RISkier
Active member
We’ve been to UT 3 times, recently returned from Vail but otherwise have no direct experience with other CO resorts and we’ve not been anywhere in CA. Some thoughts:
The SLC airport is pretty easy to negotiate. Seems easy to get in and out of and the car rental companies are (or at least were 3 years ago) right at the airport. It’s less than an hour drive from the airport to Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton, or Park City. Roads to the Cottonwoods Canyons areas can be closed or access might be restricted to AWD in some weather conditions. Roads to PC are expressway and don’t go through any passes. It would take a horrible storm to close the roads to PC. It’s about 1.5 hours or so to Powder Mountain and Snowbasin. The Denver airport is quite a ways from downtown and is much larger. You need to take a train from most of the terminals to the pick up luggage and access transportation. You’ll need a shuttle to pick up a rental, etc. The drive to Summit Co is probably a little over 1.5 hours but you do go up to 11k and go through the Eisenhower Tunnel. Going further West you’d also go over Vail pass. You definitely need to allow more time to get to and through DIA than SLC airport. You have lots of lodging options in UT. You can stay down in Sandy or Midvale near the entrances to BCC and LCC, or you can stay in the Park City area, or, on one of our trips we stayed up in Eden. You can probably find the most cost effective lodging down in the suburbs of SLC; everything from inexpensive hotels to condos. You’re also sleeping at a lot lower elevation. The potential negative is you’re basically staying in a suburb with strip malls, car dealerships, etc. Doesn’t feel like a ski resort. The villages at Solitude, Alta, and Snowbird are pretty small with little off slope activity. I’d happily stay at Alta 2-3 nights, not sure I’d want to stay up there for a week. Eden was extremely quiet. Downtown Park City is lively and you feel like you’re in a ski village. As for the skiing Alta is our favorite. It has good intermediate terrain off of every lift, there’s some steeper groomed terrain, it’s wide open and you have lots of opportunity to veer off groomed terrain into areas of bumps and powder without getting in over your head. Great views and terrain for all abilities. We only spent one day at Solitude but really liked it. Lots of blue and dark blue terrain and generally quiet slopes. I’ve only skied at Snowbird 1 day and I’m not sure I can give it a fair review; it was snowing hard and very windy with poor visibility. Rode up the long chair, went through the tunnel, exited into Mineral Basin, and absolutely couldn’t see the tips of my skis. On a day when I could have seen some of the stuff I was skiing I think I would have enjoyed it but better for strong and adventurous intermediates and above. The Canyons is large and spread out over a bunch of peaks, there’s a lot of interesting terrain for intermediates but it takes time to learn to get around efficiently. DV is also a great place for intermediates. We’ve not skied PCMR but given it’s location I’d assume there would be lots of intermediate terrain there as well. While the skiing is good in PC if you go to UT you have to spend time in the Cottonwoods Canyons. I think you’d also love Powder Mountain and Snowbasin if they have good snow. PM is very retro with mostly slow lifts. But no liftlines and the slopes are virtually empty. Lots of intermediate level off-piste opportunities. Snowbasin has a very upscale feel but without any snobbery. Lots of good intermediate skiing at Snowbasin too, IMO. I think most of the resorts in CO are better developed as resort villages. We really liked skiing at Vail, the terrain is vast and the back bowls have to be seen to be believed but the village is more like a ski metropolis with an interstate running through it. We’re going to try staying in Frisco this March and I think that’s more our kind of town. One other issue to consider is that in CO you’d likely be staying at higher altitude, the base at Vail is a bit over 8k and I could really feel the effects of altitude the first night, Frisco is about 9k, Breck and Copper 9.5k+. Park city is around 7K and if you stay down in SLC you’d be sleeping at even lower altitudes. Base at Alta is around 8.5k.
