<p>I know there have been a few threads in the past, but forgive me for asking again. S3 was accepted at Utah for civil engineering. H and S3 want to go tour in March (I’ve been to Salt Lake City before they haven’t). They want to tour campus on a Friday , then ski Sat. Sun. Monday. I’m thinking Park City is the most “convenient” ski area. H and S3 are advanced skiers (in the mountains, H in Europe too). Does Park City make sense? We’ll probably stay at the University House on campus. I’ve been to Sundance and Park City (I’m an intermediate skier, but won’t ski this trip)…Sundance feels alittle far away. I don’t know anything about the other areas. Any recommendations that will make them happy and what the travel time to and from campus would be?</p>
<p>It’s been a long time since I went to Utah, but my memories were that Park City is a fun resort where people of all levels can find something. Deer Valley is “luxury,” with groomed runs, valets who take your skis from you when you drive up, and nice eating areas. It’s very pricey. Relatively small, and therefore not as many expert runs as some might hope.</p>
<p>We went to Alta, which was very large and had TONS of very deep snow. I had a real hard time with this as I’d get caught in snow drifts and had a heck of a time getting out of them (didn’t seem that they groomed any of their runs). The skiing was too hard for me (intermediate), but maybe that was just due to the massive amount of snow at that time of year, I don’t know.</p>
<p>We didn’t visit Snowbird (or is it Snowmass?) and were told it was great for the advanced skier.</p>
<p>I work with an avid skier who used to live in Utah and he’s a huge fan of Park City.</p>
<p>Park City is about 45 minutes away from SLC. Adjacent to SLC is Little Cottonwood Canyon with Snowbird and Alta, and Big Cottonwood Canyon with Solitude and Brighton. The absolute best option for a short stay is the combined Alta/Snowbird lift ticket - you can go over the back of the mountain to get to the other ski area. After a storm, inbounds at Snowbird is usually skied out by 11:30 and lines to upload are long, so get there early. Big Cottonwood ski areas are usually not quite as crowded.</p>
<p>I go to Park City every year. We normally wait until morning and check the overnight snow reports, then decide. If they want a day in PC, Deer Valley might be the best experience. It’s one of the glitziest resorts. People tend to stay on the groomers but there are some great runs for experts. They sell only a limited number of tickets each day so again, go early.</p>
<p>A couple hours north is Powder Mountain - maybe one of the best kept secrets in skiing. After a snowfall, you can ski powder all the way until closing time.</p>
<p>Another consideration - if it’s anywhere near time for a new jacket, the Descente Passport series of jackets offers a free lift ticket to 20-something different areas, including Alta and Solitude near SLC and Canyons in PC.</p>
<p>[Descente’s</a> Passport Program Details - Descente Ski Apparel](<a href=“【公式】デサント(DESCENTE)ブランドサイト”>【公式】デサント(DESCENTE)ブランドサイト)</p>
<p>Spend a day at Deer Valley, a day at Park City, and then a day split between Alta and Snowbird (there is a connect).</p>
<p>Make sure to get an update from the locals on each area. Alta and Snowbird both have areas that can get you into trouble if you aren’t prudent.</p>
<p>One other thing - I’m not sure what type of skiing they usually do, but if snow is in the forecast, and it usually is, big, fat skis with lots of float are in order. If all they have is “all-mountain” types with 80mm underfoot, they will be stuck on the groomers and it will not be nearly as fun. Renting powder skis would be well worth the extra $40.</p>
<p>Hah, Deer Valley might be “too eye rollie” for H. Although if everyone is on the easier runs he might enjoy that because you wouldn’t find him there. He’s a post 55 yr. old guy who’ll drive (from Michigan mind you) to A-Basin at the end of the week and sleep in his car until the lifts open. Seriously. The book Instant Karma could have been written about H. I am in charge of travel logistics so I definitely think one day at Park City (so I can window shop) but Alta/Snowbird sounds good for another day depending on what locals say. I’ll do some research on Deer Valley. It’s so easy to drive around Salt Lake City (not today they are having a storm…but in general).</p>
<p>Oh and all the boys have powder skis for out west and all mountain skis for Midwest/East so no problem there. Fortunately Southwest lets you take a boot bag and a ski bag with no extra baggage cost (at least last year it was still that way).</p>
<p>I love Solitude and Brighton!</p>
<p>It depends. The moose hollow condominiums in Eden are so great at 100 per night. I personally find park city vicinity played out, IMHO. Also the lodging at park city is piecy carpety and retro-y unless you got 450 per nite. Snowbasin is great, near eden but less snow than alta snowbird. Alta snowbird area is heavy duty snowfall, bit of a drive upwards and less commercialized. A lot depends on predicted snowfall. I tis reasonable to stay in Slc itself if you want to sample places. </p>
<p>Go to les Madeleine’s bakery in Slc for their food network pastry winner , called Kou Amain or some such. </p>
<p>Best Barbq I ever had is called Huntsville Barbq up near Eden.</p>
<p>I have visited SLC every year since the 1980’s. Could call myself a ski bum at one time, long long time ago. :)</p>
<p>If you are in Park City, it is logical to visit Park West and Deer Valley in addition to Park City. You will find the other two will be more suited for advanced skiers. Obviously, Snow Bird and Alta are the two major thrill seeker’s heaven. For some reason, I don’t like Park City resort, it is crowded because of they give local HS practically free passes and the elevation is lower. One time upon finishing the day at around 4, when I skied down to the base lodge, I was skiing with the crowd in “water”. That turned me off.</p>
<p>I believe common wisdom is avoid park city on Saturdays. Sundays not so bad. Slc airport to park city is 35 minutes. Slc airport to Slc is about 15 minutes if I recall. Keep an eye on the snowfall it will be your guide. Think they are having a better sow year after a horrid one. Sp snow. </p>
<p>I forgot a suitcase at hotel once and made I back from airport to pc to airport In time wouldn’t happen in colorado.</p>
<p>IF you had the time, drive about one hour to Snowbasin or Powder Mountain. Snowbasin is interesting because they recently hosted the Olympics and the bathrooms are rebuilt to 5 star standards. They have waiter served hot food in the base lodge and the price is just like off the mountain. Skiing is very good over there as well.</p>
<p>No, Sundance would be too far.</p>
<p>Alta; it has something for all levels of ability, but no snowboarding (pros and cons to that). I haven’t been there in a few years, but lift ticket prices were a bit lower than those at Park City.</p>
<p>I’m sharing this all with H and S3. We have friends who pretty much go to Utah (as opposed to other places) and love Alta. So H says Alta at least one day. I say Park City for one day. I guess we can see what happens and pick day 3 either as a repeat or somewhere else.</p>
<p>I agree with the poster above about the lodging in Park City. It was dated 13 or so years ago when I last stayed there. Gloomy carpeting and poorly lit condos, and we weren’t going bargain basement, either! I realize this isn’t an issue for the OP, but it is surprising.</p>
<p>Deer Valley is an Intermediate skiers paradise, so I would suggest Snowbird or Alta (very close to one another) or Park City, especially for more advanced skiers.</p>
<p>Last time we were out (and thank you Sherpa!) we did Park City and The Canyons (which is beautiful and huge). On separate trips we did Alta/Snowbird. They are very different experiences. Alta/Snowbird are more of “skiers mountains”, with less stuff at the base of the mountain (Snowbird has more than Alta) whereas if you want to rest your legs, sit at a firepit with a hot beverage and listen to live music, that can be done at The Canyons.
Have fun!</p>
<p>I was wondering about Canyons…glad you popped in jym. THAT thread (w/Sherpa and you when you were planning your trip) was the one I was searching for last night. Now I can go back and reread that one.</p>
<p>^^ What was I thinking? Park West is the name of the past, now it is The Canyons…</p>
<p>The snow quality is generally a little better at the Wasatch Front resorts (Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, and Solitude) than the Wasatch Back resorts (Park City, Deer Valley, and The Canyons). Not a lot better, but better enough to be appreciated by an expert skier.</p>
<p>To me, Alta has the best skiing in Utah. Hands down. The grooming is minimal, there’s plenty of steep terrain, and they get the best snow. Snowboards are prohibited, which is a slight benefit to skiers.</p>
<p>Park City is the best (only?) ski town in Utah, and each of the three PC resorts is special in it’s own way. You couldn’t go wrong spending a day at any of them.</p>
<p>It’s a tough call, but if I were going to spend one day at a PC resort, I’d chose Deer Valley. It has a well deserved reputation as a place that pampers its guests, which might turn a hardcore skier off, but probably shouldn’t. If nothing else, the food options are the best I’ve seen at any resort. Any resort anywhere, not just ski resorts. </p>
<p>Re: the skiing at Deer Valley. DV is known for stroking its guests egos, which includes overgrooming intermediate runs and overrating runs’ difficulties. In many cases a DV black diamond is an easier run than an Alta blue run. Be forewarned. That said, DV is NOT an “intermediates only” resort. DV has plenty of expert terrain and tends to have residual powder stashes long after the other resorts have been skied out.</p>
<p>Years ago I bought into the local myth that DV was only good for stroking rich tourist’s egos or having a relaxing easy ski day with a nice lunch. That was before I got a private mountain tour from a friend who instructs there. My eyes were opened. Deer Valley has plenty of expert terrain. It’s just that some of it isn’t shown on the map. Following my instructor friend’s advice, the next time I skied DV (a week after the latest snow, so most resorts were pretty skied out) I asked a patrolman if he could point me to some untracked powder. As should be expected at DV, he not only pointed me to it, he escorted me to what turned out to be a full afternoon of pure joy.</p>
<p>My advice: Spend one day at Alta, one day at Deer Valley and then decide on day three.</p>