Snowbird Departure

A typical Snowbird Departure (Thur. and Sat.) begins at 8:15 a.m. at the Snowbird Activity Center of the Snowbird Center for sign-up and orientation (located on the main tram plaza level just to the right of the ticket office). Our guides will talk to the group about avalanche safety, backcountry etiquette and that day's conditions. They will also fit each guest with an avalanche transceiver. We'll be among the first skiers on the Tram, take a run or two to get warmed up while the guides evaluate your skiing ability, then drop into Mineral Basin for long & scenic descent before skiing over to the Baldy Express chairlift, our ride to the Alta boundary.

Then it's through the gate into Alta making a few runs on our way to the top of the Supreme chair. A good sidestep/shuffle/traverse through Catherine's Pass and to our first backcountry zone of the day. We'll be out in the Rocky Point area which leads to several spectacular backcountry descents into the base of Brighton Ski Resort. After a run or two at Brighton, we'll take the lower SolBright trail to Solitude Mountain Resort where we'll stop for lunch and a well-earned break.

After lunch it's back to the top of Summit chair where we'll check in with Solitude Patrol and then make the dramatic 500-yard traverse, sidestepping across the "Highway to Heaven" and into Little Cottonwood Canyon via Twin Lakes Pass. Another long backcountry descent puts us at the upper base of Alta Ski Area. We'll work our way to the top of the Sugarloaf chair, then pass through the Mineral Basin gate and, voila, we're at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, our final ski area. Don't worry, there's still plenty of great skiing as we make our way to the bottom of Mineral Basin, up the Mineral Basin Express to the top of Snowbird's Hidden Peak, leaving us with a 3,000' descent to finish off the day on the Tram Plaza.