Snowbird, UT: 02/22/2014

I’m sure I would have been more than happy skiing Alta for a third straight day, but you can’t come to Little Cottonwood Canyon without skiing the Bird. Despite sharing a common boundary and appealing to expert skiers, Alta and Snowbird couldn’t be more different. Whereas Alta is spread out and has an old school vibe, everything about Snowbird is in your face, from the upscale base lodging to the 120-passenger tram that covers the Bird’s 3000 vertical feet in less than 10 minutes, passing directly over double black steeps that would make an Okemo skier wet his pants and cry for mama.

Not that in your face is a bad thing. There’s amazing expert terrain everywhere you look. I have no regrets about how I allocated my 3 days in Utah, but getting to know Snowbird better is a reason to return.

Alta, UT: 02/21/2014

I enjoyed Alta so much on Day 1 that I decided to return there for Day 2 to take care of unfinished business. Snowbird can wait.

Alta, UT: 02/20/2014

First of all, my wife’s a saint for letting me go on this year’s version of the guys’ ski trip. She took care of the kids solo for the second half of their school break while I headed to Utah for three days of skiing at Alta and Snowbird.

Instead of cramming all my photos into one trip report, I’m breaking it into three. This is day 1: Alta, UT.

Whiteface and Gore: 02/15 & 02/16/2014

Hoyt's High at Whiteface

The Ski Bowl at Gore

Warning: long post. Probably should have split this in two...

Choices. We had wanted to ski Whiteface be in and Lake Placid this weekend for the Olymipcs, but with last week’s new snow we didn’t want to miss out on Gore’s glades either. The solution: we split the weekend with a day at each mountain.

Gore Mountain: 02/11/2014

Family obligations kept us away from Gore this past weekend, but an opportunity for an on-mountain “professional networking” day Tuesday helped to at least ease the withdrawal symptoms.

Hawkeye

West Mountain: 02/05/2014

I’m not one of the lucky people who took Wednesday off from work to ski winter storm Nika, but one of the advantages of having a local ski hill is the ability to get in some runs whenever you can, without committing the entire day. So when the storm over-delivered on its promise for powder, I left the office a half hour early, grabbed the kids at home and headed up to West Mountain for a couple hours.

Gore Mountain: 02/01/2014

More of the same, but that ain't so bad...

More cold last week means more snowmaking and more trails for the weekend. For the meager amount of natural snow we’ve received over the past month, the mountain is skiing really well now.

We had figured on starting our day at the summit, but ski patrollers at the top of the gondola were re-directing skiers away from the Straight Brook quad. So instead we headed over to Burnt Ridge and spent most of the morning skiing laps on Sagamore and Echo. Like last weekend, these were some of the nicest trails on the mountain. Snowmaking crews put down a soft layer of manmade powder on the top half of Echo, so turns down the Echo headwall rivaled those of last weekend. Sagamore was a bit firmer than Echo, but still in fine shape.

Okemo Mountain: 01/31/2014

I generally don't ski more than a handful of days each season in Vermont, but Friday presented an opportunity to "work" at Okemo with some of my professional associates. I'm always happy to set aside my New York loyalty when my job necessitates out-of-state travel.

I've skied Okemo once or twice over the years and knew what to expect: lots of blue square cruisers and meticulous grooming. Indeed, not only was every trail groomed edge to edge, Okemo's groomers apparently till the snow deep enough to eliminate any trace of ice or hardpack. Wide and free of high spots, gullies and double fall-lines, the trails are inherently suited to both cruising and grooming. Okemo's steepest pitches are probably borderline blue-black at other ski areas. Certainly fun for a day away from the office, the down side is a distinct lack of variety among Okemo's trails.