Park City, Deer Valley or Alta?
 

My husband and I are planning a ski trip and want a challenging mountain with some good ungroomed trails and bowls. We'd also like a good town for apres ski fun.<BR>Can anyone tell us where to go?

I would suggest Park City or Deer Valley as far as where I would stay. As far as skiing you could have many options. Alta and Snowbird and Snow Basin are all 45-1 hour drive from Park City. You will find more challenging mountains there. That said, there are still some runs at Park City that are plenty challenging. I think your requirement of 'town for apres ski fun', is best filled by Park City. You may want to consider staying in Deer Valley, ' whoopin' it up in Park City, and skiing at several different resorts.

Thanks for the advice. How is the skiing in general at Park City? Does it cater more to the beginner intermediate? Is it mostly groomed trails?

First off, the skiing is great in either area - both get tons of fluffy lake-effect snow. Park City sounds like the right choice given your interests. It has a nice downtown area with active nightlife and good restaurants, whereas Snowbird and Alta are more like isolated resorts and generally cater to more of a hard-core set. In Park City, I've skied Deer Valley and as a relatively advanced skier found it to be great. There is terrain of all types; seriously, you won't be bored unless you are into truly extreme skiing (i.e. cliff jumping), in which case Snowbird/Alta are superior. The general atmosphere is great there as well - I was told that the founder set out to create a &quot;5 star&quot; ski resort. It's a bit more expensive than others in the area, but if you've got the money it's really nice. Enjoy.

As a general rule Park City/ Deer Valley caters all skiing abilitys. There are plenty of powder puff. intermediate runs..however also there are plenty of good advanced runs in Park City/ Deer Valley/ Canyons as well. You will find no problem finding some skiing that is matched to your ability. Many hills are groomed, some not. Extreme skiers go to Alta and Snowbird.<BR>Could definately use a little snow right now, but skiing conditions right now are excellent.<BR>