Alta Ski Area

Alta

established 1939
Location Alta, Utah, U.S.
Nearest city Sandy, Utah
Coordinates 40°34′51″N 111°38′14″W / 40.58083°N 111.63722°W / 40.58083; -111.63722 (Alta)
Vertical   2,020 ft (616 m)
Top elevation 10,550 ft (3,216 m)
Base elevation   8,530 ft (2,600 m)
Skiable area 2,200 acres (8.9 km2)
Runs 116+ total
25% easiest
40% more difficult
35% most difficult[1]
Lift system 7 chairlifts
- 2 hi-speed quads
- 1 hi speed triple
- 1 fixed triple
- 3 fixed doubles
5 surface tows.
Terrain parks 0
Snowfall 514 in (42.8 ft; 13.1 m)
Snowmaking yes
Night skiing none
Website Alta.com

Alta is a ski area in the western United States, located in the town of Alta in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, in Salt Lake County. With a skiable area of 2,200 acres (8.9 km2), Alta's base elevation is 8,530 ft (2,600 m) and rises to 10,550 ft (3,216 m) for a vertical gain of 2,020 ft (616 m). One of the oldest ski resorts in the country, it opened its first lift in early 1939.[2] Alta is known for being very high altitude and receives more snow than most Utah resorts,[3] its average annual snowfall is 514 inches (13.1 m).[4] Alta is one of three remaining ski resorts in America that prohibits snowboarders, along with nearby competitor Deer Valley and Vermont's Mad River Glen.[5]

History

Early history

Alta is one of the oldest ski areas in the U.S. and is one of just three ski areas in the U.S. that limit access to skiers only. Located at the head of Little Cottonwood Canyon barely 30 miles (48 km) from the Great Salt Lake, Alta resides in a unique micro climate characterized by over 500 inches (1,270 cm) of high volume, low moisture snowfall annually.[6]

The Alta ski area features long, straight, fall-line pitches. Among the most well known and most favored are High Rustler, Eddies High Nowhere, Stone Crusher and the Baldy Chutes. Though widely respected as one of the most challenging of in-bounds ski areas in the world, Alta has always viewed itself as a local's and family oriented ski area with some 40% of its terrain devoted to intermediate and beginner skiers.

The community of Alta was established in 1871 as an offshoot of the silver mining operations in Little Cottonwood Canyon. A fire destroyed most of the town in 1878, then a cataclysmic avalanche in 1885—combined with the decline of mining—heralded a period of dormancy for the town. The area experienced a modest resurgence in mining in the 1900s, but the town declined again shortly thereafter, and was deserted with the exception of a few hardy miners who continued to intermittently prospect the area.[7]

In 1935 the U.S. Forest Service retained the noted skier Alf Engen to hike into the area and determine its potential as a future ski area. Engen's reports expressed great promise for the area,[8] and recommended the purchase of additional surrounding lands to form the ski area. In 1937 a prominent Salt Lake City lawyer, Joe Quinney, along with other local businessmen, formed the Utah Winter Sports Association to oversee the development of skiing at Alta. In the following year construction began on the original Collins chairlift, fashioned from a surplus mining ore tramway system that featured a clamp-cam bullwheel gripping a metal cable strung with single-seat chairs. Slow but dependable, it was just the third such lift in the United States, after Sun Valley and the Magic Mile at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. Alta opened to skiers for the first time in 1939 on January 15,[2][3] offering a single ride on the chair for 25 cents.

Alta
location of Alta, east of Sandy

Recent developments

Alta installed its first triple in 1991, by upgrading the Germania double chair. The resort began adding a developed snowmaking infrastructure in 1996, and the system was completed in 2000. The movement toward snowmaking has enabled it to open earlier in the season and to maintain good skiable conditions in drier years. The late 1990s and early 2000s were marked with further modernization. In 1999 the Sunnyside lift was replaced with a detachable triple chair, the resort's first detachable chairlift. Two years later the Supreme chair was upgraded to a triple, and the Sugarloaf chair was replaced with a detachable quad. The most recent lift development was the new Collins chair for the 2004–05 season, a detachable quad, replacing the older Collins and Germania chairs. While the Collins chair has a mid-way loading station, very few chairs are left empty at the bottom, which limits the mid-way loading opportunities. During the 2007–08 season, Alta introduced a new Axess RFID electronic lift ticket system, similar to that of the Solitude Ski Resort. Alta added safety bars to the Sunnyside lift in 2010 and to the Collins, Sugarloaf, and Supreme chairs in the summer of 2011.

Albion Basin base at Alta

Skiers can now track their vertical and lift ride data online. Eventually they will be able to purchase Alta Cards using "ticket vending machines". During the 2008–09 season, Alta added a conveyor system at the start point of the Supreme lift that assists skiers in getting on the fixed-triple lift and allows the lift to operate at a faster speed by speeding the loading process.

The resort currently has two detachable quad chairs, one detachable triple chair, one triple chair [fixed grip], three double chairs, and five surface tows. The terrain is classified as 25% Beginner, 40% Intermediate, and 35% Advanced.

Snowbird ski resort is accessible from Mount Baldy at Alta ski resort

On January 15, 2014, a group called Wasatch Equality[9] and four individual snowboarders filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Utah against Alta Ski Area and the United States Forest Service, seeking to permanently disallow Alta from enforcing its anti-snowboarder policy and snowboarding ban.

Partnership with Snowbird ski resort

Beginning in the winter of 2002, Alta and its neighbor, Snowbird, began offering a joint day pass and a joint season ticket, allowing skiers to fully access all of the terrain of both resorts. The offer coincided with the opening of a new lift in Mineral Basin, a large bowl owned by Snowbird on the back of Snowbird's Hidden Peak and Alta's Sugarloaf mountains, that allowed access to Alta from the Basin. Other access points between the two resorts exist as well. (The offer is open to skiers only, as a result of Alta's skiers-only policy; Snowbird allows snowboarders.)

Chairlifts and Tow Ropes

Summit of Point Supreme
  • Collins Express
  • Sugarloaf
  • Sunnyside Express
  • Supreme Chair
  • Wildcat Chair
  • Albion Chair
  • Cecret Chair
  • Rustler Chair
  • Transfer Tow
  • Grizzly Tow
  • Lodge Tow
  • Little Grizzly Carpet

Terrain Aspects[10]

References

  1. ↑ Alta.com - mountain stats
  2. 1 2 Grass, Ray (March 9, 1999). "Alta at 60". Deseret News. p. D1.
  3. 1 2 "Alta: Resorts: Ski Utah: The Greatest Snow on Earth". www.skiutah.com. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
  4. ↑ ALTA, UTAH - Climate Summary
  5. ↑ Del Sole, Christopher. "Resorts That Ban Snowboarding". snowboarding.about.com. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
  6. ↑ Hamilton, Linda (January 19, 1989). "Secret ingredient, storm patterns make Alta special". Deseret News. p. D1.
  7. ↑ Grass, Ray (January 19, 1989). "Alta". Deseret News. (at 50). p. D1.
  8. ↑ http://www.skirebel.com/magazine/alta-ski-resort/
  9. ↑ Wasatch Equality web site
  10. ↑ ZRankings, Top Ski Resorts. "ZRankings Topographical Survey, Ski Terrain at Alta". ZRankings. ZRankings. Retrieved 27 October 2015.

External links

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