PScott,

The park City shuttles do go to both Deer Valley and The Canyons. They bus system even goes out to the Factory Stores, a place I hate, and the Utah Olympic Park a place I and visitors just love.

There are shuttle companies that specialize in transportation between Park City and the Cottonwood Canyons.

The two largest shuttle companies serving the airport/Park City are All Resorts Express and Park City Tranportation. There are others too.

My vote is Steamboat Springs (HDN), and you can take a dip in the hot springs.

You get a lot of opinions but sometimes wonder about the backgrounds since, IMO, some of the opinions are a little off.

I am a skier of 40 years and reside in Colorado -- so you know my biases.

I have skied Park City during the first week of March for the past ten years, and about half of the time the snow was marginal. The mornings were OK on top but soft and slushy in the lower half by the afternoon resulting a ice and hard pack the next morning. Alta and Snowbird were much better because of the altitude. I would prefer Alta but there is nothing there.

Breck would be much more dependable for the snow at that time because of the altitude. You will hit crowds because of Spring break but that is true everywhere. Breck is a big mountain and will handle a lot people. The town set up would be similar to Telluride. Their is an hourly free s\ bus system that covers all of Summit cty -- Keystone and Copper ski areas plus the various small towns in the area. Provides a number of options for skiing. The Breck intown bus system is very good giving non-car access.

I am a big fan of the Beaver Creek and Vail ski areas although I ski Breck 3 to 1 over those areas. The Vail/Eagle airport provides less than one hour access to these two. Both areas, especially Beaver Creek, are very upscale with great services but all new unlike Breck, Park City, Telluride which are old Victorian style mining towns.

Personally think Breck would be your better choice of all the prior recommendations.

Thanks again to all.....am still debating. Any suggestions for a place in Park City that is an upscale condo near everything so we won't need a car for the whole week? (I say whole week but it's really only 3 or 4 days of skiing ...). (Keep in mind I was spoiled in Telluride since we only needed to walk 4 blocks in any direction for ANYTHING.) Would like to have the same experience in Park City if that's where we choose to go this year. I would love some condo suggestions (2Br/2Ba).
Pscott

No question in my mind - Vail!

Hi again PScott,

If you do choose Park City, right off the top of my head, I would recommend the Marriott Mountainside as a possibility. It's right at the base of Park City Mtn Resort, step outside to the Pay Day 6 pack, ski in, ski out. Nice outdoor pool. Very upscale timeshare condos and you can walk to Main Street.

PCMR base has shops, restaurants and a small ice rink. Shuttle stop right there if you don't want to walk or need to go elsewhere.

The Park City resorts don't get quite as much snow as the Cottonwoods, but I think if you have been happy with Telluride, you will be happy at the Park City areas. Telluride is one H*** of a mountain, but their snow years vary hugely.

Snowbird, Alta, Brighton and Solitude are always better snow quality than Park City. Higher, more snow, but not much in the way of non-skiing activities, restaurants, "town".

If you are hard core skiers - choose Alta and Snowbird. If you want a mix, choose Park City.

As I said, I've skied at many of the CO resorts and have really liked all of them. Bbut the times I've been there, multiple Januarys and Marches, the conditions have been less than ideal. Hard park and icy. One January we did hit great powder. It's just a matter of timing. It's an outdoor sport and nothing is every guaranteed.

Oh, there is a new place at the base of PCMR too called The Lowell. I would have to check to see if it's completely finished.

Another very nice place is Hotel Park City, but it's not slopeside. Marriott's other property on Main St. is the Marriott Summit Watch, also very nice.

Other condos are just TOO many to name.

Hope this helps! I've shoveled over a foot out of my driveway the last two days and another foot plus expected tomorrow. My home is a bit lower altitude than the bases of the resorts.

I think Park City is an excellent idea, but I'd recommend staying near Main St and the Town lift. You can get right up the mountain, shops and restaurants are right there, and you're close to the Transit Center to get to Deer Valley and The Canyons.

Last winter we stayed at the Grand Galleria (found a place on vrbo) and didn't need a car at all.

Ooooh, Dayle....shoveled a foot of snow and another foot expected?!! I can't wait! We are coming for New Year's week with ALL the kids....looking forward to the powder.

I love Park City and there is so much fine dining in addition to great skiing. Main Street is very happening.

Having lived at Copper Mountain for over four years, I do know something about Summmit County snow as well as Vail in Eagle County. While one can run into a snow drought which will cause conditions to be hard-packed and icy, this is highly unusual. There were few days during my stay in the mountains when I didn't ski because of lousy conditions. And, believe me, when you live at a ski resort and can ski anytime, you get pretty picky.

We stayed at Mt Thunder Lodge in Breckenridge. VRBO was used to book the condo. The booking was super easy and included underground parking. It is across the street from the transit terminal that accesses Summitt County and a gondola. Around the corner there is a City Market, Liquor Store, etc.. The location is within walking distance to downtown with its many shops and restaurants. Loved the free transportation and how easy it was to get around.

In our zeal to trumpet our favorite ski resort or state, we lose track of the original question -- skiing in mid-March !!! I will still maintain that good skiing conditions are more likely at Breckenridge than Park City at that time of year simply because of the higher elevation. The same would be true for other Utah resorts that have a higher base altitude than Park City.

#1: Whistler
#2: Blackcomb (*Hint, they are the same village and H U G E)
#3: Vail
#4: Park City

The drive/train/bus ride from the Vancouver airport is a bit over your criteria for time but the Sea-to-Sky highway is GEORGEOUS! There is a reason the winter Olympics are going there. Village: Great, Mountains: Huge terrain/vertical

I realize this is posted after ski season, but I stumbled upon it and wanted to provide my two cents for future readers. I was amused as some of the provinciality you got in your answers! People are certainly proud of their favorite ski resorts

You asked for a ski resort that was 1) close to an airport and 2) had a real town. I saw the discussion really focus on Park City, Breck, and Whistler. I felt that there were two resorts that received strikingly little input:

Steamboat Springs. The Hayden airport (35 mins away) is every bit as large as and has better flight service Montrose. If you've been happy with Montrose, you'll be happy with Hayden. And Steamboat is a great ski town with a wonderful family atmosphere (http://www.familyskihub.com/ResortSteamboat.html).

Jackson Hole got a mention, but it is really worth looking at. Jackson has major air service on jets, and the town is great for that day when you want to do something other than ski. Lots of places to eat and drink, and a heck of a ski mountain.

With all that said, it is hard to argue with any of the several Salt Lake City resorts when it comes to your criteria, including Park City.

The Top 20 Family Ski Resort Listing at http://www.familyskihub.com is a good place to look for reviews, as is http://www.snow.com.

If you stumble across this post again, where'd you go?

I did stumble back over this post and enjoyed re-reading all the info. as once again, we've got the same dilemma this year, only we are thinking of going over Christmas break this year.
As for last year, after all of that, we ended up going on a fantastic non-skiing trip out west. Our usual entourage for skiing couldn't make it this year and we decided we only have a few years left for family vacations with the kids (as the oldest is starting to look at colleges), and we needed to do the Grand Canyon/Sedona/Scottsdale trip with them. We have an absolutely lovely vacation (because I researched it to death), and the kids said it was one of the best trips ever. That being said, my husband and I decided we really did miss skiing and are investigating trying to go over the week before or after Christmas somewhere which opens up another whole can of worms. We've never skied during that time so don't know the best place for us to go as I guess some ski resorts might not even have good snow at that time. Any suggestions?

I don't know if cost is a factor but I would think generally that you will have lower airfare costs flying to a major hub like salt lake city than flying to Hayden springs for Steamboat or to jackson hole.

Snow level will be lower the earlier you have to go. If you ski Christmas week, many places will have their highest prices then and it will be more crowded.

Other than the snow factor which is hard to predict, I would still recommend Utah because you can fly into slc and there are 9 ski resorts between 30-60 minutes of that airport. If it is crowded, you can choose to go to the less crowded locations rather than be stuck with limited choices. The 9 are: SLC-brighton, solitude, snowbird, alta; Park city has deer valley, park city, and canyons; there is Sundance ski resort near Provo which brings us to 8, and then near Ogden there is Snow Basin which is fantastic and where the Olympics downhill racing was held. That is 9, but I realized now there are 2 other much lesser known ski resorts near Snowbasin (Powder Mountain and Wolf something....), so there are 10 or 11 resorts to choose from.

This is THE resource a lot of skiers use to plan Christmas and Spring Break trips. This guy is great at looking at historical averages, weather patterns, etc. As you'll see the exact location matters a lot--one place in Utah might be a very bad bet while a nearby resort will have a good chance of great xmas conditions.

http://webpages.charter.net/tcrocker818/fam_ski.htm

if you are looking for more detailed advice on ski resorts than you get here, check out the travel forum at epicski.com.

Wow, Christy, I wish I had that website before we went to Park City in mid-December a few years ago! (We had a great time, and would go again, but not so early -- conditions were not very good)

I know, it's great how specific it is, and you realize you can't make generalizations about Utah resorts or Colorado resorts or California resorts--depending on which direction they face, how high they are, weather patterns, etc, conditions can be really different at resorts that are close to each other.

Thanks so much for the website referral Christy1. I just looked at it and sent it out to a ski group. Really interesting and very useful info. Am starting to think about Steamboat!

Thanks again.

great website references, christy1! thanks.