Alta is cool

oh, do you ski at alta???

Wonder where OP skis?

I think Chad's Gap is really just a state of mind. Visualize, and execute.

1.)Go to alta's uppermost parking lot 2.)go towards the center you will see a trail.3.) Skin for 15-20 minutes 4.) Get there and realize ski patrol blew it up.

no

Alta would be a heck of alot cooler if I could ride there with my snowboard buds. Jus sayin.

Do you really want snowboarders on those traverses? No.

Ok...at the risk of actually contributing something substantive...this is why I say Alta is cool:

1. No Boarders - I didn't like the idea of not allowing snowboarding until I skied two identical days, one at the Bird and the other at Alta, back to back. Clearly there was shit for snow at both spots, which essentially meant ripping a lot of groomers switch and bouncing around off cat tracks. What I found is that when all else is created equal, the quality of the groomed runs lasted MUCH longer without boarders pushing the top layer off. Now most of my friends board, so it would be a bummer if I were trying to rouse a crew to ride with. That said, it was definitely a noticeable difference in snow quality.

2. The cult of Alta - I was expecting to run into a lot of Deer Valley types there. You know...the stuck up, fur hat crowd. It was really quite the opposite. The people seemed genuinely chill and mostly just stoked to be up in the mountains on a beautiful day, shit snow or not.

3. $3 Tall Can PBRs - Enough said.

4. Lots of different aspects - I have found that most resorts that tout a ton of vertical (for me I am thinking Jackson, Bird, etc) are fun to ski. I love Mammoth (being a southern cali guy) but there is a lot of wasted vert. More specifically, places like the aforementioned allow you to ski top to bottom without ever riding anything less than about a 35 degree slope, whereas a top to bottom Mammoth run (for example) involves a lot of flat or nearly flat skiing between steep pitches. The benefit to a mountain landscape like Mammoth's is that there are a ton of different directional aspects to choose from. For example, Mammoth has various East, North and South facing aspects which allows you to pick the best snow depending on weather conditions and snow pack.

What's cool about Alta is it really seems to have both. It's the only place I can really think of that has slope aspects that vary by a full 360 degrees. The Bird has Mineral Basin, which helps. That said, Alta  has a wider variety of different slopes.

Ok that is all. Hate away.

they are more than welcome to rent skis and ride with you if they want.

do it

Lol why would you expect that?

$3 for a PBR tall is FAR from a good deal. i gotta say though Alta is pretty cool but this not having any powder REALLY FUCKIN SUCKS

Alta is da Breast

No dude I hear ya and there are some semi valid concerns but the same could be said for skiers in a terrain park and back in the day, most resorts terrain park literally were snowboarders only. Jus sayin. But anyway, I don't live out there so when I visit there's about 6 of us skiers and one of our good friends who snowboards. He's BC accomplished and knows what he's doing too. What happens is either a few of us peel off and do alta and don't get to ride that day with one of our good buds or we just skip alta which sucks for us and Alta's sales ya know?

Shit, at Breck tall boys are $8...$3 sounds like a GREAT deal to me

dude if alta's ticket sales sales were a concern they would have catered to the oneplank crew years ago

had to...

Fair enough...I mean, I was not intimating that I would actually buy a sticker. But your point is valid!

i'm just playing man, i love that place! just had to poke at it a bit

yea in bend you can get them for $1

TRUTH

if anyone has seen the traverses through the trees between the top and bottom park at brighton this year then you know exactly why you can't have snowscrapers at alta