Head West. Five Fine Days Skiing In the Wasatch -

Head West. Five Fine Days Skiing In the Wasatch

By March 28, 2019 Alpine & Telemark, Featured
utah skiing

utah ski resorts

Last week I went to Utah to further utilize my Ikon pass. I chose Utah because I had some friends visiting from Burlington, Vermont. Unfortunately, Utah didn’t receive much new snow while we were there but we were able to find some leftover powder from previous storms.

I left Ski Haus with a coworker Saturday night around 6:30 pm and thanks to clear roads we arrived at our airbnb at the base of the Cottonwood Canyons by 12:30 am. My friends had arrived earlier that night and were already sleeping.

Snowbird

The plan was to get up early and ski Snowbird the following day. After 5 hours of sleep, all 8 of us were out the door and driving up Little Cottonwood Canyon by 7 am. We got one of the first parking spots in the lot and were able to ski right back to the cars.

Coincidentally, there was a Subaru promotional event at Snowbird that day. There was free live music, events and swag, which made for an awesome day on top of skiing an already epic mountain!

Rossignol Black Ops 98

With no new snow and plenty of leftover snow at the Bird, the conditions were perfect for my Rossignol Black Ops 98 skis. They cut right into the chopped out groomer runs and sliced through the steep moguls. After warming up, we hiked up this steep boot pack furthest to skiers right on the mountain which yielded fresh turns for all 8 of us!

The 30 minute hike was totally worth it. My Black Ops felt stable yet playful as I charged down the steep open face slashing through the untouched snow. The 98 mm waist width is ideal for floating the skier in fresh snow but are still narrow enough to lay down carves on the groomers. I recommend this ski to any advanced skier who charges hard through various terrain.

Canyons, Solitude, Brighton

We spent the next two days skiing Canyons (not on the Ikon pass) and the last two days skiing Solitude and Brighton. With similar snow conditions at all resorts, it was an easy decision to keep skiing my Rossi Black Ops.

At Canyons we mostly hiked the bowls to lookers left of the Ninety-Nine 90 Express Lift  which provided us with about a foot of fresh snow skiing. At Solitude and Brighton we had a harder time finding fresh snow so we stuck to steep groomers and bump runs while exploring the mountain. There were no lines all week which gave us the opportunity to ski all over the mountains and lap our preferred runs.

Satisfied with my ski choice and the terrain chosen to ski, I was content with leaving the Wasatch and returning to Steamboat. After skiing for five consecutive days, my legs were tired and sleeping in my own bed was the motivation I needed to commence the 6 hr drive back home. Luckily the roads were clear and the drive home was uneventful.

I have now used 13 days at other resorts included on the Ikon Pass.

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