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Sammy Linebaugh reportingHow would you like to hit up to five ski resorts all in one day? No, we're not talking about hopping in the car and driving to each one.
Ski Utah's Adventure Tour Guides showed Sammy Linebaugh how to ski your way from one to the next, and find some perfect powder in between.
We start with a Snowbird Tram ride. Guides Rodd Keller and Mark Menlove lead the way.
Mark Menlove, Ski Utah Adventure Tour Guide: "From the top of Park City to the top of the tram at Snowbird it's only about seven miles as the crow flies. And you've got Solitude, Brighton and Alta in between there."
Snowbird to Alta is the easy part, connected now by an express lift.
Rodd Keller, Ski Utah Adventure Tour Guide: "We do issue avalanche beacons to everybody because we are going out of area."
It's here we leave Alta's boundaries for, believe it or not, Brighton.
Getting there means carving your own trail through un-trekked powder, in some of Utah's most pristine backcountry.
These guys say, somebody's gotta do it.
Steve Lloyd: "I would go the distance for any fresh pow. Laughs"
From Alta, you traverse a little backcountry, come up out of Catherine's Lake area, and head down the Dog Lake chute. Brighton Ski resort is just in the distance, with surprisingly little traversing in between.
Roughly three miles from the edge of Alta to the beginning of Brighton, Little to Big Cottonwood Canyon is mostly downhill.
Mark Menlove: "That is one of the greatest advantages of skiing in Utah, is you've got so many resorts so close together, there's really nowhere else in North America that offers that kind of variety and diversity all within such a confined area.""
On the Ski Utah Adventure tour you have a choice between adding Park City to your destination list...or looping back to Little Cottonwood for resort number five. We chose the later, but not before lunch break and sun tanning at Solitude.
It’s back on skis, for the final push, across the so-called highway to heaven, to Twin Lakes Pass and a perfect view.
Taking one last long ride on the clouds...beneath a cloudless sky.
