The Season Pass Debate: Alta vs. Snowbird

triebby

triebby

Active member
So I've decided that it's finally time for me to upgrade from skiing PC and The Canyons on pow days and this year get a pass in LCC so I can shred some REAL mountains. I'm especially stoked on this because both Snowbird and Alta are offering young adult passes this year so it is actually affordable for me. Now where I need your help UT NS'ers, is deciding which mountain I'm going to get a pass to. I've only skied Snowbird once and Alta a handful of times and here are my initial impressions:

Alta:

More snow, less people, less quickly tracked, more playful terrain with natural lips and such, shorter pitches, not as many drops, not as much super gnarly terrain

Snowbird: More people, still a lot of snow, a lot more terrain, more long/technical lines and areas, more open bowls, gets tracked quickly, tram seems pointless on a pow day, lots of serious/gnarly terrain and a lot more cliffs

Now as I said above, I haven't skied these mountains very much so my assumptions may be way off. Also, whenever I rode Alta it was nuking so I never got to ski Cathrine's, East Castle, Devil's Castle, or Baldy Chutes areas.

So basically what I'm looking for is for all you LCC vets to tell me what I have right, what I have wrong, which mountain you prefer and why. And if I choose the Bird, does it make sense to get a tram pass?

Thanks in advance and I look forwards to shredding with all of you this winter.
 
Snowbird. The vibe there is better. At Alta the vibe is old people. Alta seems flatter to me too. And while the tram may be cool and all, it's not worth the extra 100 bucks or whatever. You can access all the same parts of the mountain with just chairlifts. And when the chairlifts to the top aren't running, Snowbird lets people ride the tram with only a chairs pass. But if you have the scrilla to drop on it no problem, might as well right?
 
Personally I like Alta better. Much better slackcountry. The Bird really only has White Pine and Pagan. Alta has rocky point, Wolvy, Catherine's etc etc.
As for actual resort the Bird has a ton of stuff but it gets tracked really quick. Alta takes a bit more work to get to some things but usually has more fresh cliffs and such. Plus they get more snow ;)
 
A combo pass is the obvious choice now isn't it?Work a few extra shifts and make it happen!!! Easier said than done right? lol
Yo, just keep in mind your Snowbird pass will be good until late may-early june.Alta till late April. Plus you could always upgrade for the day for like $30 bucks
 
i know if you work at the bird you can upgrade to have an alta pass included for only 250...250 bucks for an alta/bird pass...for sure worth a checkout on that deal!
 
You're not going to lose out by getting either pass.

All I know is on the best pow days Snowbird was better to me. Such long runs top to bottom that it felt like you were skiing 3 'usual' runs.

I had plenty of amazing days at Alta, and agree that the 'slackcountry' is sweet, but the majority of its runs/areas are shorter than Snowbird.

 
im biased to alta also but the bird is really fun too but at alta they dont have the boarders that slide sideways down stuff they cant handle so the snow stays better . id say get alta or both and i'll show you around a little
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top