Mountains
01.20
ALTA: I have been calling Alta home for 5 years now. In those years I have seen 3 years of around 700 inches of snow. I worked mid-mountain Alta for three years and lived mid mountain for two. I have seen newschool steeze slowly make an appearance at the place. Funny enough, even more so once Alta stopped building a ‘terrain park’. Alta is synonymous with powder and skiing. It is a skiers only mountain. The varied terrain of Alta is timeless and different areas of the mountain are so unique, you could only be at one ski resort in the world.
Alta sunrise, from emma ridges P: Jon Fay
Alta offers very unique jobs, in the sense not only you get to be a part of Alta, but that actually give you housing and feed you. Alot of people in LittleCottonwoodCanyon struggle with commuting, traffic, finding roommates, eating and still usually don’t end up with alot of money at the end of the week. Living in Alta is something I would recommend every young skier does at least for a winter. It gives you the freedom to do nothing but work and ski, whats better than walking out of your room and putting your skis on? The ability to separate yourself from the world also is a big part of living and working up here, you might find yourself not even caring whats on the tv some day (shocking idea i know) in a world that is obsessing over tvs, jobs, money, and someone Else’s news, its a true relief to have your own thoughts and not get tangled up in the web.
The hardest part of living in Alta is finding your car
An ideal ski day for me in Alta would have me waking up early on a storm morning, and going for a peaceful tour on the north side of the road. Then heading to the resort to battle people off the high traverse to ski some perfectly pitched terrain ideal for ‘getting into the zone’ while powder skiing. You can ski deep powder at alot of resorts, but to ski deep powder on a slope that doesn’t change pitch until its end is the ultimate experience. That is when you can let your guard down and really start enjoying yourself. Later in the day I start to hunt for things to jump off of. Ill have to squeeze in lunch or a light snack at some point to keep on going. Sometimes it doesnt really matter that the snow is tracked out afternoon, because the skiing is still amazing. The fact that Alta has many areas that maybe closed off on a deep day is awesome to me because that means that they have powder to offer days after a storm. And if its not super deep, who is upset by being up in the sun exercising?
Robby skis Emma before we head to the resort P: Jon Fay
Inbounds Alta P: Becky Hall