Destination:
Alta, Utah
Overview
Highlights
– Great snow
– Free parking
– Lots of community centers for showering
Drawbacks
– Very busy narrow roads, can get packed.
– Utah & alcohol don’t really jive
– Many lots don’t allow overnight
Skiiing + Resorts
The snow is great and the terrain is usually pretty good but these resorts are a pain in the ass sometimes. Wanna wait in traffic for 2 hours? Go on a Saturday after a Friday night dump. The canyons have a road in and out and it’s usually backed up so plan on going early. Also plan on taking the bus (free for Ikon pass holders) and parking at the Park and Ride lots. Alta is free to park and you can park in the main base area near the Collins lift or you drive up farther and park at the base of the Albion lift. You can’t park overnight at either of these lots.
Parking + Facilities
I park in the Walmart parking lot in Sandy, near the bus lines and Midvale stations. You’ll see other bums in their vehicles at this Walmart and there are several coffee places around. It’s also handy because it’s a Walmart and you can buy lots of stuff there if you need it. I will say, there are tons of signs about not allowing overnight parking at the resorts and in the canyons. You can try, but it seems like it may result in a cop tapping on your window. You may be able to park in the Brighton lot, but the other lots are basically off limits.
Food + Beverage
Let me tell you something about Utah: it’s a medieval, barbaric desert hell when it comes to crushing crispy boys. There are no happy hours allowed in Utah. However, restaurants can basically devote whole days to reduced prices. Our go-to was Chilis, you can get cheap beer on Sundays and they have cheap appetizers as well. Don’t forget to sign up for their rewards program because you get a free basket of chips if you do. Buffalo Wild Wings does a BOGO free wing thing on Tuesdays and Thursdays with $3 beers.
Salt Lake City has a number of breweries as well, here is a guide if you want to check some of those out.
There is a small chain of bars called “Bout Time” and one is at the base of the canyons. These places are cool, they have $3 pints of their house beer (Golden ale or IPA) or $4 steins. The steins are big and the beer is really pretty good. The food wasn’t bad either, however I don’t recall the food being discounted at a certain time.
Micellaneous
If you come from another state, bring your own beer. Utah can’t sell beer more than 5% alcohol. Salt Lake City is a pretty neat town, they are the HQ for the LDS and they have certainly built an impressive campus.
If you are there for an extended time
They also have a mall if you’re into that stuff.
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