Our Take
Via the mid-2010s, Solitude traditionally lived as much as its identify, functioning as a spot for Utah skiers and riders to flee the crowds of Little Cottonwood Canyon or Park Metropolis. Nevertheless, for the reason that introduction of the Ikon Cross and the resort’s acquisition by Alterra in 2018, Solitude has seen a serious uptick in visitors. Regardless of that uptick, Alterra appears to have determined that Solitude has the capability on vacation weekends that they might enable Ikon Base Cross holders to hitch in on the elevate line enjoyable.
We think about this determination might backfire a bit on Solitude. We’d argue the gang move on the resort might already use some enchancment, particularly on the subject of entry to the higher mountain—which is bottlenecked completely by the Summit quad chair. Opening Solitude as much as extra vacation friends additionally has the potential to trigger much more visitors points in Huge Cottonwood Canyon, which, whereas not as busy as Little Cottonwood Canyon, additionally sees its fair proportion of visitors backups.
On the finish of the day, Alterra has a ton of information on elevate utilization and ticketing by means of their use of RFID ticketing. We don’t assume Alterra needs elevate strains to be related to their resorts, however it’s attainable this variation might produce other motives behind it. Lodging is a giant income driver for ski resort operators, and by opening the Ikon Base Cross to extra customers, Solitude might have a better time of filling its base village—which occurs to be the one sizable base village within the Cottonwoods—over the vacations.
One might additionally argue the transfer additionally places Ikon even additional forward of Epic within the move warfare for Utah. Whereas Vail solely has Park Metropolis on its Epic Cross, Alterra has Solitude, Brighton, Snowbird, Alta, Deer Valley, and Snowbasin all on the Ikon Cross, although solely Solitude, Brighton, and Snowbird are accessible on the Ikon Base Cross. Alternatively, the Mountain Collective Cross, whereas solely providing two days of entry to every of its resorts, contains entry to Alta, Snowbird, and Snowbasin with no vacation blackouts at a beginning worth beneath each the Epic Native and Ikon Base Passes.
Contemplating a ski journey to Utah? Take a look at our Solitude assessment right here, and take a look at our rating of the main Utah ski areas in article type right here or video type beneath.
