Deer Valley & Alta

The fresh and falling snow made for classic powder days at Deer Valley and Alta.

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Part of Voyage to Revelstoke in 2023

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I arrived late in the day at 2:15PM after driving from Vernal, UT. I was able to park for free close to the main lift. I decided that even an hour of skiing was worth the effort so the clothing and boots came on. Retrieving the skis off the car was problematic. Thinking that leaving the keys at my home in Longmont would facilitate someone should they need to gain entry to rental properties I had removed them from the car where they normally reside. Well, the ski rack keys live on that same key ring. So I removed one half of the ski rack so I could slide the skis out. It only slowed me from the slopes a few minutes. As I walked to the main lodge it was snowing lightly.

The snow on the main runs was generally packed, but on the steeper runs and in the trees there was soft powder still available. I ended up skiing till the lifts closed which was only a couple of hours. I met a young exuberant software engineer from Seattle on the chair.

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I researched the parking at Alta the night before and learned that reservations are required Friday through Sunday until 1PM. So I decided to plan on arriving at 1PM. A few hours would be plenty. It turned out to be a very good decision. Because of the fresh snow, the locals tried to drive up in bulk. Some folks took four hours to drive the 15 miles up the canyon. I arrived in about 40 minutes and parked reasonably close to the slopes.

The snow was awesome! I enjoyed some of the steep runs on the east side of the mountain with a foot or more of fresh to broken powder. It snowed lightly most of the day. I almost landed myself backward in a tree well at the end of the day. I skied until the lifts closed a very happy person.