February 29, 2008: Last day at Snowbird.

I'm flying back home early tomorrow morning. And, while the memories are still fresh, I need to write down a few of my thoughts (using "thoughts" loosely, as usual) on Snowbird vs. Alta.

The reason I am talking about Snowbird vs. Alta is that Snowbird is a great mountain, and the only way I was able to see its downsides was to compare it to Alta.

So, whatever I said before mostly holds, with one notable exception: as good a resort as Snowbird is, I have to admit that, to me, experiencing Alta was overall above it.

Basically, Snowbird is a great mountain that beats anything else I have seen and, I am pretty sure, a lot of places I haven't seen. Yet, here's how Alta is better, in no particular order:

• Alta limits the number of skiers on their slopes...perhaps, Snowbird does, too, but you wouldn't be able to tell;
• modern ticketing: in Alta, you get an RFID-equipped card, put it in your pocket, and it scans, on every lift; you can then reload the card on the web...in Snowbird you still get the ticket that they manually scan every time you are trying to get onto a lift...and that does mean "every time", lift lines or not;
• Alta has no damn tram;
• Alta has more beginner/intermediate runs, and, perhaps more importantly, those runs are nicely segregated from the more challenging areas...this is a Good Thing™, as this limits the number of skiers on more challenging slopes;
• in general, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Alta's layout is well thought out, including the right balance of the terrain you have to hike to (which, after all, is not that much different from Snowbird);
• as one, but somewhat striking, example of the latter point, Snowbird's Mineral Basin is nice on a cloudy powder day, but it has two huge drawbacks: it's facing South and it has three ways to get in (Little Cloud, Tram and the Peruvian Tunnel) but only one way to get out (Mineral Basin Lift), so...welcome to the longest lift lines ever...and a good, solid, varying crud following a sunny day.

And of course, Alta can beat most other major resorts for one reason: "Snowboarding is not allowed".

I didn't think it would be so important, but you really start feeling it getting back from Alta and sharing the hill with snowboarders. Don't get me wrong, please: I truly believe that a super-aggressive carve on a snowboard is more aesthetically pleasing than a super-agressive carve on skis. I respect snowboarders dedicated to the sport. That said, when we talk ski areas, we talk statistics. Four times out of five, when somebody blows past me, only to crash into my way two seconds later, it's a snowboarder. Four out of five times, when somebody starts downhill without checking uphill first, it's a snowboarder. Nine times out of ten, when somebody sits in my way, it's a snowboarder. Then it comes down to this: am I willing to sacrifice the pursuit of happiness by a few serious sportsmen in order to cut most kinds of my own negative skiing experience by 80 to 90 percent? I personally probably wouldn't legislate it, but if somebody else does, I welcome it.

Pictures

Another view of the Little Cottonwood Canyon:

A couple different views of the Mineral Basin:

A couple more views from the Mineral Basin side of the ridge:

Mount Baldy from Snowbird's side:

A view towards the Alta (eastern) side of the canyon:

And powdershots.com guys (actually, this one was a girl) caught me again...approximately one of their five shots is to my satisfaction...which I guess means I ski 20% of how I think I ski :-)