Family-friendly Utah recommendations

majowiski

New member
Hey Admin,

I've read this site thoroughly over the past few days and am very impressed with the amount of information and the knowledge of those who post. Great site!

I assume you are located in Utah. What are some good 'family' oriented places to stay and ski? My wife is a full blown novice, and I am a steady intermediate skier who occasionally gets the nerve to ski a Black every now and then. Just looking for a fun relaxing time where she can gain some confidence, and I can have some fun.

Thanks.
 
First off, majowiski, welcome...both to First Tracks!! Online, and to the addiction that all of us here share!

"Family friendly"...just about anything in Utah meets that definition. :wink: I've been blessed in that I've been fortunate enough to have had the chance to ski mountains all over the world (yeah, Tony, I know that I have yet to get to Mammoth or Baldy :wink: :wink: ), and I moved our business here from the East Coast because in my opinion, Utah has some of the best and most easily accessible skiing on the continent. The enthusiasm I'm about to share isn't bias, it's my true belief.

Given your ability descriptions, I think that you'd have fun at the Park City-area resorts. Very little at those three (Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley and The Canyons) will scare anyone silly, and they have the benefit of Utah's only true resort town to keep you entertained off the slopes, or for a day off should your wife desire one. The chamber's website is at www.parkcityinfo.com and the ski areas are at parkcitymountain.com, deervalley.com and thecanyons.com. The downside is that these areas don't get nearly the same snowfall as the four Cottonwood Canyons resorts -- Alta, Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird -- just on the other side of the ridge. On the plus side, those coming from sea level will find the sleeping at 6,500 feet in Park City easier than at the higher Cottonwood base elevations. If you have a snowboarder in the family, note that Deer Valley prohibits snowboarding. You say that you like to occasionally venture onto a black, so I'll note here that Park City Mountain Resort is making an effort to expand grooming on its black runs this season.

Now, let's talk about those four Cottonwood Canyons-area resorts. Alta (alta.com) is a throwback experience that many serious skiers view as a trip to Mecca. Alta truly has terrain for all abilities, but a quiet evening by the fire and sharing the dinner table with fellow lodge guests has to be your idea of an exciting evening (it is for me, but some others would surely disagree). It also arguably has the best snowfall in the state. Likewise, Brighton (skibrighton.com) and Solitude (skisolitude.com) offer what you're looking for, with similar snowfall to Alta's and minimal base area lodging - Brighton has one or two small inns nearby, and Solitude has a sleepy Intrawest-designed village. I should note that Brighton has a significant snowboarder population, and Alta prohibits snowboarding just as Deer Valley does. I've purposefully left Snowbird out of this discussion as it's best left for when you and your wife bring your skiing skills up a notch, IMO -- it sounds as if she may be intimidated there, as there's very little easy terrain.

The beauty of the four Cottonwood Canyons ski areas -- Alta, Snowbird, Brighton & Solitude -- is that they're all 20 minutes from lodging in the Salt Lake Valley for an economical lodging alternative (hotels in the Valley are cheap by Atlanta standards) with virtually endless dining and shopping opportunities for the evening. Nowhere else in North America will you find world-class skiing so close to a metropolitan area. The Salt Lake Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau website is visitsaltlake.com. City bus routes (utabus.com) even take skiers from many Valley hotels to Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude, so it's possible to get by without a car. And by staying in the Valley, you're sleeping at 4,500-5,000 feet. By contrast, Alta's base elevation is 8,350 feet, high enough to affect some people coming directly from sea level.

Another benefit of this proximity is that Alta, Snowbird, Brighton & Solitude are all only 30 minutes from Salt Lake International airport, a hub for Delta, meaning that you can get an easy non-stop from Atlanta -- and Delta's prices since their bankruptcy filing have been phenomenal. The three Park City-area resorts are less than 45 minutes from the airport. You don't have to drive hours to the ski area after getting off the plane when you vacation here. In fact, you can catch an early-morning flight out of Hartsfield, and with the time difference land here in time to be eating lunch on the slopes. The parkcityinfo.com website referenced above even offers out-of-towners who register online prior to arrival to receive a free lift ticket on the day of their arrival.

For a recent family-oriented feature length article on Snowbird, Alta, Park City and Deer Valley, click here. A feature article on Brighton is here, a dedicated feature article on Alta is here, a dedicated feature article on Snowbird is here, and an older feature article on Solitude is here.

There are other ski areas in Utah, of course. Sundance (sundanceresort.com), Robert Redford's resort near Provo, is decidedly low-key and primarily intermediate in nature -- but it's at a lower elevation and gets snowfall similar to that received by the Park City areas. Snowbasin (www.snowbasin.com, with an older feature article is here) and Powder Mountain (powdermountain.com, with an older feature article here) are up north near Ogden, and neither has a bed base (OK, Pow Mow has a small hotel at the top with maybe 10 rooms, the Columbine Inn). There's a smaller area up there, too, Wolf Mountain wolfmountaineden.com (formerly Nordic Valley), but that's more of a local learning hill. Then you've got Beaver Mountain (skithebeav.com), a mom-n-pop place out in the boonies near the Idaho border, and Brian Head (brianhead.com)down south near Cedar City that's frequented by folks from Las Vegas (feature article here). And that pretty much wraps up the state.

Finally, the Utah Ski & Snowboarding Association puts together a rather comprehensive website, SkiUtah.com.

Colorado definitely gets the lion's share of skier visits of any U.S. state. However, a big draw for Colorado resorts is that nearly all of them are built around a resort town with bars, restaurants, night spots, boutiques, etc. Park City may be our only true resort town, but the proximity of the Salt Lake Valley makes that a moot point for the four Cottonwood Canyons-area resorts, IMO. And I am also a firm believer that the quality of the skiing here is much better, and most certainly prices are lower. Our mountains are high enough to preserve snow quality, but not nearly as high as the Colorado resorts, again leading to fewer complications from altitude sickness. Ditch one of those Colorado trips you're planning and come on out here!
 
I'll throw a few of my photos into this topic, too, to illustrate some of my points.

Park City's Main Street:
parkcity05.jpg


Some of Park City Mountain Resort's trails lead right into town:
parkcity04.jpg


Typical Park City Mountain Resort terrain:
parkcity02.jpg


Alta's base area -- note the striking difference in topography from the Park City side of the Wasatch:
alta09.jpg


Alta:
04_alta_collins_mid.jpg


Alta's novice terrain isn't confined to the bottom of the mountain. The Cecret Chair rises above mid-mountain and services beautiful green-circle trails through the forest:
03_alta_maybe_3_inches_per_hour.jpg


A skier descending from Alta toward Brighton:
07_alta_bc_skier_at_catherines_lake.jpg


The Salt Lake Valley, as seen from Snowbird's slopes -- note the proximity I talked about:
01_snowbird_salt_lake_valley.jpg


Snowbird can be a tough place to ski:
snowbird09.jpg


Brighton:
brighton03.jpg


Solitude's Intrawest-designed base village (their photo, not mine):
solitude01.jpg


The slopes of Snowbasin:
01_snowbasin_needles_express_mt_ogden.jpg


Powder Mountain:
powdermt12.jpg


Brian Head is in southern Utah's red rock country, right next to Cedar Breaks National Monument:
brianhead08.jpg
 
damn marc, did you land a job for the tourism bereau or chamber of commerce when you moved out there? :lol: just kidding man, that is one heck of a resourceful post for any one looking into info on skiing utah, very nice!
 
Great pictures and info and back east were talking about skiing the " November ribbons of Death" which are still weeks away .
 
New and aspiring skiers, particularly from the eastern 2/3 of the country, believe that winter is December-to-February because that's when it's cold. And on snowmaking-dependent mountains there is some truth to that.

But at most western destinations, and in Colorado in particular, the optimal conditions are usually February/March, with the peak snowpack for the season averaging late March.

So my general advice to eastern skiers is to ski near home through January and spend the $$$ for destination trips in February/March, or even April, which IMHO is usually better than December and in slow years sometimes January. So if you can afford 3 western trips I would push them later than your stated schedule.

In general I share admin's enthusiasm for Utah skiing, but as he mentioned the Park City group is the best fit for your current ski abilities. Park City group would be an excellent choice for February, OK for January and somewhat speculative for December in terms of snow.

Not sure where you're looking in Colorado, but the 3 big areas in Summit County (Breck, Copper, Keystone) have massive amounts of beginner and intermediate terrain and more reasonable prices than elsewhere. They also have massive crowds much of the time, so January might be the best shot there. The sleep altitude at 9,000+ can be an issue, but that is more a function of individual physiology than fitness or ski experience, and you won't know until you've tried it (in either summer or winter trips).

My personal attitude in the learning stages was not to go for big $ destination trips until I thought I could ski most of the available terrain, but I had SoCal and Mammoth available for training. In the context of destination trips, Park City and Summit County are reasonably priced (and staying in SLC even more so) in terms of both lodging and air travel to competitive major airports.
 
Tony Crocker":1d3uex1w said:
New and aspiring skiers, particularly from the eastern 2/3 of the country, believe that winter is December-to-February because that's when it's cold. And on snowmaking-dependent mountains there is some truth to that.

But at most western destinations, and in Colorado in particular, the optimal conditions are usually February/March, with the peak snowpack for the season averaging late March.

So my general advice to eastern skiers is to ski near home through January and spend the $$$ for destination trips in February/March, or even April, which IMHO is usually better than December and in slow years sometimes January. So if you can afford 3 western trips I would push them later than your stated schedule.

I agree, although with the caveat that for the Park City area I'd think more late February to early March, rather than late March, thanks to the lower elevation. Things may get spotty by the end of March there, especially in a leaner snow year.
 
unfortunately, the best skiing back in the east is late february into march. not saying the sacrifice wouldn't be worth it heading out west, but someone trying to max out the good days in the east might be inclined to head out a little sooner.
 
Our mountains are high enough to preserve snow quality, but not nearly as high as the Colorado resorts, again leading to fewer complications from altitude sickness. Ditch one of those Colorado trips you're planning and come on out here!

I didn't know the elevation of your resorts. Never been to a resort arount SLC. I would definitly agree on going to Utah and also Idaho. Never ridden those areas, but from what I hear the snow is fantastic... Tough when your stuck travelling timing the powder though... but my guess is it is worth the effort to get out on late notice to catch it good. Southwest has really cheap fares to SLC and Idaho so catching something last minute would be feasible. Why ride Utah without pow... all I've ever heard is how light the pow is :)

Thanks for all the great pics Marc... SLC is on my list this year... I might try to sneak out once on my own to ride it big... so get the powder boards out! :D
 
Tony Crocker":17hdpnmi said:
In general I share admin's enthusiasm for Utah skiing, but as he mentioned the Park City group is the best fit for your current ski abilities. Park City group would be an excellent choice for February, OK for January and somewhat speculative for December in terms of snow.

Yep. And if you have the bucks, Deer Valley has the absolute best resort experience. They certainly have the best base lodges and cafeteria food in North America. Park City is the best resort town in Utah, though that's not saying much, but it's also fairly expensive. The usual January bargains don't exist because of the stinkin' film festival and February/March are very pricey. A crummy hotel in the I-80 cloverleaf is pushing $200/night at high season. It's usually pretty mushy in April for beginner/intermediates and even the last week or two of March can have spring conditions.

Not sure where you're looking in Colorado, but the 3 big areas in Summit County (Breck, Copper, Keystone) have massive amounts of beginner and intermediate terrain and more reasonable prices than elsewhere. They also have massive crowds much of the time, so January might be the best shot there. The sleep altitude at 9,000+ can be an issue, but that is more a function of individual physiology than fitness or ski experience, and you won't know until you've tried it (in either summer or winter trips).

Nooooo..... Those places are really busy even in January these days. You absolutely don't want to ski Breck, Copper, or Keystone on a weekend. The crowding, particularly in the beginner areas, is unreal. Midweek is better but it's still quite busy because of all the discount passes for the locals that are being bought in large numbers by the out of state ski week people. Go ye to Aspen. Best ski resort experience in North America. Snowmass is a fine place for beginner/intermediates. It's 4 hours from Denver so it's dead on weekends since that's when the ski weeks change over. Hook up with a ski club trip so you're getting a package deal. It's expensive if you do it on your own.

My personal attitude in the learning stages was not to go for big $ destination trips until I thought I could ski most of the available terrain, but I had SoCal and Mammoth available for training. In the context of destination trips, Park City and Summit County are reasonably priced (and staying in SLC even more so) in terms of both lodging and air travel to competitive major airports.


From Georgia, that just ain't possible. At $0.45/mile, it's cheaper to fly two people to Salt Lake City than drive to any kind of reasonable skiing. Lodging in Salt Lake is also cheaper. You can stay at the No-tell Motel in Sandy and get great novice/intermediate skiing at Brighton or Alta at a fraction of what you'd pay on the east coast. You're also not dealing with lousy east coast weather.
 
GREAT info everyone......Admin, I really appreciate the thorough response....I will definately be looking at making a trip to SLC either this year or next.

Thanks again everyone. Great site with great info!! :P
 
I generally share the attitude that destination skiers should prefer the more remote places in Colorado (Aspen, Telluride, Steamboat, etc) due to crowd issues in the Front Range/Summit County. My personal mindset has been that I like to try everything, and for novice/low intermediates I would recommend trying Summit County early on because:
1) Biggest concentration of novice/low intermediate terrain,
2) Competitive pricing for air, lifts and lodging, and
2) You'll appreciate the other places more when you're a better skier.

So I think it comes to one's personal opinion about crowds. If they really put you off, I agree that Aspen would be an excellent choice, but it will cost you more. For Summit County I was assuming a full week trip and agree that the weekends are a zoo.

I agree that Alta and Brighton are excellent for learning. But once you're a low intermediate and can cover some ground, there is a whole lot more comfortable terrain for you at the Park City resorts than in the Cottonwood Canyons.

Utah's powder is slightly higher water content than Colorado's but there is 2 to 3 x as much of it per storm, so you get the true flotation experience much more often.
 
montanatom":3v0bou2q said:
Hello,
We are planning our first SLC winter trip.

Has anyone stayed here for Alta skiing:

http://www.national9saltlake.com/area.htm

Are there closer motels at the same rate?

Closer? Positively -- this place is just west of I-15 just south of the I-15/I-215 junction. For the same price? Can't tell -- there's no rate info on their website. I suspect, however, that you could definitely improve upon this choice.
 
montanatom":2uw5uw79 said:
Hello,
We are planning our first SLC winter trip.

Has anyone stayed here for Alta skiing:

http://www.national9saltlake.com/area.htm

Are there closer motels at the same rate?

We've stayed at this place on (7200 South) during January for the last two years. (I think that they have another SLC location or two.) The motel is clean and quiet enough. They put out tea/coffee for most of the day and some pastries in the mornings. The desk personnel are pleasant.

Yes, there is lodging closer to the canyons, but 7200 South is very handy. 7200 South is a straight shot to Big Cottonwood and very handy to Little Cottonwood. It is fairly close to many restaurants and ski shops.

The Inn is just across the street from the transportation area where the Big and Little Cottonwood buses start their routes. On powder days you may not have a car that is able legally able to enter the canyons--or wish to risk the downsides of your rental being involved in a mishap. At 7200S you can walk across the street, grab the bus, and actually get a seat. Most other parking areas on the way to the canyon will be filled early and the bus will likely be standing room only by the time it gets to them.

The price at National is in the low end of the market. I would recommend eschewing the 800 number and calling them directly. You may be able to negotiate a lower rate. (When you call SLC motels directly, you should always ask about the weekly rate because many offer a much lower weekly rate.)

Oh yes! One other item: The motel has a couple "pet" rooms. When you make your reservation, you may wish to ask for a room that does not share a common wall with one.

Good luck!
Jeff
 
majowiski":33hy6r07 said:
What are some good 'family' oriented places to stay and ski? My wife is a full blown novice, and I am a steady intermediate skier who occasionally gets the nerve to ski a Black every now and then. Just looking for a fun relaxing time where she can gain some confidence, and I can have some fun.

Just to throw my $0.02 in....

How about Telluride, CO.

Why?
If your wife is a novice, and you are an intermediate looking for a few diamonds -- as well as no crowds -- Telluride has the following advantages over Utah:
1. Better beginner terrain than any Utah resort. Try Chairs 1, 10, 13, and 14. Beginner open slopes, beginner trails, beginner high elevation runs. Plus there is a lot of low intermediate. (see trail map).
2. No crowds. Beginner are often terrified of congested trails. There is very little-to-no congestion in Telluride. In fact, some people are scared to ski alone because another person/patrol might not come by if you hurt yourself. Park City is very busy in comparison.
3. Relaxation. Once you get to Telluride, everything is relaxing. There are no liftlines. There are no car trips (small town, everything in walking distance). No shuttle buses (unless you do not want to walk 2-5 min).
4. Black diamond grooming. Telluride grooms some of the best/steepest diamonds in the country. But again crowds -- at other places, people scrape the snow off -- usually by 11am, maybe 12 noon. At Telluride, there are fewer people, so the steep runs remained groomed for longer. You do not need to get 'first tracks' on a groomer before it becomes an ice field.
5. Better weather than Utah (for your needs). Telluride is generally sunnier, and a tad less snowy -- but is much higher than Utah resorts -- so the snow can remain packed powder. Fewer white-out powder days when it's nasty to ski.
6. Scenery. Telluride is set in a box canyon --3 sides with 14k mts -- with no WAL*MARTs or Interstates to mess it up.


Dowsides:
1. Airfare will be more expensive than going to Salt Lake. But you probably will not need to rent a car while there. If you have some free Delta miles from Atlanta to SLC, Utah will come in cheaper.
2. Telluride is not huge. It's more of a 4/5 day place than a week.
 
The above post details the advantages to you of the western Colorado areas. Aspen has the same advantages (uncrowded slopes, don't need a car) and is similarly priced.

Differences: Both have large areas of dedicated beginner terrain (Buttermilk, Chair 10 at Telluride). Telluride's is 1000+ feet higher and usually has better snow. Once you move up to the low intermediate level Snowmass' terrain is vast while Telluride's is somewhat limited.

For advanced intermediate (steep groomers) and better skiers, terrain is fairly proportionate to overall size. Telluride was often described as a "3-day mountain" before the Prospect Bowl/Gold Hill lifts went in. Those lifts tied the area together and made it much easier to get around.

I might vote for you to go to Telluride before Aspen because you'll cover more ground when you improve and thus be better able to take advantage of the larger area(s).

The Utah/Colorado decision should be based more on the non-skiing factors in your situation. If you're trying to learn as fast and as cheaply as possible you should go to Utah and stay in SLC. If the resort ambience/relaxation mean a lot to you, Aspen and Telluride are both among the very best in North America. Park City and Summit County would be compromise positions.
 
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