WFSA Vacation Rentals

I ran across a wonderful webpage that has reviews of Salt Lake’s clubs and you are in for a treat!!  Read the exerpt from this fun page and then click on the link to
see each individual night club and there specialties!

Once you get past Utah’s confusing alcohol laws, Salt Lake City’s bars and clubs are surprising vibrant and fun. To discourage bar hopping, all clubs that serve liquor are required to advertise as “private clubs for member.” This simply means that patrons must sign up and pay a small fee, similar to a cover charge at non-Utah bars. Most of Salt Lake City’s bars are well worth the membership fee and Kristauf’s Social Club is definitely one of them. This stylish dance club features exotic cocktails, a lively crowd and a DJ spinning hip-hop to the delight of those on the dance floor. Those in the mood for something, well, seedier will love Bar-X Inn. Complete with a peanut-covered floor, tankards of beer and a rickety pool table, this Salt Lake City hotspot seems like a caricature of a dive bar. Whatever type of Salt Lake City bar or club seems appealing, this city has something for everyone. Take me to the list!

—Salt Lake City Bar and Club Reviews by David Backes & Garrett Wheeler

I have found a really fun site that will show you some of what Salt Lake City has to offer! This site shows pictures of some of the beautiful scenery and events in our city. If this doesn’t entice you to come and visit SLC UT – nothing will!!

http://tinyurl.com/pictures-saltlakecity

January 29, 2010 Grand America Hotel

January 30, 2010 Wheeler Farm

For the last eighteen years, the Rotary Club of Sugar House has presented the Utah Chili Open and Golf Classic, raising money for local charities. From $36,000 raised in 1992, to $317,000 raised in 2007, the amount raised by this event totals nearly $3,500,000. Please join Honorary Chairman Frank Layden for one of Utah’s premier charity events!

You can enjoy an evening of fine dining at the Grand America Hotel, or you can take to the links on the snowy fields of Wheeler Farm…or both!! However you choose to participate, your involvement in the Utah Chili Open will help eight of Utah’s local charities continue to provide an invaluable service to our community.

See Website for more information

We hope all of you have a fantastic Christmas and are looking towards the New Year with fun and exciting plans!

American Towns has a great page on things to do in Salt Lake City and we would like to share it with all of you.

Once you see all of the fun and exciting things that Salt Lake City has to offer – we hope you will come and stay with us. We have some really amazing specials on our vacation rentals!

We not only have world class skiing and snowboarding – but as you can see we have so much more…

http://www.americantowns.com/ut/saltlakecity-things-to-do

The Sundance Film festival brings some of the biggest stars and celebrities in the world – to Utah.   

Celebrating over 30 years of cinematic excellence, the festival has changed over the decades from a low-profile venue for small-budget, independent creators from outside the Hollywood system to a media extravaganza for Hollywood celebrity actors, paparazzi, and luxury lounges.

 2010 will be no exception to the glamour and glitz that the film festival is famous for – this year (2010) the film festival will Run from Jan. 21 – to – Jan 31.

WFSA is just a stones throw away from the festival and with such beautiful accommodations at affordable prices why not stay with us!

Photo’s from the 2009 event:

http://www.sundancechannel.com/festival/photos

To buy tickets go to:

http://festival.sundance.org/2010/boxoffice/

Sundance Blog Post: Salt Lake Tribune

Want to walk around the world without leaving Park City? Collaborate on an art project with a guy last seen snogging Zooey Deschanel? Get a job after the apocalypse?

All that and more are available from the 10 installations and two performance works announced for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier on Main exhibits.

New Frontier on Main, curated by Sundance’s Shari Frilot, takes place downstairs in Park City’s Main Street Mall, 333 Main St., Park City, during from January 21 to 30.

Here’s a thumbnail rundown of the installation artists. For more details, go to the festival’s web site:

• Gina Czarnecki’s “Nascent,” “Cell Mass N2″ and “Infected” — Czarnecki is a multimedia artist who “explores the convergence of biology, sensuality, dance, and the cinematic in her mesmerizing single channel installations.”

• Petko Dourmana’s “Post Global Warming Survival Kit” — What looks like an old caravan is actually a workplace for the person assigned “to observe the border between the land and the rising sea,” using night-vision devices.

•  Thomas Gläser and Jens Franke’s “The Earthwalk” — Google Earth is projected onto the floor, allowing people “to surf the globe with their feet.” (Here’s video of the piece.) More…

Hope to see you here this year – book now – before all our beautiful vacation places are gone!

We at WFSA would like to announce a really great event going on here in Sandy Utah.

Our 1st premiere gallery stroll!

Come and enjoy an evening to remember.

Eat authentic Italian food – listen to live Jazz – and see some of the most intriguing and beautiful art work of both Utah and European Artists.. 

What a fantastic way to spend a beautiful November evening. If you cannot make it for the evening, we are going to be starting at noon so come on over for lunch and enjoy this unique experience.

Mark you calendars for Friday November 13th, don’t miss out.

All you art aficionados will love to experience the special Latin American exhibition by contemporary masters and Galeriapollock.biz

Fratelli’s Ristorante will be offering authentic Italian entree special and a FREE bruchette appetizer (please go to www.datenightdiscounts.com to print your coupon!)

Time:

Friday November 13th – Noon to 10 P.M. 

Place:

The Gallerie & Fratelli Ristorante

9400 South 1000 East

The shops at Quarry Bend, in Sandy 

See You There!

Brighton Ski Resort is a ski area located in Big Cottonwood Canyon, 30 miles from downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Brighton Ski Resort was the first ski resort in Utah, and one of the first in the United States. Brighton was started in 1936 when members of the Alpine Ski Club built a rope tow from wire and an old elevator motor. Brighton claims to be a “no-frills” resort whose sole business is to provide skiers and snowboarders with top-notch trails. While it does provide lodging, dining, and shopping, the extent of the facilities does not make Brighton what is typically seen as a destination ski resort. Most Brighton skiers and riders are Utah locals. Most visitors do not stay at Brighton-run lodging; many visitors stay in the greater Salt Lake area, many of whom also plan trips to other area ski resorts.

Brighton is on public land; all of the resort’s land is actually part of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest, meaning the whole resort is open to the public year-round, though tickets must be purchased to use the lifts.

The 2005-2006 Terrain Park starts out in “My-O-My” with 3 sets of 3 different sized jumps ranging from small to medium to large. To the far left are the large jumps, in the middle are the medium sized jumps, and to the right are the small jumps. A short ride after “My-O-My” is the “Candy Land” park Consisting of several boxes and rails with a few small jumps.

A short ride through the trees gets you to the “Lower Majestic” terrain park, with 2 sets of 2 different sized jumps consisting of 2 sets of large jumps and 2 sets of medium sized jumps. Proceeding these sets of jumps is the half pipe which is 400 feet (120 m) long with 16 ft (4.9 m) high walls. To the right of the half pipe there is a variety of other boxes and rails. And towards the end of the terrain park is a wall ride with two small kickers on either side of the wall ride followed by a few other boxes and rails.

The terrain park at Brighton changes on almost a weekly basis. Throughout the season, the terrain park crew will take down some features and reassemble new ones. The only features that are guaranteed to not be changed are the 3 sets of jumps on “My-o-My” , the two sets of jumps on “Big Bertha” and the half pipe.

More information about Brighton! http://www.utah.com/ski/resorts/brighton.htm

History of Snowbird..

Before Little Cottonwood Canyon became popular with skiers, miners discovered deposits of silver ore within the glacial canyon. The history of Little Cottonwood Canyon and the town of Alta dates back to the 19th Century, when a soldier in the U.S. Army first prospected for silver in 1869. The tiny minerals he stumbled upon soon supported a massive industry. Little Cottonwood Canyon became one of the largest producers of silver ore in the Wasatch Mountains. Known as the Emma Mine and the namesake for the Big Emma run in Snowbird’s Gad Valley, the soldier’s find eventually produced more than $3.8 million in silver.

At its peak, 8,000 people lived and worked in the narrow canyon, which held two smelters, 138 homes, hotels, boarding houses, stores and even a railroad. The entire town was later destroyed by a series of avalanches.

About

Snowbird resort is a year-round ski and summer resort located in the heart of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest on the eastern border of the Salt Lake City. It is 29 miles from Salt Lake International Airport, 24 miles from downtown Salt Lake City and 4 miles east of the suburb of Sandy. The resort first opened in December 1971.

Snowbird shares the canyon with neighbor Alta Ski Area. Beginning in the winter of 2002, both resorts began offering a joint day pass and a joint season ticket, allowing skiers to fully access all of the terrain on both mountains (26 total ski lifts and tows and a skiable area of 4,700 acres.

The offer coincided with the opening of a new lift in Mineral Basin, a large bowl owned by Snowbird on the back of Snowbird’s Hidden Peak and Alta’s Sugarloaf mountains, that allowed access to Alta from the Basin. Other access points between the two resorts exist as well. The offer is open to skiers only, as a result of Alta’s skiers-only policy.

Both receive over 500 inches of snowfall per year, with a single storm capable of producing over 100 inches due to lake effect enhancement from the Great Salt Lake, making it the greatest area of snowfall in the mainland United States outside the Cascades.

Unlike the humid and wet snow of the Cascades near the Pacific Ocean, Snowbird being in the arid Great Basin is known for its unusually dry and powdery snow.

Snowbird usually closes on Memorial Day in late May while the occasional ski year can last as long as the Fourth of July.

The Little Cottonwood Canyon resort perennially offers the longest ski season in Utah. Snowbird has a skiable area of 2,500 acres with a vertical drop of 3,240 ft  from the summit of Hidden Peak, which has an elevation of above 11,000 ft. Hidden Peak is serviced by an aerial tram from the lodges.

The resort covers three areas, each with a unique character. The Peruvian Gulch side was the least crowded of the three until they put in the new Peruvian chairlift, but is still exceptional on a good powder day.

The Gad Valley has the widest range of skiable terrain, from the slow-skiing Big Emma to steep Regulator Johnson. The third, and most recently developed bowl, is Mineral Basin — which tends to be warmer and more open than the other two. The strong point of the resort is the aerial tram which provides access to 3,000 feet vertical.

Come stay with Wasatch Front Ski Accommodations at our fantastic affordable vacations home close to this amazing ski resort…

Call for specials. 1-800-762-7606

With the start of our Ski season I thought it would be aprapo to have articles about our world class ski resorts. Utah ski resorts has some of the best skiing in the world ask anyone who has been here!

Alta Ski Slopes History

Alta is one of the oldest ski areas in the U.S. The community of Alta was established in 1871 as an offshoot of the silver mining operations in Little Cottonwood Canyon. A fire destroyed most of the town in 1878, then a cataclysmic avalanche in 1885—combined with the decline of mining—heralded a period of dormancy for the town. The area experienced a modest resurgence in mining in the 1900s, but the town declined again shortly thereafter, and was deserted with the exception of a few hardy miners who continued to intermittently prospect the area.

In 1935 the U.S. Forest Service retained the noted skier Alf Engen to hike into the area and determine its potential as a future ski area. Engen’s reports expressed great promise for the area, and recommended the purchase of additional surrounding lands to form the ski area. In 1937 a prominent Salt Lake City lawyer, Joe Quinney, along with other local businessmen, formed the Utah Winter Sports Association to oversee the development of skiing at Alta. In the following year construction began on the original Collins chairlift, then just the third such lift in the United States, after Sun Valley and the Magic Mile at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. Alta opened to skiers for the first time on January 15, 1939, offering a single ride on the chair for 25 cents, or a full day pass for $1.50.

Albion Basin base at Alta ski resort.

The ski area did not install its first triple chair until 1991, when the Germania double chair was upgraded. The resort did not have a developed snowmaking infrastructure until 1996, and the system was not completed until 2000. However, Alta has moved toward snowmaking in order to remain competitive by opening earlier in the season, and retaining good ski able conditions in drier years. The late 1990s and early 2000s were marked with further modernization. In 1999 the Sunnyside lift was replaced with a detachable triple chair, the resort’s first detachable chairlift. Two years later the Supreme chair was upgraded to a triple, and the Sugarloaf chair was replaced with a detachable quad. The most recent lift development was the new Collins chair for the 2004-2005 season, a detachable quad, replacing the old Collins and Germania chairs. Also, during the 2007-2008 season, Alta introduced a new Axess RFID electronic lift ticket system, similar to that of Solitude Ski Resort. Eventually, users will be able to track their vertical and lift ride data online and purchase Alta Cards using “ticket vending machines”. Most recently during the 2008-2009 season Alta added a conveyor system at the start point of the Supreme lift that assists skiers in getting on the fixed-triple lift.

The resort currently has 2 detachable quad chairs, 1 detachable triple chair, 1 triple chair [fixed grip], 3 double chairs, and 5 surface tows. The terrain is classified as 25% Beginner, 40% Intermediate, and 35% Advanced.

Partnership with Snowbird ski resort

Snowbird ski resort is accessible from Mount Baldy at Alta ski resort

Beginning in the winter of 2002, Alta and its neighbor, Snowbird, began offering a joint day pass and a joint season ticket, allowing skiers to fully access all of the terrain on both mountains. The offer coincided with the opening of a new lift in Mineral Basin, a large bowl owned by Snowbird on the back of Snowbird’s Hidden Peak and Alta’s Sugarloaf mountains, this allowed access to Alta from the Basin. Other access points between the two resorts exist as well. The offer is open to skiers only, as a result of Alta’s skiers-only policy. Snowbird is open to both skiers and snowboarders.