek and Preston Peak. There are plenty double blacks to keep the more adventurous satisfied. At 44$ for a day ticket Brighton is certainly good value for money.

Thursday 9th February - Solitude

Empty, packed powder slopes, blue skies, no lift lines, 1200 skiable acres and 2047 ft vertical, what more could a 60 year old body like mine ask for? Covered most of the resorts black and blue runs and at one stage, while looking for trees for a comfort stop, wondered into the Brighton ski area! This was due to lack of signs [my excuse] Another great day and we wondered how much longer the glorious weather would continue.

Friday 10th February - Snowbird

My first and lasting impression of Snowbird was, and still is one of grey concrete but overall the skiing on its 2500 acres and 3240 ft of vertical made up for its drab concrete appearance.

Blue skies above but at 11000 ft and -15' C it was very cold at the top tram station.
Being no fan of cable cars, packed in like sardines, on finding a queue at the tram station and unsure of its extent we headed up the hill via Peruvian, Gadzoom and Little Cloud lifts before finally dropping into Mineral Basin. One run later we were back down the front side deciding to give the tram a go. At 125 passengers a time queuing was minimal so the afternoon was spent skiing the blue and black runs off the top of the tram. Another first class day had by all.

Saturday 11th February - Alta

We spent the middle Saturday and Sunday of the holiday at Alta taking the service bus from the Red Lion Hotel bus stop just across the road from the Best Western.
The ski service bus from down town SLC will take you to Snowbird and Alta without having to change buses but as far as I can ascertain if going to Brighton or Solitude from SLC you will have to change buses at any of the park and ride lots. A time table is a must for anybody using this service.

I have mixed feelings about Alta. Yes it was the weekend and there were lift lines at the main base lifts as you would expect but the slopes were very quiet? Still the lines were well managed and relatively small and I suppose we only waited 5 or 6 minutes at the most. I would choose Sunday which was quieter if you have a choice. Lunch was the usual burgers and fries in the Watson Shelter. Steer clear of 12pm - 1.30pm!

With 2200 acres and 2000ft vertical Alta provided two days of quality skiing for one of my age and ability. A combined Alta - Snowbird ticket can be purchased.

Monday 13th February - Sundance

Robert Redford created Sundance in 1969 and although 50 miles from Salt Lake City it is a must for the discerning skier. At 450 skiable acres, the smallest resort on our tour, but with 2150 ft vertical there was plenty good skiing to fill the day. Amy's Ridge and Jamie's are two runs named after Robert Redford's children. Redfinger, a gnarly black off the flathead lift, was named after Mr Redford who was seen to give a one finger gesticulation having come a cropper once to often on the way down.

Lunch, a tasty chilli cheese dog in the Bearclaw's Cabin, was good value for money.

To complete the day why not drop into the Owl bar and have a beer with "Butch and Sundance." Well worth the 5$ membership. The bar was purchased by Mr Redford and transported up from Thermopolis in the Wyoming badlands. A bar reputed to have been frequented by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the rosewood bar had originally been manufactured in Ireland and shipped to the USA.

Harlem Globetrotters

The Harlem Globetrotters were in town and having had our appetites wetted the previous week with the Jazz v the Bulls it was back to the Delta Centre for more basketball action. Not on a par with the Utah Jazz, probably due to the fact that it was not a competitive game but worth the 42$ anyway.

The Harlem Globetrotters were formed in 1926 and played their first game in January 1927. They are IMHO the most famous basketball team ever, having played over 20000 games in more than 100 countries and entertained millions of fans worldwide.

Tuesday 14th February - Powder Mountain

Our bus broke down today, just as we were passing the shuttle park at the bottom of the hill. Lucky or what!? Ended up having to wait for the shuttle bus to get to the hill but at least we got there. An overcast day with snow showers, variable light and only an odd glimpse of the sun but plenty of powder to play in deserted slopes.

At 5500 skiable acres and 2005 ft vertical we tried our best to cover most of the mountain but couldn't do it justice in just one day. The black runs off Timberline and Hidden Lake lifts were most enjoyable. Wrap up well, especially on a cold day, as the lifts were long and appeared to be on the slow side.

Wednesday 15th February - Snowbasin

Wow, a Utah powder day at last! Knee deep snow with fresh falling constantly but with very poor visibility. The visibility was too poor for an attempt on the Olympic downhill. The Mt Allen tram used to access the top of the run being covered in a pea souper. My excuse!

Spent the morning skiing Mt Ogden bowl off the John Paul express before having lunch in the luxury of the John Paul Lodge. Pizza and a big sticky bun which were good value for money in such luxurious surroundings. With snow falling heavily we opted for a bit of comfort in the afternoon using the Needles Express gondola to ski the middle bowl. With 2650 skiable acres, 2959 ft of vertical, two gondolas, one tram, six chair lifts and under tile heating around the base area, I'll have to return some sunny day.

Thursday 16th February - Park City

Our last day of skiing and its back to Park City on a cold but bright sunny day. The big dump of powder we had at Snowbasin the previous day had left only 4" fresh on the Park City piste but enough to keep us happy.

As a change from the usual burger and fries, the preferred usual fare for lunch, I opted for a chilli bread bowl again at the Summit House restaurant. At 8$ it was the biggest chilli bread bowl imaginable, filled to overflowing with piping hot chilli.

We kept to the same lifts and area we had skied on our first visit and I was beginning to congratulate myself on not coming a cropper on any of the lifts during our 12 days of skiing, some kind of first for me, when bang I was on my back in a heap up to my neck in snow! The Motherlobe three man lift had picked me up and thrown me out which was a big dent in the old pride. A definite case of lack of due care and attention. All too soon it's the last run of the day and of the holiday.

Friday 17th February - The Journey Home

It was early to bed as the bus was collecting us from the hotel at 04.30. We duly arrived at Salt Lake City airport a good hour before our 06.00 flight out to Minneapolis.

Unfortunately the desk staff struggled to process our party of 20 with luggage and in most cases with skis plus the rest of the people on our flight. We were still checking in our luggage at 05.45 when the auto label machine packed in and my luggage labels had to be hand written and attached to the luggage with elastic. A recipe for disaster!

I just made the flight as the cabin attendants were closing the plane door. The flights home were uneventful but it came as no surprise that two pieces of our luggage was missing on arrival at Aberdeen. But hats off to KLM the luggage arrived the next day having been driven all the way up from Edinburgh.

"The Best Snow on Earth" - probably. Where else could you enjoy 9 days of continuous glorious weather and still be skiing on perfect groomed pistes and not a trace of slush even at the end of the day?

The article was written by George Chalmers, a 60 year old intermediate skier who is willing to try any blacks. He learnt to ski at the Lecht in Scotland on his 40th birthday. Since then he has skied at numerous resorts around the globe including Argentina, Chile, USA, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Andorra and last, but by no means least, Scotland. It is in his homeland that he has come to the opinion that more than two people constitutes a queue or a crowd.