“The Greatest Snow on Earth”:  Salt Lake City, Utah area

Thursday January 8 to Tuesday January 13, 2009

This is SkiBudz first official trip of the 2008-2009 season for all ability levels (sorry Jackson Hole fans!).  It consists of the following events, plus whatever else we “invent” along the way (you decide Budz, because this trip is for you!):

• Fly to Salt Lake City, Utah on Thursday January 8, 2009.

• Check in at the Royal Garden Garden Inn, which is in downtown Salt Lake City.
• Four days of skiing/riding four different resorts (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday).  We will definitely go to Snowbasin one day (http://snowbasin.com/).  The other three will be by consensus (most likely The Canyons in Park City as well:  http://thecanyons.com/).  Other contenders are Brighton (http://www.brightonresort.com/), Powder (http://www.powdermountain.com/), Park City Resort (http://www.parkcitymountain.com/winter/index.html), and Solitude (http://www.skisolitude.com/).  We are renting SUV’s with ski racks (we are still waiting for them to invent board racks, meantime boarders please bring bungee cords) at the Salt Lake City airport (that’s “slc” budz and girls!).  You can check out areas through http://www.skiutah.com/ and http://rideutah.com/. 
• Downtown Salt Lake City nightlife where there’s a smorgasbord of restaurants and two gay bars (not exactly Sidetracks…but they’re “private clubs”.).  

Pluses of this trip:  We will be going to a different resort each day.  The terrain and its variety and the snow are second to none, the ease of and time involved in the travel to Salt Lake City are minimal, the low cost of the downtown lodging and the included breakfast, the non-resort nightlife, discount lift tickets and a full service ski/board shop steps from the hotel and potential for champagne powder!   Overall, an excellent value.

Carpool Captain volunteers needed:  To minimize costs, we need guys who own a car or otherwise have auto liability and collision insurance (that they would be willing to apply) to rent SUV’s.  Right now, I am finding that they go for around $290 (with tax) for our five day period through Fox Car Rental, which one of the Budz has used and recommended (http://foxrentacar.com/), though they are “off airport”.  If we have too many, we can always cancel.  Please reserve a “standard sized” (like a Jeep Patriot) with a ski rack.  When we get close to the trip date, we’ll decide which vehicles to rent based on the pools we form.  This will be based on the number of guys going and how many of the vehicles we rent actually come with ski racks (I’m thinking 3 to a vehicle without, 4 to a vehicle when there is a ski rack).  When you have reserved a vehicle, please forward the reservation to me (ray@...) so I can track them.  We need to fill these pigs up!!  At the end of the trip, the “Carpool Captains” collect from the riders.

Steps to book this trip

1. Make a reservation at the Royal Garden Inn in downtown Salt Lake City.  I recommend you do this even if you are seeking to share a room as you can always cancel without penalty if you follow the restrictions.  My suggestion is a room with two queen beds if you are considering sharing the room.  You can book on-line or call.  I would try both and compare.  Look for and ask for AAA discounts (they do not verify membership).  No deposit is required, just a credit card.  Beware of cancellation restrictions.  Here’s the website:  http://www.bwgardeninn.com/.  You can also try using hotels.com.  Currently they have lower rates (around $55 per night).

2. Volunteer Carpool Captains:  Reserve those SUV’s (see above)!  Thanks for your help!

3. Book a flight to Salt Lake City, Utah (airport code:  slc).    Four Budz are on these direct Southwest flights: