Need advice. jackson hole vs alta

Shifties4Dayz

Shifties4Dayz

Active member
So recently I was speaking with an alumni from my college (I am

graduating this year), and he was telling me that he has quite a few

friends in both places and pretty much promised me that he could get me a

job at either place. I'll be visiting Alta in December to check it out. I will be sending resumes and making phone calls

within the next couple of weeks.

but i was just wondering, from the point of view of people who live there what things are like:

Cost of living?

nightlife?

ride in/out accessibility?

are the other places to live near?

and generally how it is living in either place?

thanks for your help NS

inb4 move to regionals. already tried it there for a few weeks

+k for help
 
I would have to say alta and the park city area. Although jackson hole might have some amazing terrain, the nightlife tends to be pretty quiet and the closest town is Jackson, which is also pretty tiny. on the other hand, the salt lake city area has a ton of resorts beyond alta and youre closer to a big city
 
its kinda sixes to either live in the city or at Alta.

Living at Alta, would let you ski more that you would ever want to, but again night life is a little grim.

Living in the city would be a lot more social, but the drive up the canyon/traffic tends to be shitty.

PM me if you have anymore questions.
 
the traffic in salt lake is non-existent when comparing to an actual city/metro area. when he says traffic, he's referring to the traffic in the 7 mile canyon that alta sits in. on the worst days (holiday weekends) you could potentially get stuck for an hour or so coming down, but if you just chill and drink a beer or two, you can avoid the traffic in a more relaxing manner.
 
i have the option to go ski at either this winter (vacay with the parents woo lol) where would you rather go alta/park city/SLC or Jackson Hole?

im talking just skiing wise. /thread jack

 
Alta would be better. Jackson is a cool little town but you are in the middle of nowhere. Alta has a ton of other resorts next door as options, and a city for when you aren't skiing. Keep Jackson Hole as your destination for road trips or something.
 
i think alta would be a better pick, even tho i wouldnt be complaining with jackson either. more options in alta to ski and to do. jackson is in the sticks. regardless both sick mountains and you wont be disapointed with either one.
 
I'd go to SLC, and rent a car. Theres so many good resorts in such a close area. I'd do a day at alta, a day at snowbird, a day at the canyons, and then drive out to powder mountain (backcountry but with lifts, endless pow fields weeks after a storm), its like an hour outside alta.
 
thanks a lot for that advice. or i could just stay late and sit at the bar for an hour till the traffic dies down. but nothing compares to trying to leave downtown Detroit at 4pm and getting home at 6 or 7 when i only live 10 or so miles away.

and just so this is clear, im not talking about vacationing at either place. i am literally loading everything i own into my truck, renting a u-haul, and starting a new life from nowhere

everybody else - thanks, and keep the advice coming

im (hopefully) heading to Alta in the middle of december to scope the place out
 
Are we talking a real job, like an office job at the resort? If so, I'd say Alta is the better bet because you are not only near an extremely hot job market (SLC) but living in SLC will allow you to make connections god forbid you were laid off or realized the job wasn't for you.
 
Try living in DC, literally takes 2 hours to get home from where is normally 15 minutes from my house at rush hour every single day
 
I've been skiing Snowbird for 10 years and it's never taken me more than an hour to get down the canyon when it's open.
 
To anyone who says Jackson has no nightlife, you hang out with the wrong people.

Living in Jackson costs more than SLC. But, you have a shorter commute to the mountain and less people on the mountain. But, the closest mall is 2 hours away. It really all depends on what you're looking for.

Personally, I figured I'd go to the uber small town and if I couldn't make it work, then move to the SLC area. 3.5 years later, I'm still lovin' it in Jackson, bought a house and have no plans to ever leave.
 
Traffic is nothing in SLC compared to everywhere else (even my hometown in West Virginia). The canyons only get bad because people don't know how to drive and/or are driving cars that shouldnt be in the canyons to begin with. The longest I have ever taken to get down a canyon was 2 hours down BCC because of a whiteout and a ton of people were driving slow.
 
definitely go to alta!!! it is super close to SLC and there are a ton of other amazing resorts nearby. find a town that is close to everything where you could potentially pick up a second job working at a bar or restaurant (or some other part-time gig). and if you are still drawn to jackson because of the terrain and epic snowfalls, just remember that it is only a 5hr drive and an hour plane ride. good luck!
 
holy crack smoker post

you do realize in order to live in alta you must be rich , or willing to share a dorm with dudes and work for
 
3 hots and a cot and a few hundy a month

and next utardo will tell me he's only spent an hour waitin for udot to blast the lcc

you kids crack me up
 
lol no its not. jackson gets the best snow in the us period. Next to mt baker there is no where else you can find that kind of terrain/accessibility and snowfall.
 
shit i forgot about waiting in traffic in the morning too.

so in a given pow day skiing little cottonwood canyons resorts, you wake up either at 5 am and drive to the cliff lodge or gmd or wake up at 7 and sit around while they bomb the road until maybe 9 or 10 or 11. u then drive 5 mph up little cottonwood, most likely behind a bus just to arrive at alta to realize shit is fuckin farmed out then you ski the rest of the day making the best of it and then get in your car at 430 because you cant leave at 2pm to beat the traffic beause you started skiing at 1130 so then you again sit in a traffic jam, this time 2x as bad and get back home at 6 and somehow justify that it was totally worth it.

lcc sucks hit up baker or jackson for the ultra light chin deep pow.
 
Alta is sick, never been to jackson hole but it sounds sick aswell. i think your gonna be golden wherever you go
 
well for the skiing part id say jackson, but if your into going out at night and such SLC although jackson does have some bars that i hear arnt bad.imo you should buy a sled and van and head to jackson
 
i was grandfathered into some serious karmaz i think. something about when i joined got u lots of karma. lucky me!
 
Everything is a tradeoff...here are some + and -'s

Alta- Can you say Country Club? If you live in Alta I am sure you will experiance some of these days from time to time.(When LCC road is closed but the lifts are still spinning and no one can get up there.) Tons of snow even on a bad year. Not a ton of nightlife.

Salt Lake- Great Access to LCC/BCC. Some good nightlife, but without a ski town feel. You feel like you are in a City.(which you are)

Park City- Good Skiing in town arround the slackcountry. Good access to LCC/ BCC and Northern Utah resorts. Nice ski town feel.

Jackson Hole- Lots of steep skiing. Not as much snow on average as Utah. Defnitily a cool ski town. Not as much nightlife as Park City.
 
Jackson is a smaller town, most likely less of a job market. Although, living in a small ski town is really fun sometimes, and Jackson's terrain is most certainly bigger. Plus there's a park that can be fun for off-days (I mention this because of your NS name). There's definitely night life in JHole, but you're probably not any more likely to find something to do than SLC. Maybe I'm wrong.

Alta is a great resort for sure, definitely my favorite SLC resort. If you live AT Alta or in the town of Alta, there's zero nightlife, however you could live in SLC and find things to do (although as everyone knows, nightlife in SLC is far from optimal). PC is fun to party, but it's 20+ miles out of SLC. living there would suck... you would drive up and over a pass on a big highway full of shitty snow drivers and all the way around, into SLC and then up to Alta to ski. Long way. You would have to get a car because I doubt you could find people to do that with you.

The BC here is awesome too, and there's a lot of it if you're into it.

Where are you from? I have family in Santa Giuletta and Redavalle about 70km from Milan.
 
Its realy not that bad of a drive from pc to the cottwoods. I do it at least a few time a week. There are allways pepole going that way. In the summer old town park city is 7 miles away from big cottonwood.(guardsmen pass) Which is killer for biking, climbing ect. Not to mention in town there is something to do every night of the week.
 
im not really worried about driving in shitty conditions to get places. i guarantee the people in michigan drive worse in bad weather (and this includes small amounts of rain), plus i drive a pretty much brand new f-150 with 4w drive.

Im flying out to SLC in december to check things out and job hunt, anybody got a couch i could crash on?
 
if you change your mind and need a place to stay in Jackson pm me. I start paying rent in December but can't get out there until Dec 20. We could work something out where you just throw me a little cash and you could stay most most the month.

Would give you plenty of time to find a job, and save me some money
 
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