Looking for discounted lift tickets while supporting the Utah Avalanche Center? Ski Utah in partnership with Alta, Beaver Mountain, Brighton, The Canyons, Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort, Powder Mountain, Snowbasin, Solitude, Sundance, Wolf Mountain and Backcountry.com have you covered with an offer Utah locals won’t be able to refuse. This special partnership – from December 16th until they sell out – offers discounted lift tickets – ranging from $20 – $75 available only on the Utah Avalanche Center’s website at utahavalanchecenter.org –100% of the proceeds go directly to the non-profit organization, Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. When the backcountry avalanche danger is high, you can still get freshies at the resorts and support the Utah Avalanche Center at the same time

With more skiers and riders heading out-of-bounds, the UAC provides critical avalanche and mountain weather information to help educate skiers make life-or-death decisions in the backcountry. UAC forecasters issue avalanche warnings and advisories daily, highlighting when conditions are especially hazardous or unusual. This information is crucial not only for skiers and snowboarders, but for snowshoers, cross-country skiers, snowmobilers, hunters, hikers, Boy Scout troops and anyone else who gets after it in Utah’s mountains.

Because of rising costs and increased demand on services, the UAC is working to raise $36,000 to offset budget shortfalls for 2009/2010. By purchasing these special discounted lift tickets at your favorite resort skiers and riders greatly impact the Center’s ability to continue its education, outreach and avalanche forecasting programs. This discounted ski pass program is the Utah’s ski industry’s way to bolster the UAC and its outstanding resources.

Buy Now: Visit Backcountry.com to Purchase Discount Lift Tickets

With a solid 8-foot base and plenty more April snowstorms on tap, it could be one of the best deals around.  Granted, Solitude isn’t Snowbird or Alta, but this is an excellent deal.  With solid tree skiing in Evergreen and open bowls in Honeycomb Canyon, Solitude has a lot to offer.

The word from Solitude Resort:

We may not know when the recession will be over, but we do know when the ski season will be: Solitude closes April 12th – so ski more and worry less all of April with $39 lift tickets!

With base depths over 8 feet deep and only two weeks left to another great winter, residents and visitors to the Wasatch Front can take advantage of a one-time promotion to enjoy the Solitude experience! For just $39 ($22 off normal rates) there is no excuse not to keep the skis and boards out for a few more weeks and enjoy the best part of the season.

April is typically a month that, despite the deepest snow base of the year, people begin to shift gears to warm weather sports. Solitude’s Spring Stimulus will allow outdoor enthusiasts to affordably enjoy the mountains for a few more weeks.

More Info: Visit SkiSolitude.com

I’m looking forward to a few days on the hill at Snowbasin this winter. The last time I skied at Snowbasin, we enjoyed excellent snow and virtually no lift lines–on a Saturday! The hill is phenomenal and has only been improving year-after-year.

If you live north of Salt Lake, Snowbasin should be your resort of choice. And, if you’re coming to Utah on a ski vacation, don’t forget to add The Basin to your “must ski” list.

Recession-buster Ski Season Deals at Snowbasin

Opening Day ‘Stuff the Gondola’ Rally: Opening Day, typically Thanksgiving Day (or earlier), the first 50 skiers/riders to board the gondola will receive an all-day lift pass for any day of the 2008-2009 Season (non-refundable). Can you say stuff the gondola!?!?

First Time Skier/Rider: The first package is the Lucky 13 in association with Ski Utah. The last 13 days of January, learn to ski or snowboard. Lift ticket, $13.00 Ski Lesson, $13.00 Rentals $13.00–-all available for the Lucky 13 package price of $39.00. This is a great opportunity to help those non-skiers in your life start sliding on snow.

Skiers/Riders Instruction: The Snowbasin Learning Center Recreation Program (on selected dates) offers 4 lessons for those 8-17 yrs. old for $150.00 and $200 for Adults. Reservations are recommended. There’s never a better time to improve your skiing–no matter your skill level.

Midweek Season Pass: Midweek (Mon-Fri) Season Pass price will remain at $750.00 Available Now Fri-Sun 9-5

Two for One Tuneups: Recession Busting Solution for those wanting to tune up their skis. Bring in the first pair for a full tune ($47.00 or more) and get the second one FREE (Of equal or less value FREE) in our fully equipped tune shop located in the Grizzly Center. Time to get the boards tuned up for the powder! (Begins October 18th through November 23rd.)

Free Snowbasin Poster: While checking out the new arrivals of merchandise at the Snowbasin Ski Shop, receive a Snowbasin Exclusive Poster, designed by local artist, Steve Johnson with any purchase over $100 or more. (Starts now Ends day after Thanksgiving)

More Info: Visit Snowbasin.com

Last year, I was able to enjoy some of the best in-bounds turns of the season in Evergreen. This year, those stashes may just stay fresher longer because the front side just got a new set of two high-speed lifts to carry the masses to the buffed-out corduroy and family-friendly frontside runs. If you’re looking to maximize your vert, then hop on the new Moonbeam and Apex Express chairs that join the Eagle Express in servicing the entire frontside of the mountain in high-speed first-class comfort.

If you’re looking for an alternative to the Little Cottonwood crowd and want to ski Utah powder on uncrowded slopes, come spin some extreme vert on the new high-speed lifts at Solitude Mountain Resort this year. But, don’t even think of exploring my secret powder stashes elsewhere on the mountain.

Here are a few pictures of the lift installation in progress courtesy Jay Burke of Solitude Mountain Resort:

More Info: Visit SkiSolitude.com

In the parking lot, the decision begins… super-fat Black Diamond Zealot skis or only sorta-fat Scott Mission skis? Hmmm… I opt for the Scott Missions with their 90mm waist and shapely profile to not only float in the powder, but also lay down perfect railroad tracks on the groomers.

Solitude is Powstash Heaven

Though Solitude is well-known for it’s hidden powder stashes, the groomers are always impeccable, thus paving the trail back to the lift and giving your thighs a momentary break back to the lift. Railing super-deep railroad track-style arcs from top-to-bottom was a blast on the perfect corduroy. Our first ride up Sunrise Chair was completely solo–nobody in sight. We were anxious to hit the Summit lift and see the conditions in Honeycomb Canyon, but the signage at the base of the Sunrise Chair was wrong… the Summit Lift was still closed. We lapped it and got back just in time to hit the Summit Lift and access the goods in Honeycomb Canyon.

Dropping right down the gut of Honeycomb, we were rewarded with knee-deep freshies and great sloppy seconds as far as the eye could see. Just for kicks, we instigated the mandatory spread eagles (minimum of 3) on the interspersed mogul runs down the gut of Honeycomb Canyon. Needless to say, we got a few funny looks as we arced GS turns on the mogul runs while trying to do the mandatory three spread eagles. Well… enough of the goofing off and back to the powder.

Lapping Evergreen Area

Back on the Summit Chair, we decided that instead of making the long laps down Honeycomb Canyon, we would instead lap the terrain off the Headwall and Evergreen areas. To maximize our powder turns, our mission quickly turned into one of traversing further and further into the Northeast-facing Evergreen area. The quick traverse into this area pays back in spades as we continued to find untracked stashes weaving in and out of the pines.

Evergreen can be steep and tight in spots with unmarked cliffs and rocks, so keep your eyes peeled. On top of that, the traverse can be unforgiving, so staying on top of your game is the best option. Luckily, we were typically the only ones on the traverse, so the bumper cars scenario that often characterizes short and sketchy traverses was avoided.

Traverses weed out the weak and reward the diligent and the traverse into Evergreen is one that not many take (or at least not many on this day), but those who do can enjoy some of the best turns on the mountain. We were rewarded with mostly untracked turns lap-after-lap. That is why I like to call Solitude’s Evergreen Area, Everwhite.

More Info: Visit SkiSolitude.com | View Trail Map

Solitude Resort is celebrating its 50 year anniversary, and the resort’s VERY appropriate tagline is: “50 years and still untracked”. If you have skied much in Utah you know that there’s a bit of “Little Cottonwood Canyon” snobbery towards all of the other world-class resorts in the area. Sure, Alta and Snowbird have incredible snow and phenomenal terrain. And they have rightly had piles of praise heaped on them. But there are 2 major problems that come with that: 1) Crowds, and 2) Road closures.

But just 10 minutes to the north is Big Cottonwood Canyon — which gets almost the exact same snow but without the crowds or repetitive road closures in the canyon. On top of that, Solitude Resort has phenomenal terrain from the Summit chair that remains untracked for many days after a storm. You can’t say the same thing about the more trafficked resorts in the Cottonwoods.

Case in point — check out the photos here, which were taken Saturday, Dec. 22nd — Christmas weekend! And these shots were completely in-bounds, accessible without a traverse from the top of the lift — several days since the previous storm. Anywhere else, on Christmas week these lines would have been skied out within an hour of when the flakes stopped falling. Solitude certainly lives up to its name.

Solitude Memories

Solitude is the first Utah ski resort I ever experienced. I was about 10 years old, on a family ski trip to Utah. Riding the Summit lift back then felt like the lift was going absolutely vertical for 100,000 vertical feet…with craggy cliffs and rocks below you. Nowadays it feels extremely similar to the Supreme lift at Alta — steep-pitched fir tree glades, with multiple different exposures so you can chase the sunlight and shadows throughout the day. Skier’s left is full of rocky chutes and drop-able cliffs — all accessible through access gates that are usually open. Skier’s right is shadowy glades. Our first run of the morning last Saturday was in the glades. We thought we would have to go looking for fresh snow, but to our surprise we hit deep pillows throughout the glades and only ran across one other skier the whole run down. One other skier! On Christmas weekend, with knee-deep (and deeper) snow!

Next run we decided to hit the cliffs under the lift and couldn’t have been happier with bottomless landings for all. A run or two later and the patrol opened Honeycomb Canyon — a true canyon with both sides full of completely ski-able terrain (see vista below)

We were the first two skiers behind the patroller, and it was waist deep for hundreds of vertical feet. Next run, just punch out the traverse a little farther and drop completely untracked again. Third lap, same story — punch it out a little further and completely untracked. Eventually we made our way to the cliffs in the vista above right about the time our legs gave out.

Why Ski at Solitude?

The bottom line is that you will get more untracked skiing at Solitude than almost any other resort. And that’s what it’s all about, right? Powder to the people….even days after a storm. Not many can make that promise.

MORE INFO: Visit www.SkiSolitude.com

And, tree skiing is exactly the reason why the all-new Lady Morgan Express chairlift was put in. Its 1150 vertical feet gives skiers access to 200 more skiable acres. Not just an impeccably-groomed 200 acres, we’re talking about 200 acres of perfectly-pitched and perfectly-spaced aspen and pine glades.

Just as the Daly Chutes were an awesome addition when the Empire Lift was put in, the amazing glades are just as stellar of an addition to Deer Valley’s repertoire. I know I’ll be back for a full sampling on a storm day.

As it was, we were there to document the opening of the Lady Morgan Express chairlift on a super-cold bluebird day with plenty of freshies to be had by all. Check out some of the highlights in the following video.

And, check out the following images that show just how awesome the terrain can be. For more information, visit www.DeerValley.com.

After the short bootpack, I sat on the top of Jupiter Peak with a couple of good friends. We snapped a couple of pictures and I decided to drop the cornice entrance into what I found out later was a chute named “Machete’s”. I’m not sure if that’s just what the locals call it, but it’s a great name for it. That morning, the wind blew the new snowpack pretty hard… hard enough to create a thick breakable crust–but I didn’t even think about that, I was there to drop that line and ski Jupiter Peak for the first time.

Mid-air, I knew I needed to shed some speed, so I planned an immediate sweeping turn to skier’s left. Upon impact, my right ski plunged beneath the thick crust and before I knew it, that ski stopped dead in its tracks. The softest part of my body to absorb that immediate stop from 30 mph to 0 in a nanosecond was my poor little ACL. It stood no match for that kind of leverage. Kerrrrrrrrrrrrr-thwaaaaack! I felt my ACL wind up and snap in an instant, just like pulling a rubber band back and letting it go. There was no pain… just a wierd feeling in my gut and a warmth in my knee.

“You OK?” yelled Brigham from the ridgeline.

“Uhh… I think I messed up my knee, but it doesn’t feel too bad, so I’ll try to ski down,” I said. I then put weight on my right leg only to have it buckle like a wet noodle. Then I yelled back up to Brigham, “I can’t ski out, I think I blew out my knee.”

Luckily, just minutes later, a ski patroller showed up, dropped me a rope and I pulled myself back to the ridgeline and into an awaiting toboggan. I would “enjoy” the most vertical in a toboggan at Park City to date. It was one of those things that the patrollers had trained for, but never done for real.

Flash-forward to March 2006…

I’m nine years older and nearly nine years into a repaired ACL. There’s a good eight inches of new snow on the ground and it’s a weekday. For some reason, McConkey’s Lift is shut down today, so the only access to Jupiter Peak is via the longer traverse from Jupiter Lift.

My goal… hike and ski Machete’s by myself for the first time since that fateful day in 1997. It’s just me and the mountain. Time to face those feelings and that spilt-second that changed my life.

The wind was howling and the skies were mixed sun and clouds. The traverse to the Peak was pretty lonely and I was one of only a handful of people to hit the bootpack to the top that day. The wind was cold… slapping me in the face just to test my mettle and drive. I would not be stopped, today was my day.

Getting closer and closer to the top, I start re-living that day almost exactly nine years before. At that time, I was in the middle of college and didn’t have a care in the world. Now, I’m well out of college, married and have a beautiful seven-month-old girl named Alta. I think about where my life has taken me these past nine years and am now loving every minute of it. Just then my mind starts wandering… “what if I tear my ACL again,” I think to myself. “Are there patrollers nearby?”

I do my best to turn off these thoughts as I pop into my skis and side-step to the peak. The cornice, rocks and chute all come into view now. “This is where I tore my ACL… this is where I was hauled down from in a toboggan… this is where I kissed one season goodbye and began the long road of ACL rehab,” I thought to myself. “Today, you’re mine!”

All alone at the top of the peak, I had some slight hesitation, but quickly dropped into Machete’s–stopping just before it fans out to Puma Bowl to take a good look and snap a couple of pictures. I was one of only 2-3 people who had skied Machete’s so far that day, but nobody else had the history with that chute that I did. As I snapped those turns down the windbuffed snow, I felt vindicated and relieved. And, as I cleared the chute and began linking wide turns down the nearly untracked Puma Bowl, nothing could wipe the smile off my face.

I had returned to the scene that changed my life forever. All those months of rehab and over a million vertical feet over the past nine years prepared me for this moment where I would take it to the mountain that took it to me. I returned to Jupiter… I stayed on target… and I spanked it. Some people have never been to Jupiter, but I’ve been there once and failed, only to return once more and tackle it head-on.

Riding up the Empire Canyon Lift, the Daly Chutes stare you in the face and just beg to be skied. Consisting of eight steep, rock-lined chutes with 40-degree plus pitches and some with mandatory airtime off the massive cornices at the top, not many Deer Valley skiers will venture to these parts. But, for those who do, they will be rewarded with some of the best lines in the Park City area.

The Deer Valley Experience

The lift infrastructure and layout at Deer Valley is flat-out awesome! It’s very easy to get from one side of the mountain to the other with well-placed lifts and runs to avoid long flats and extended traversing. Everything is about guest service. As we load up Carpenter Express, I grab a trailmap from the dispensers located at the end of each lift line–a prime example of how Deer Valley thinks of everything to make this an extraordinary skiing experience.

After a quick ride up and then down to the Quincy Express chair, we’re well on our way to Empire Canyon in style on untracked corduroy that makes anyone feel like a hero.

Once to Empire Canyon, we’re poised to nail the Daly Chutes as many times as possible before the early afternoon. Kendall Card and I were determined to find all that the Daly area had to offer.

Accessing the Daly Chutes area is via a narrow, bumpy traverse that will give you a couple of unexpected gut-checks if you’re not careful. A short bootpack to the top of the initial ridgeline will all but eliminate the need to hit the traverse. The bootpack also set us up for 4-5 untracked turns in the trees back down to the end of the traverse and then back up to the ridgeline.

Because the Daly Chutes area is truly north facing, the snow–although heavily windblown–was consistent and light enough to blow through.

The first run was Daly Bowl, which is the widest run off the top and most people’s choice of runs. For the most part, it’s mandatory airtime off the cornice, but if you look hard, you could find a spot to side-slip into the bowl. Conditions were surprisingly good–kind of a styrofoam, grappel snow on top with lighter layers underneath, made for consistent, grippy snow from top to bottom. Once Daly Bowl fans out, don’t be afraid to duck into the trees because you’ll be rewarded with untracked and well-preserved snow before hitting Orion Run back to Empire Express.

After only one run in the Daly area, I was amazed that this type of terrain existed at Deer Valley. We were amped to continue exploring.

As we returned back to the Chutes, we dropped into Challenger next. This line was much tighter, but could be dropped without much air at all. Instead of hitting the gut of the chute, we played with the little rib to skier’s left, then ducked into the trees to find a couple of untracked turns before picking our way through tight and steep trees. Kendall chose a high pucker-factor line through the tight trees, while I continued traversing until it opened up all the way to the bottom. Make no mistake, these runs are steep and technical.

The next few runs would take us to the furthest east part of the ridge and into the last chute before the ridgeline turns back northward. Mandatory airtime greets you once more and, more important than the mandatory air, we found mandatory untracked powder lines! While Kendall tried his luck and launching the cornice a couple of times, I milked the trees to make the most of each run.

We stuck around the Daly Chutes area much longer than either of us anticipated because it was so much fun. Every chute offers steep, hop-turns from top to bottom with uncrowded slopes. Very rarely did we see anyone else on the Chutes. And, except for a quick chat with Wes the Ski Patroller, we didn’t see anyone ski anything east of Daly Bowl–we were the lone explorers reaping the bounties of each run.

After getting our fill of steep chutes, we decided to explore the mountain to find other powder stashes. Though I won’t disclose where we found the best snow, all I have to say is poke your head into the trees and you’ll be sure to find untracked many days after a storm.

The Lowdown on Deer Valley’s Daly Chutes

After a full day at Deer Valley, we were very impressed at the quality expert skiing to be had in Empire Canyon and, as usual, we were very impressed with the layout of the mountain and the committment to guest services. It’s no wonder why Deer Valley consistently rates as one of the top ski resorts in the world. Since the recent addition of the Empire Lift and the Daly Chutes, there’s little doubt in my mind that Deer Valley will continue to stand out as a stellar destination for families of skiers who want to have an unforgettable Utah ski vacation. I know I can’t wait to hit Deer Valley again.

By 2:30 we were all spent, but I decided to take my last run solo under Golden Eagle. When’s the last time you skied an open run at 2:30 pm on the Saturday after Christmas and had stretches of 8 turns without crossing a track?? You might call it isolation…I call it one of the days you dream of. This pic of Kendall’s “o-face” will give you the idea. This was directly under the lift at 10 in the morning on Saturday…and still untracked. Unbelievable.