Utah Ski Vacation Help Requested

I've been to Utah 2x and stayed in Sandy both times and it is an excellent home base to hit up the PC areas as well as LCC/BCC. Drive times to all resorts was about 45 minutes (I drive fast) but it should take < 1 hour. I have rented a car both times even though I was solo because I prefer the flexibility. With a group of 3 it makes even more sense to chip in and rent a bigger vehicle, especially since you want to hit up PC and the Cotonwood resorts. There are plenty of threads here that discuss the ski bus and other transportation options. Do a quick search.

I wouldn't call the dining options in Sandy apres ski, but there are many chain and other restaurants. I'll let the locals recommend them as I'm pretty easy to please food wise.

There is also a deal during certain periods where you can get a free pass on the day of arrival at any of the PC resorts. Drive time from the airport is < 1 hour so if your plane lands in the morning you can get 1/2 day in for free. I forget the name of the deal, but it was on the Skiutah web-site if I remember correctly.
http://www.parkcityinfo.com/quickstart/
Have a great trip.
I found the link above. Don't forget to sign up and print the voucher for the Quick Start free pass.

Am I correct in thinking that most of the apres-ski is in park city?

Almost 100%

I'm mostly interested in having dining options. If we stay in sandy, is there any kind of apre-ski, or how is the drive from there to park city? (SLC must have options also, so how is that drive also?)

Easy drive anywhere. 45min. No apres-ski in town. Suburban/urban bars with your ski gear on? Hmmm. No.


My current idea is to stay at extendedamerica in sandy and get the utah super pass for alta/brighton/solitude/snowbird and rent a car so we could go elsewhere if needed. The distance from that hotel to most of the places is around 20-40 miles, but the driving time is all over the place. How is the commute to these ski resorts in the morning?


Easy drive anywhere. If it takes longer than 45-60 min max, you are doing something severely wrong.

>Am I correct in thinking that most of the apres-ski is in park city?
in park city there is a street to stroll with restraunts and what not. if you stay in sandy you will probably be satisfied to go and visit park city on two or three of your evenings and the rest try some local salt lake spots, which is what we do.

i stay at la quinta, midvale(next to sandy), but esa is a popular choice. you won't get super pass every day, because you will probably want to check out a park city resort or snowbasin one of the days.

if you can do without the lux lodging etc., staying in a sandy/midvale is a great ski vacation if you don't care about a fancy lodge or ability to stroll outside your door. (except to suburbia and actually, I think sandy/midvale is a nice clean place to stay with tons of eats and shopping and looking around)

ifs it clear and you get the mouths of the canyon before 8:30am you should be fine. It wont take long at all.

IF its snowing and/or you get the mouth of the canyon after 8:30ish your in for a world of hurt.

From my house 6 miles away from 215 it take 45 min to get to PC. Yes it is worth to go up ther for some fun.

Fun in the Salt Lake Valley can be had though.

For eating there is very high end place at the bottom of the canyon.

La Caille: Keep going toward Little Cottonwood Canyon to the roadside sign for La Caille, a grand French chalet and Continental restaurant on 22 acres of exquisite manicured grounds. La Caille is an “old school” Salt Lake favorite, one of the earliest restaurants in this area. www.lacaille.com.

very pricey figure about 100 dollars a person for that one, just remember if you have to ask its too much.

another great choice at the bottom of BCC is The Porcupine great draft beer selection with some tasty food in large quality and the local ski bum hang out make it a great place to go.

Porcupine Pub and Grille: Right at the mouth of the canyons, this casual spot has a ski chalet feeling, 32 beers on tap and lunch and dinner menus that go way beyond pub grub. www.porcupinepub.com.

about 20 bucks a person MAX

Than for super cheap and still great, go mexican go real mexican Lone Star Tanqueri. some really good stuff for less than 10 bucks. Another "local" hangout.

alsomy favorite bar local to me is this one

http://www.thehogwallow.com/bar.php

yet again being a skier you will fit right in.

eh you relize sandy is the closest you can get to snowbird and alta with out going up canyon right? if you stay in a canyon the drive anywhere else will be much further.

Having moved to Park City 3 years ago I will give you my 2 cents. Stay in town. Totally worht whatever extra you would pay. You can take a shuttle up--so save the car and ski nearly 9000 acres at 3 resorts and enjoy the trip. Nightlife is great. I cant tell you about SLC because I ahve never been--for a reason.

The whole point is make it a vacation in the mountains, not in the city with a commute. Also if there is a storm the road to SB and Alta can be more than a challenge even with 4WD.

For more affordable housing look at renting a place in Heber. 10 minutes from DV.

I've been researching the for early Jan., & have pretty much settled on the extended stay in Fort Union, which is just off 215.
This makes the trip to Solitude/ Brighton or Alta/Bird about 25 to 30 min.

I've stayed in Salt lake at Hampton inn, & it didn't take 45 min to get to Alta.

I think from Sandy, Murray, Midvale or Fort Union, you're looking at 30 minutes.

Btw, The extended stay in Fort Union is $79

I've rented a house in Cottonwood Heights. What would the driving time to;
Alta?
PC?
Deer Valley?

clear roads light traffic
alta - 25 mins max more likely 20min
PC - 45mins
DV - 55min

skip DV and PC go to solitude and snowbird instead.

Word.

Heber, is where I'd go to live if I had six months to live.



Because 6 months would seem like an ETERNITY in Heber....

We have up to 7 ski days. Will focus on Alta/Snowbird and Solitude looks awesome. Any fourth picks? Might be my last chance to get to Utah with the Kids, flying in from Toronto, CA. Airfare is the killer!

Spend a day and go up to Snowbasin. It's a little over an hour, but worth it. Hook up with zion zig zag if you go.

Hi-
Here is some ski Utah feedback from my point of view. First of all, anywhere you go will be great.

Something to note... the Park City areas are all awsome, but different than the areas in the Cottonwood Canyons like Snowbird and Alta. Up in Park City the areas would be classified as "ridgeline resorts", like many resorts. That's to say, that looking up from the base you don't see the top. A better way of describing the layout would be... from the bottom of the runs to the top, it is almost like a succession stair steps that go back and up. If there were a novice skier or someone who has not skied the West, their initial impression may be, "that's not a very big ski area".

Conversely, areas like Snowbird are considerably more immediate vertical with lots of rock cliffs and peak above treeline... a little more "Alps" appearance, I guess. I hope that helps. You will have a blast anywhere you go. Remeber, Alta does not allow snowboards.
-Dan

with seven day I would still probably go to a PC resort or 2 but would stay close for most of it. As lonnie said, snowbasin should be good bet, and brighton has some fun easy powder filled trees.

I think what I would do is rent a car and stay at the Cliff Lodge in the 'Bird. You can still roam from there, nothing's far. American Express used to run killer deals. The Apris sceane at Peruvian Lodge bar (Alta) is pretty good. If you want to mix it up, spend half the time in Park City. There should be some lodging that's not too dear- my favorite is Treasure Mountain Inn, and for a no frills time warp, Chateau Apris. It's hard to go wrong. A lot of people swear by Sandy and Midvale, which puts you right at the mouth of the Cottonwood Canyons, but it's like, a city, and even with the big Wasatch as a backdrop, I always preferred to be up in 'em.

Wait a minite- I didn't get how many in your party- perhaps a condo is the ticket- check out the Lodge or Ironblossom lodge at Snowbird. There are zillions of condos in Park City as well, and lots of dining options, except during Sundance, when you can't get a table. Or park, or anything else. Slopes are deserted, though.

>Any fourth picks?
as mentioned above, Snowbasin. My kids really love that place and so do I. It skies and looks different than the Cottonwoods, the Gondolas and lodges are first class and not to be missed. The mountain is huge, uncrowded and plenty of everything for everyone, and the scenery is nice too.
Also, if you are going to be there a week, check out a Park City resort, I usually do on my 4 day trips.

The guy who wants a little apres-ski. For your first trip out, stay at the Park City places recommended above(to save a few $), Heber or donwtown Salt Lake. (you will have plenty of other skiers for company and restraunts close.

>2 days of alta, 2 days of brighton, and perhaps 2 days of DV
but you will miss slc.'s three best resorts, snowbird-solitude-snowbasin.
nothing in utah compares to mineral basin, the tram and little cloud bowl! (the bird)
and snowbasin is much Nicer than DV, in all categories, except MILF's.
so many choices...

I'm going (again) with a smallish group, staying in Cottonwood heights around the same time. We did this because I want to rent a vehicle so we can get out to Snowbasin since I've never been and want to hit it. Plus a friend of mine is going for the first time to Utah so maybe we'll go to Park City for a day.

To me even 40 mins is nothing when I'm used to 3 and 4 hour drives back here in the east. That and the relatively late (by eastern standards) lift openings make getting there not as much of a problem at least for skiing. Traffic seems to be getting worse though over the years. Bear in mind even the road to PC through Parlay Summit can get hairy during snow so allow extra time during weather.

Yes Park City is nicer for apres ski IMO. It's a great ski town, not quite Aspen but close. Sundance is around the 3rd week in January so if you're there for that prices seem to go up but you might see some celebrities (and getting a table for dinner is a little tougher during that time).

As far as staying in a lodge, that's more of a mountain experience no doubt, although it limits your choices somewhat as far as areas. Granted staying in LCC or BCC is still pretty awesome for skiing choices though if you chose to stay in the canyon somewhere. Park City can be good too, and there's a van that goes to Alta/Bird for around $70 or $80 including lift tickets from over there so you conceivably don't need a car. Then you have 3 resorts over there too which are very good you can ski using only the bus lines.

As far as skiing, LCC/BCC are great, but bear in mind you need to be in pretty good skiing shape to do those resorts several days in a row. Being from the east and not acclimated you might want to take a "down day" in the middle.

my 2 cents

Hey,
we skied SLC twice in last 3 years and are coming back this February. We used to stay in Homestead Suites Sugarhouse and it was decent. This time we decided to try ESA Sandy because we intend to ski LCC and BCC and maybe try Powder Mountain since that is the only one left to do. On our days off we visited Antelope Island State Park and Arches National Park down in Moab and both of these outings were worth it (even after 5 hour drive one way!).
It all comes down to your group's priorities. If your budget is like mine, stay in the city and drive to PC. You can have nice dinner + few drinks and still be back in your hotel by midnight. If you have money to spare and really need that nightlife, stay in PC.
Whatever you do, have a blast!

I think BW has said this B4 but SB really isn't for intermediates ... let me qualify that, upper intermediates would prolly be OK, but ... I skied there last year first time in years and forgot how bloody steep the majority of the place is. I was fine but I think it's a place a lower intermediate could get really tired of it quick because there are greens that wear you out.

Great resort though.

Would you guys say that if you rented a car you would need to rent a 4x4? im going to salt lake on the 16th and plan to do the alta/snowbird route but have contimplated doing Pc just because i dont want to rent a car.

Honestly, I think it would be easier to do alta/bird without a car than PC. The resorts are much closer. You can take canyon transport from the airport right to the cliff lodge. Buses run between Alta snowbird every 5-10 mins.

if you are an advanced skier who appreciates good snow, you are better off skiing alta/snowbird, but you will find it is cheaper to stay in midvale/sandy and take a chance on renting a cheap car that will usually work just fine.

Only thing is what about chains - don't you need chains or 4x4 at certain times? I always rent an SUV, partially because I usually go in a group and find we need the room anyway.

Plus if you use Priceline (tm) you can get one for the price of a car

The other option is the bus if you're staying near a busline. It can constrict your schedule a little more than if you have a car though.