Alta-rnative digs

Snowpine Lodge (Alta, UT)

GETAWAYS • FOUND Ski

Renowned as one of the last true skier’s mountains in America (no, snowboards are most definitely not allowed), Alta can be a tricky nut to crack if you’ve never graced its slopes. That stems in part from the fact that it lacks a village of any sort; the resort, such as it is, is a series of hotels and boarding houses that line the side of the two-lane road running up Big Cottonwood Canyon, a 45-minute drive from the Salt Lake City airport. There’s no luxury shopping to be had, and no restaurants outside of the hotels to reserve.

And Alta’s hotels — if that’s even the right word for these throwback ski lodges — aren’t the sort of places to be booked on points. Five of them, all independently family-owned, line the valley from the (extremely) rustic Goldminer’s Daughter and the nicer Peruvian at one end, to the more upscale (but still very firmly set in the ski era of the ‘60s and ‘70s) Rustler Lodge at the other. To further that feel, these lodges all include breakfast and dinner — board, in the parlance — as part of one’s stay.

I’d never skied Alta myself until last winter, when a friend of mine and I sought it out for a February ski weekend. Having not yet made head or tail of Alta’s old-school lodging offerings, we booked at the one new hotel to open in the valley in the past several decades, Snowpine Lodge. Billed as the valley’s first luxury ski resort when it opened in 2019, the vibe is actually one of familiar modern alpine charm, with warm woods throughout its 59 guest rooms, many with balconies. As vertical as the mountain it faces, Snowpine covers six floors, including a spa, as well as two very enjoyable restaurants, Swen’s for fine dining (consider the large format elk osso buco, $160 per) and the casual Gulch Pub for drinks and bar fare (though the mountain’s true après spot is back at the Peruvian — all hail the P-Dog).

As for the skiing, Alta’s terrain and snow need no introduction, but both proved sublime over our three days on snow. Snowpine Lodge is ski-out ski-in, with a private chairlift to hoist one back to the resort at the end of the day — a final luxurious touch. Perhaps next time, we’ll try one of the old-school lodges, but for Alta newbies, a stay at Snowpine Lodge will make you feel like you’ve been skiing these slopes your whole life, and rather stylishly at that. –Lockhart Steele

→ Snowpine Lodge (Alta, UT) • 10420 Little Cottonwood Rd • King rooms from $1059/weekend night.