{"id":3930,"date":"2015-08-24T19:56:21","date_gmt":"2015-08-25T00:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=3930"},"modified":"2015-08-24T19:56:21","modified_gmt":"2015-08-25T00:56:21","slug":"utah-discoveries-11-alta-ski-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/08\/utah-discoveries-11-alta-ski-area.html","title":{"rendered":"Utah Discoveries 11: Alta Ski Area"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3933\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1096.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3933\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3933\" src=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1096-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"This was a shot I took in between snow showers at the top of the one of the numerous mountain peaks at Alta Ski Area.\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1096-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1096-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3933\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This was a shot I took in between snow showers at the top of the one of the numerous mountain peaks at Alta Ski Area: Sugarloaf Peak (just over 11,000&#8242;). Note how much snow there was here compared to at Park City 48 hours prior, just one canyon south.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>For our last day in Utah, we decided to make the trek over to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alta.com\/\">Alta Ski Area<\/a>, which is one canyon south of Park City. It seems so simple, but in reality, what we had to do was take a route that was a\u00a0270 degree loop that was ~40 miles to visit a resort only 10 miles away from our condo. It was about a one hour drive.<\/p>\n<p>Please note that Alta Ski Area is a\u00a0<em>ski only<\/em> resort. Snowboards are not allowed. I know that for many families this might be a show-stopper.<\/p>\n<p>We are very happy that we elected to visit Alta during our Utah trip. It was some of the best skiing we&#8217;d ever experienced. We weren&#8217;t sure about making the trip over to the next canyon, for fear of being disappointed.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!1m28!1m12!1m3!1d151503.8927688515!2d-111.66193081822762!3d40.67140075008448!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!4m13!3e6!4m5!1s0x87520f632c6303fd%3A0xd871c4df25375794!2sPark+City%2C+UT!3m2!1d40.646062199999996!2d-111.4979729!4m5!1s0x87527081341582c5%3A0x11d9d28a3a831268!2sAlta+Ski+Area%2C+Highway+210%2C+Little+Cottonwood+Canyon%2C+Alta%2C+UT+84092%2C+United+States!3m2!1d40.5908289!2d-111.6287704!5e1!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1440462136389\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The sun was shining when we left Park City, but by the time we entered Little Cottonwood Canyon there were snow showers and lower visibility. This was promising for some better ski conditions than we had at <a href=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/05\/utah-discoveries-7-park-city.html\">Park City Resort<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We got some parking relatively close to the lodge and were able to pick up <a href=\"http:\/\/buy.alta.com\/day-tickets#main\">half price lift tickets<\/a> thanks to our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.skimonarch.com\/season-pass-pricing\/\">Monarch Mountain Season Passes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We hit the slopes. The skiing was very nice and the mountain wasn&#8217;t too crowded.<\/p>\n<p>We had a wonderful day. The highlight of our day of skiing was probably our family conquering the Extrovert trail: a black diamond trail that was ungroomed, quite steep and covered with assorted moguls. Our entire family made it down the trail, and then Timmy and Dave attempted it a second time. We took our time and were high-fiving each other when we were all still alive afterwards \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3932\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1100.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3932\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-3932 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1100-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1100\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1100-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1100-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3932\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">My view of the boys going down Extrovert. Jacob is in green on the left, Timmy&#8217;s to his right, and Dave is down low towards the right (facing left) waiting for them.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3931\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1103.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3931\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-3931 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1103-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1103\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1103-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_1103-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3931\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Look in the center of the photo. The two people just to the upper left of the trees are Dave and Timmy. They conquered Extrovert a second time. It had started snowing again. I&#8217;m so proud of my boys!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>There are some pretty cool features to Alta. There are two lodge and parking areas, Albion Base and Wildcat Base: each with their own lodge areas, ski rental shops, gift shops, ticket desks, and food. This huge &#8220;transfer tow&#8221; lift connects the two base areas. The boys got a kick out of taking the tow between the two areas.<\/p>\n<p>Beginners can have a very fruitful day of skiing contained in one area. Families can come here and have the less experienced skiers remain at the Sunnyside lift area, while the more experienced folks can head up to Sugarloaf and Collins for the tougher trails.<\/p>\n<p>Alta Ski Area is about 15 miles east of\u00a0the town of Sandy, Utah. While we didn&#8217;t have much trouble parking for our late-season day trip, there didn&#8217;t appear to be tons of parking. However, we saw numerous references to there being <a href=\"http:\/\/www.skisaltlake.com\/utah-ski-bus.htm\">bus service<\/a> to the &#8220;Little Cottonwood Canyon&#8221; resorts: Alta, Brighton, Snowbird, and Solitude. It appears it takes about 1:15 hours from downtown Salt Lake City to reach Alta, for less than $10 per person round trip.<\/p>\n<p>This was our last day in Utah; we headed home the next day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For our last day in Utah, we decided to make the trek over to Alta Ski Area, which is one canyon south of Park City. It seems so simple, but in reality, what we had to do was take a route that was a\u00a0270 degree loop that was ~40 miles to visit a resort only [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[614,613,30,175,612,448,559,563],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-11o","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3717,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/05\/utah-discoveries-7-park-city.html","url_meta":{"origin":3930,"position":0},"title":"Utah Discoveries 7: Skiing at Park City Resort","date":"05 May 15","format":false,"excerpt":"On our first full day in Park City, we decided to check out the Park City Ski Resort, which was just a couple blocks from our condo. We took advantage of a military deal for the resort, although being one of the Vail Resorts, it was still pretty costly, even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"park city\"","img":{"alt_text":"It was so warm, Dave could ski in shorts!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_1043-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3647,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/04\/utah-discoveries-6-spring-break-in-utah-driving-westward.html","url_meta":{"origin":3930,"position":1},"title":"Utah Discoveries 6: Spring Break in Utah, Driving Westward","date":"18 April 15","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to some last minute planning on my part, we were unable to get lodging\u00a0for some Spring Break skiing within Colorado, but we were able to get a condo in Park City, Utah. While it may seem strange that we travelled all the way to Utah for skiing that might\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/sl8.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2973,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2014\/01\/colorado-discoveries-29-ski-cooper-not-copper.html","url_meta":{"origin":3930,"position":2},"title":"Colorado Discoveries 29: Ski Cooper (Not Copper)","date":"26 January 14","format":false,"excerpt":"Our family took two day trips over two consecutive weekends to Ski Cooper, a small resort just north of Leadville, Colorado. The lift tickets are very inexpensive, there were never lift lines, and we took advantage of the boys getting to take two full days of lessons through the resort's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"colorado\"","img":{"alt_text":"The snow, the views, and the lack of crowds makes Ski Cooper (not Copper) a local favorite!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/IMG_6890-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3725,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/05\/utah-discoveries-8-alpine-coaster.html","url_meta":{"origin":3930,"position":3},"title":"Utah Discoveries 8: Park City Resort Alpine Coaster","date":"06 May 15","format":false,"excerpt":"On such a warm day at Park City Resort, the kids had grown weary of the icy skiing by early afternoon. Many of the trails that were open took us right past the\u00a0track\u00a0of the Park City Alpine Coaster, and Timmy was very interested in giving it a spin. Timmy and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"alpine coaster\"","img":{"alt_text":"The Alpine Coaster at Park City Resort is a unique experience.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_1060-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2816,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/12\/colorado-discoveries-22-monarch-ski-mountain.html","url_meta":{"origin":3930,"position":4},"title":"Colorado Discoveries 22: Monarch Ski Mountain","date":"11 December 13","format":false,"excerpt":"Just after Thanksgiving our family took a trip to Monarch Ski Mountain in the middle of the state. It was our family's first trip skiing in Colorado, and our first skiing in nearly 4 years. I wrote about our last ski trip -- in IOWA -- in 2009. Colorado has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"colorado\"","img":{"alt_text":"Ready to hit the slopes! Did I mention how much we love this car? This is what Dave traded his Mustang for in August and it's been worth it so many times over!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/IMG_81691.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":407,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2009\/12\/skiing-at-mount-crescent-iowa.html","url_meta":{"origin":3930,"position":5},"title":"Nebraska Discoveries 9**: Skiing at Mount Crescent, Iowa","date":"29 December 09","format":false,"excerpt":"**Yes, I know this is in Iowa, but it's easily something that someone in Nebraska could do. Today the family took a day trip to Mount Crescent Ski Area in Crescent, Iowa. Dave and I can now proudly add this small mountain to our \"I didn't realize there was skiing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"iowa\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3930"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3930"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3935,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3930\/revisions\/3935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}