Chasing Icons : Double Powder Day at Alta/Snowbird

We were greeted in Utah with quite the delight: a bluebird powder day. To sweeten the experience, since we would be hitting two resorts in one day—Alta and Snowbird—meaning doubling our fresh tracks.

Both tucked away in Little Cottonwood Canyon, there’s a deep history here in the Wasatch. With the area originally being prospected for silver in 1869, that fortune transitioned from precious metals to snow in 1939 when Alta ski resort was opened.

Well worth the wait, the Tram at Snowbird brings you to the summit: an impressive 11,000ft.

Making Alta one of the oldest resorts in the country, Alta is proud of its rich skiing heritage. Which originally dates back to 1935 when Alf Engen hiked and scoured the area, so he could convince the forest service to open the area for skiing. Ultimately, the mountain lives by their motto that Alta is for skiers.

For Professional Skier Drew Petersen, originally from Colorado who now lives in Salt Lake City to Study at the University of Utah, Alta has always been a unique place to ski.

So deep out here that Ligare might need a snorkel - TGR Photo

“It maintains its culture and history even today. It's always been about the skiing at Alta, especially the powder skiing. And that's what it's still about.” Peterson told us. There are about 2,200 acres of skiable terrain here, and with lake-enhanced snowstorms—which the locals claim is "the greatest snow on earth”—Alta certainly stacks up to its claims.

For our day we started out skiing Alta on early ups with Petersen. We absolutely scored with the powder day, hitting everything off of High T. Then when the patrol dropped the ropes on the backside, the world was once again our oyster. We loved lapping ballroom and castle.

"Skiing with a crew that I'm on the same wavelength is always fun. That's why I love skiing with people like Todd, Amie, and Marcus. Really though, I think that's part of what makes Alta and Snowbird so neat. I'm not really in one ski crew, but I'm friends with a lot of crews." -Petersen

Petersen grew up skiing A-Basin back in Colorado, he loves Utah for the epic powder. 

"The highlight of the day was honestly just that it was another day of skiing powder, eating gummy bears, and celebrating that I'm so lucky to live here and call Little Cottonwood Canyon home." -Petersen 

We then skied through the gate to cross through to Snowbird, meaning we had a completely new resort to play in. Just to emphasize, Alta and Snowbird are separate and autonomous entities, but In the summer of 2001, Baldy Express was installed in Mineral Basin. Expanding the skiing not only in Mineral Basin, but ultimately linking the two resorts together. That’s a whopping 4,700 acres of terrain to ski with just one lift ticket. No wonder that it’s consistently rated by SKIING magazine as one of the top resorts in the U.S.

Despite being roughly a mile from Alta, Snowbird has its own unique culture and terrain. The resort opened in 1971 with the intention by founder Dick Bass to be “a year-round resort, which respects and complements the beauty and inspiration of this natural setting – a place dedicated to increasing human understanding through the enhancement of body, mind and spirit.”

"Skiing with Marcus is killer because he knows the terrain so well, he can get in to every little spot " - Ligare 

It may be younger than its counterpart, but it offers world-class skiing just the same. We particularly loved North Baldy. It has everything you’d want on it - a lot of vert with cliff features at the bottom. It’s a classic consistent run for a powder day.

Marcus Caston, who call Snowbird his home mountain, the Warren Miller star had inside intel on every nook and cranny of this place. 

"My favorite run at Alta has to be High boy, its the prize run, north facing with really great consistent vertical pitch" - Engerbretson

Making for a powder day well spent. We already know that our legs are going to be toast, but it was worth it.