Utah Skiing help ....Please!!!
 

Planning a trip for March. Any suggestions on where to stay, ski and eat.Flying into Salt Lake City. Would I need to rent a car to get around? What area would be best if we did not rent a car. Any help you could give would be great. Thanks!!

The best place to go if you want to be carless is Park City. They have a great free bus system. You can access the three local ski areas via the bus.
My favorite place to ski is Alta. I do know there is a city bus that goes there, but not sure how it works. We had a car.

Thanks for your help. What about a specific hotel to stay or any places to eat.

We (family of 4) were just in Park City and we did rent a car, although I know many, many people who have been there without a car. We stayed at the Radisson, which is about a mile from Park City ski resort and Main St. The shuttle stops at the hotel door. This is a fairly generic hotel, but it does include an excellent breakfast, and has a decent pool and 2 hottubs (inside and out).

I think without a car, I'd want to stay near (walking distance) to Main St. There's a huge concentration of restaurants, little shops, and even a ski lift. There are various small and bigger hotels, inns and condos. There is a Marriott hotel there.

Do a text search here on 'Park City' and you'll find some info on other accommodations. Also check tripadvisor.com.

In a word: no. Utah makes it very easy to go carless and hit great slopes.

SLC is one of the great bargains of tremendous skiing. You can do everything from very high end (Stein Eriksen Lodge and Deer Valley) to the best bang for the buck anywhere (stay cheap in downtown and use the fabulous light rail/ski bus connection.

If you don't have a car and want to visit different areas, either downtown or Park City are great options.

From Park City, you have three ski areas
and a ski town. If having a ski town atmosphere appeals to you, it's a great place to go. Expect to pay a bit more there.

Personally, I like the Cottonwood Canyons places -- Snowbird/Alta or Solitude/Brighton -- because of the better snow and hills.

(For pure skiing, Park City -- Deer Valley, PC and Canyons -- are fine and would be a star in many other locations but Snowbird/Alta are a notch above for pure skiing IMHO. Still, DV is a place that folks should try at least once.)

Personally, I'd stay slopeside at either Alta or Snowbird because I usually go only for the skiing.

But if you want to sample different areas or save bucks, find a downtown SLC hotel in your price range, get the light rail/bus pass for $6 and choose a canyon. It's a pretty quick trip with a convenient schedule.

Hey, I'm also just starting to play a trip to Park City for March for a family of 4 to ski. I'm in shock at the prices of the condos near the Canyons...we'd ideally like a studio or condo, so that we can stay up later than the kids...any suggestions for economical studios/condos in the Park City area?

Hi Jef and Joys,

Glad to hear you're coming out to ski. We're having a good snow year and I've honestly never seen Park City so busy! That said, there are 9 ski areas within 40 - 60 minutes of downtown SLC, so we handle the crowds pretty well!

I've been skiing in Utah for over 30 years and here is my advice:

If you are an advanced skier, go to Alta and Snowbird. Once there you don't need a car. You can take a shuttle service from the airport to the area of your choice.

Snowbird has 3 choices of condos, The Lodge, The Iron Blosam (that's how it's spelled, named after a mining claim, and the miners were not very good spellers), and the Turramura. Snowbird also has the Cliff Hotel, excellent, with a 4* spa and a roof top pool and giant hot tub that is THE place to be at sunset to watch the alpenglow.

Alta has various lodges (Rustler Lodge, Goldminer's Daughter), much older, various condos of all ages that you can book through the property mgmt companies.

Alta does not allow snowboarding. Snowbird does. If you ski, you can buy a combo ticket and ski back and forth between the two. Both resorts have beginner and intermediate terrain, but they are known for their cliffs, shutes and bowls and deep powder skiing-- very likely the best skiing in the world. A green run here is more like a blue run anywhere else, blues are more like blacks. And if you want to ski a double black diamond, you better know what you're doing!

No night life but enough excellent restaurants to keep you busy and happy for a week. Excellent ski schools too.

Park City offers 3 resorts within a short, free bus ride. They don't get quite as much snow since they are on the "back side" of the mountains and a bit lower base altitude, but they get enough! DV, PC, and Canyons have overall easier skiing since the mountains are more gently rounded, and you ski down through mostly aspens, like most of the CO resorts.

Lodging options are unlimited in Park City. Start at www.parkcityinfo.com.

Have fun!

Dayle, Thanks so much. We'll look at Park City, since the kids are beginners. Really appreciate your help---makes the whole process less overwhelming!

joysakura,
With kids who are beginners, you might also want to check out Solitude, a wonderful family resort. Graet kid ski school. Lodging right at the slopes and a nice atmosphere, although not anywhere near as hopping as Park City. Plus enough terrain variety to keep most adults satified -- and Brighton is also there.

Hi JEF, family members went to Park City over Christmas. They stayed at The Radisson and said it was fine. They really enjoyed the indoor/outdoor pool and spa after skiing all day. A restaurant they mentioned that they really liked was The Mustang. They said they had the best salmon they had ever eaten and they live in S CA along the beach.

They did not rent a car this time and said that worked out just great due to the shuttle buses. Not sure where they skied but know they said it was where snowboarders were not allowed.

Have fun!!!

Hi LoveItaly!

So, the New Yorker family were your's? Cool!

Snowboarding is not allowed at Deer Valley, Alta, Taos, NM and one area in the east, I forget which.

Hey Repete & others,

After checking them out on the web, I called both Solitude & Brighton today. Repete, you were right--The ski slopes are perfect for what we're looking for (good variety, good "greens" for the kids, reasonably priced lift tickets), and the family-type atmostphere of both places is nice.

We weren't able to get housing at either place--at Solitude because the lower priced studios were $210. a night, and Brighton because they were already all booked. I was very disappointed because they both seemed like the right kind of place for us. We still may reconsider Solitude and just pay more for the housing since the ski area is so perfect.

We're hoping to get closer to $135. to $150. a night, but we may not find that near the ski area that we end up at. I'm thinking that we'd prefer staying near the slopes and not down in SLC---and it'd be worth the extra money to stay closer to where we're skiing.

Park City lift tickets are $70 at the Canyons, and $75. at Park City. For 4 of us, that's $280. a day, and i'd love it if we could be paying closer to $50 a day.....but, we'll have to be flexible and see what we can find that balances reasonable housing costs & decent lift prices.

We have a preference for Utah, but are open to Summit County, Winter Park, Schweitzer in Idaho, or anywhere else that somebody might know of.

In order to keep the cost down, my husband is thinking that perhaps we need to find a place that's not a "hot ski destination" and more of a regular family ski place for that area of the country.

So, we're open to any of your ideas, and are very appreciative!!! Thanks.

keep looking - Utah SLC is one of the cheaper places in the west- look for hotels offering the "Super Pass"

if you have a car or are willing to ride the bus up the canyon you can stay/ski for about $68 night lift tickets included (and bus passes)

Sleep Inn , and Super 8 (both have pools, hot tubs and include breakfast)

you can also get discount lift tickets at (???) Canyon sports

Greenfieldhunter,

Thanks so much. Exactly the kind of info that might make a ski trip for us possible.

I'll keep looking in the SLC area---and the "super pass" thing sounds excellent. I'll check into Canyon Sports, too.

Thanks again!

Joy

Joysakura,
It's tough to make all the pieces fit. For example, the cheapest lift ticket of the Utah majors has long been at Alta, but I just couldn't recommend it for kids/families because there just aren't many easier runs.

Can't vouch for this personally, but friends I trust report great family times at some of the lesser know British Columbia places, such as Big White, Red Resort and Apex.

Maybe someone can spread insight or perhaps there's info on the Canada board.

But if you decide slopeside doesn't matter this trip, Utah is a great option and the travel options are all do-able.

Joysakura-

call the Sleep Inn in South Jordan/Sandy- they are slightly nicer than the Super 8 and slightly newer- as I said- we paid $64-68 (can't remember) a night.

The Super Pass which was included with the "Stay and Ski" package gave you the choice of Solitude, Brighton, Alta or Snowbird- you had to pick one each day (meaning you can't ski one place in the morning and another place in the afternoon)

It also included a bus pass for the day- this is a great deal considering the Snowbird lift ticket (tram) was around $60

Breakfast was okay- waffles, toast cereal, coffee ect, and the pool was fine. They also had a washer dryer and posted the daily ski report at the front desk.

Nice story on Solitude and other lesser know Utah spots:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...26.html?sub=AR

Hi Everyone,

The Wash Post article was great--Thanks, Repete.

Does anybody know the quality of the lodging & restaurant of the Silver Fork Lodge that's 3 miles from Brighton & 1 mile from Solitude?

Good place to stay? Decent shuttle service to skiing?

If we stayed there, does anybody have a recommendation on the type of shuttle service or bus to take from the airport to Silver Fork Lodge?

THANKS AGAIN SO MUCH!

Joy

One more additional thing...

Just looked for transportation from SLC airport to Silver Fork, Brighton, & Solitude...

Canyon Transportation is $52 a person each way, which is a bit over $200 each way for us.

Resort Transportation is $100 for 4 people each way

Any other shuttle services that you all might know about.

Again, we really appreciate all your help. It makes a huge difference to us as we figure out our planning--Thanks!

Joy

Oh, and one more question.

Our 10 year old is a beginner skier. Do Solitude and Brighton have plenty of green runs?

Since we'll be skiing 5 or 6 days, we want there to be enough variety w/ the green runs so that she doesn't get bored.

Thanks again.

Joy

I think a beginner would be very happy. Brighton went out of its way to cut a green down from one of the highest points in the resort. Solitude has a nice mix of greens and blues that lets young skiers progress at a comfortable pace.

These are great hills for young skiers and a great into to the Rockies.

Sorry, I don't know much about the transport. I've usually taken the Light rail/bus link from downtown -- I think it's $6 this year.

Thanks, Repete, for your suggestions. We're so pleased w/ your letting us know about Solitude & Brighton--they seem so perfect for our family, and we're excited about the trip.

We decided that we'd love to stay close to the slopes. In case anybody else in our situation of wanting 2 rooms for a family of 4, this is what we found:

....suites at the hotels in Sandy for about $150 to $180,
....suite at Silver Fork is about $200, which is 3 miles from Brighton & 1 mile from Solitude (I think)
....condos at Solitude are about 330 (I had originally thought $220 but that's off-season).

We decided that we'd love to be close to the slopes (would have LOVED to be at the condos at Solitude), and staying at Silver Fork got us close but saved a bit of money.

But, of course, an important question is whether Silver Forks provides decent accomodations? I imagine it does--it's small, 8 rooms, i think, but would love any feedback if any of you know.

Again, Thanks!

Joy

Joy,

For a shuttle from SLC to Deer Valley, try the Yellow Cab Express. I stumbled upon them before we went a couple weeks ago and I my group was so happy with them. It's basically the Yellow Cab, but from what our driver told us..the shuttles have some sort of agreement with the airport. So the cab company can't advertise as much as the shuttle companies. Anyways..it was worth it and it was direct. Check out the website.

http://www.yellowcabutah.com/pricing.html

Hope that helps!

Amy

Thanks, Amy. We'll check with them.

Joy