# Colorado or Utah best bet for snow



## toopach (Nov 20, 2011)

So maybe I should start a poll? Who do u guys think will have a better winter? So far it looks pretty even though I would say Colorado has the slight edge. Im booking my trip for the 1st week of February in the next 12 days. The airfare usually drops after the 1st week of the year, at least thats my experience. I love the proximity of slc to the resorts and this may be the last year to hit powmow before the go full blown corporate. I want to bet that the lack of snow makes for more snow in a few weeks. It has to snow eventually, right? But also wouldnt mind hitting Summit county and even Steamboat. Colorado plan would be fly in drive to steamboat hit that for a day and half then drive to summit county for 4 days. What do u guys think. Slc is usually fly in use the fly same day pass and hit canyons for half a day for free, next few days hit big and little cottonwood resorts followed by powmow and snowbasin.


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## BoardChitless (Mar 11, 2013)

Tough question for even an expert to tell you. You never know when lake effect snow can dump the Wasatch Mountains... This isn't a La Nina year, or else I would say head to the PNW over all these.

Weather is a lot of luck & patterns for either state, but the climate for SnowBird/Park City generally gets many lake effect or lake enhanced storms.

In SnowBird, we had over a foot in early April '12 come in a early morning squall that came from no where... it was all lake effect. SnowBird got 12" Park City recieved rain & couple sloppy inches, I'll never forget what 9 or 10 miles can do. So, in general, I think Wasatch has better chances than rockies for lake effect, but given years who knows where more storm patterns hit - if it's Utah or Colorado.

I can just tell you - the Wasatch Mountains are ripe for lake effect with a nice cold NW front.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Yep, impossible to tell. Utah gets more snow, so that's probably the safer bet to be honest.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Utah gets more snow in the Canyons. Other spots like Park City, not so much. Really it all comes down to if you are in the cycle or not. If I was betting I would go Utah too. Plenty of good days here but resort eise you get more quality in Utah. Backcountry? Kind of a toss up maybe a plus in Colorado just because we have 10X the land to explore. If you talk hot spots, it is a split.


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## Triple8Sol (Nov 24, 2008)

Planning too far ahead is hard to really predict. Have been to CO twice and Utah once, and have had a mixture of pow and hardpack days all around.


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## neednsnow (Nov 30, 2007)

Generally, February is when the good months start ramping up. I never advise a trip out west prior to mid-February. I, too, have to go with Utah due to higher snowfall averages. Plus, the resorts are so much easier to get to than CO. Flying into Denver, then driving 3 hours to Steamboat, 2 hours to Summit, then 2 hours back to DEN....no thanks!

One thing Colorado has going for it better than Utah is the "Resort" feel. Vail, Steamboat, Breck are all pretty cool towns. All utah has for a "Ski Town" is Park City, and that is on the drier side of the range.

Utah.


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## Big Foot (Jan 15, 2013)

I'm a fan of Utah because the resorts don't seem to get nearly as crowded as the front range resorts of Colorado (which is my only expirience in CO). Utah also tends to get more snow. So as far as crowds and snow go, I think Utah wins. 

However, if you are a beer drinker, finding real beer in Utah is a gigantic pain in the ass. You also can't just go to a bar to drink. You have to order food in order to be served alcohol, and as such their resorts really have no nightlife. Also, you can now buy weed in CO from dispenseries. So as far as having fun after the slopes, CO definately wins. 

I guess it just depends on what you are after.


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## toopach (Nov 20, 2011)

Thanks for the posts. Trip has changed now going Presidents day for 8 days to slc.


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## MarshallV82 (Apr 6, 2011)

We changed our trip from Washington to Utah again this year because of broke ass friends who can't afford plane tickets! Also our passes work with some of the resorts there now.. 

The only thing I hate about Utah is all the fucking police everywhere. I'm afraid to drive around with weed there. Downtown SLC is really fucking lame too. If you're just about the terrain and snow I'd say Utah. If you want fun go to CO. 

That said, Brighton was probably my favorite place out of Snowbird, Park City, and Solitude. It definitely had the best vibe. Snowbird would be the tits with 10-12 inches of fresh. It was ice when we went there. I hated being crammed into that fucking tram with 125 people at snowbird. Did it once because it was there! Wish I could have moved/looked out the window though! 

I wanted to rent skis and hit Alta but one guy in our group never skied before.


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## neednsnow (Nov 30, 2007)

MarshallV82 said:


> Downtown SLC is really fucking lame too. If you're just about the terrain and snow I'd say Utah. If you want fun go to CO.
> 
> That said, Brighton was probably my favorite place out of Snowbird, Park City, and Solitude. It definitely had the best vibe. Snowbird would be the tits with 10-12 inches of fresh. It was ice when we went there. I hated being crammed into that fucking tram with 125 people at snowbird. Did it once because it was there! Wish I could have moved/looked out the window though!
> 
> I wanted to rent skis and hit Alta but one guy in our group never skied before.


Downtown has some tolerable spots. Gracies isn't too bad. You kinda have to wander a bit or yelp decent bars.

Snowbird is best when it has recently snowed. (recently=past 1-5 days) Day after a 1-2 ft dump....yeah it is tits. Regardless of what anyone says about Brighton, it poohs all over Brighton. If Great Western is open, then there is a little reprieve, but terrain access and variety..Snowbird hands down. 
Vibe....Brighton for sure. 

Ohh...I'd be that "Never Skied" guy. haha


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## tonicusa (Feb 27, 2008)

I've never noticed any problems with drinking beers in Park City and Im a bar owner. Davanza's is a great place to grab a pizza and drink some beers. Fresh Market has plenty of beers for sale when you're loading up on groceries. I don't do any serious raging there so perhaps if you're looking for shots of Patron and drunk chicks you just need to throw a house party 

But there always seems to be "just enough" snow in Park City especially if you enjoy riding some park.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Isn't beer at the grocery store still 3.2? 

I agree that things are getting better with the rules regarding alcohol.


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## TMXMOTORSPORTS (Jun 10, 2009)

Yep 3.2 is right. My buddy got beer in CA and drove to Park City so we had full strength beer.:dizzy:


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## vajohn (Jan 12, 2014)

I've been both places and either would be awesome. First time I went to Utah it was in late November going into December. Limited terrain was open, but our last day we got to experience Solitude in about 5' of fresh pow. Wish we could have stayed a few more days, heading home really sucked. I was there last year Christmas week also and pretty much everything was open or opened while we were there. I've never been later in the season than that, maybe later this year. 

Utah really is way more convenient than CO, if you hit Solitude, Brighton, Snowbird areas. You can literally land at 8 and be riding at 10. I also like Brighton best, Solitude second. I want to try Canyons next time. I'm never going back to Snowbird unless they get about 2 or 3' of fresh pow while I'm there. You can get by with a cheap little rental car out there and take the ski bus if it is snowing up in the mountains and call for 4x4 or chains only past the gates. Tons of cheap places to stay in the valley. Yeah, the beer sucks. I drank a few in the bar the first time I was there and wondered what the hell was wrong with the beer. I don't drink beer there anymore. Somebody told me you can buy real beer at the liquor stores, otherwise just get some hard liquor. 

I've been to Breck around the time you said you're planning to go. It was pretty incredible. Spent a bunch of time doing tree runs. Completely different experience from Utah. Night riding at Keystone was pretty cool also. It is a hell of a drive up there from the airport. You will want an suv with a big engine. I would probably look into getting a shuttle from the airport if I go again. I got lucky last time and the girl at the car rental upgraded me a powerful suv. I usually try to go cheap on the reservation and upgrade when I get there...get lucky sometimes.


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## toopach (Nov 20, 2011)

Just booked to tickets to slc! Feb 17 to 22nd probably stay in midvale but may stay in the downtown area so we have something to do at night. This makes 3 years in a row for Salt Lake. Love them Mormons!


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## vajohn (Jan 12, 2014)

Stayed at crystal inn midvale last year. Pretty good deal. Free breakfast and dinner. Nice enough for price. I would stay again. You can get the bus right there, but we drove about 10 minutes to the park and ride near the gate the days it snowed. I'm also thinking about going next month.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Pretty sure any place in Utah that sells mixed drinks/hard liquor has full strength beer. Aka the social clubs that you no longer have to join. We call them bars everywhere else. 

If you aren't familiar though. 

I can't tell you how many out of staters in Colorado that I have saved from buying 3.2 at the grocery store here. I have gotten some pretty dirty looks from the cashiers over that one.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

And why do you need a powerful suv to get to Breckenridge? That is stupid. The cheapest fwd will get you up there just fine if you know know to drive in snow. Rent what you need to accomodate your crew.


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## vajohn (Jan 12, 2014)

You do need an suv or chains in Utah if you don't want to take the bus when it snows. They don't have any restrictions like that going to Breckenridge, but I wouldn't blame them if they did to keep idiots who don't know how to drive off the road. Last time I was there, It didn't snow that much but one of the nights it was snowing we went to keystone and I must have seen at least 10 cars stuck on my way back to Breckenridge. It wasn't even a ton of snow. I can drive in the snow, but that was only about 1.5 feet. The only reason I got an suv that time was because I got upgraded for about 20 bucks for the week. I had originally intended on getting a car, and even people we were meeting up with out there said that could have been tricky. They all were driving trucks or Subarus. I'd rather just get a shuttle from the airport next time, since you don't really even need a car once you're up there.

I don't think any of the beers I bought in Breckenridge area were 3.2, but I did go to a place that only sold alcohol. The beers I got served at the bars in Utah, where they also serve liquor, were 3.2. Maybe that has changed.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Beer sold in Grocery stores in Colorado is 3.2. That is it. It just catches people off guard. Typically, it is the destination vacationer stocking up on groceries for their trip and buying the beer at the grocery store out of convenience. Not knowing it is 3.2.

Most of the jokers sliding out are generally not in rental cars. They have shitty tires on. Yeah, it is a problem. Most rental cars have decent tires, though not snow tires on them. 

I just drive a FWD, but I put snows on it. Completely reliable and I don't even think twice about driving up in a storm.


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## vajohn (Jan 12, 2014)

Yeah, I got my beer at the liquor store in Breckenridge. Somebody must have given me a heads up when we were hanging out before heading up to the resort, but I can't remember. The first time I went to Utah about 7 years ago, I bought a case of that horrible 3.2 beer the first night, and just went and got a bottle of liquor the second night. I ended up throwing most of the beer out the last day. Can't stand that 3.2 beer, and it is not just the alcohol content...good beers just don't seem to taste right, but maybe the cheap, watery beers don't taste much different. I didn't even drink at all last year when I went to Utah. 

I did drive little cars with roof racks I had when I was young all over the place in the snow and hardly ever got stuck. I drive a big 4x4 truck now because I need it for work and I can really only afford one vehicle. Filling that damn thing up with fuel hurts. I have been thinking about getting an old subaru to run around in, but the fuel economy is still not that great and I'm not sure it is worth it.


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## MarshallV82 (Apr 6, 2011)

When I was going to Keystone over Christmas there was a couple morons right as you start going up the pass after loveland that slid on some black ice and about went down a 200' drop. 

It was a Jeep and Car about 500 feet apart before the guardrail started. I bet the cars were at 55 degree angle. That had to be scary as fuck! Somehow the snow saved them.


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## tonicusa (Feb 27, 2008)

They don't sell weed in Utah but they grow some fine looking women.


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## MarshallV82 (Apr 6, 2011)

tonicusa said:


> They don't sell weed in Utah but they grow some fine looking women.


I must admit, this is very true. 

Tons of sexy women in Utah!


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

As long as you have a preference for blondes. Not that brunette's and redheads don't exist. Has anyone noticed though the plethora of mormon blonde girls there? It is like the children of the corn at times. Except that they all want to be dirty and fall away from the church between 18 and 21 for a few years. 

It used to be kind of freaky, maybe not so much anymore.


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## tonicusa (Feb 27, 2008)

LOL ! Glad you said it.


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## AcroPhile (Dec 3, 2010)

Quick FYI: The 3.2 beer that everyone is talking about is actually 3.2% ABW (alcohol by weight) which converts to about 4.2% ABV. The normal alcohol levels of most non-craft beers usually falls between 4-5% ABV. So really, you're just getting *regular* strength beer.

Coors Light = 4.2% ABV
Coors = 5.0% ABV
PBR = 4.7% ABV
Guinness = 4.3% ABV
Rolling Rock = 4.6% ABV 
Corona = 4.6% ABV
etc...


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## vajohn (Jan 12, 2014)

Guinness is just about my favorite beer to drink when I take a break from riding. I immediately noticed the difference when I had one in the bar up at Snowbird the first day I ever rode there.. This was before I even knew there was such a thing as 3.2 beer. It is not necessarily the alcohol content, it is that they mess with recipe so that good beers taste watered down and just 'off'. They take a perfectly good beer, mess it up, water it down, and sell it to you at the same price. I don't drink beers to get drunk when I'm riding, but I do enjoy a slight buzz and don't appreciate messed up versions of my favorite beers.


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## toopach (Nov 20, 2011)

Ill go with Jack and Cokes anyway so not worried about the 3.2s. Found out about that last trip after we just assumed the bars were selling regular beer. Then to our dismay found out only some of the beer was regular strength. We decided to call ourselves the 3.2 crew from then on. Anyway just go to state liquor store get a few bottles and some beers.


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