Best Value Ski Resort?

There is nuthing "bad ass" about Deer Valley. Go to Snowbird or Solitude. If you're heading to Park City and want to ski good, natural terrain, stay in DV, but ski The Canyons.

If you're attempting to do this on a budget, why would you pick the UT ski resort with the most expensive lift tickets?

Deer Valley and bad ass skiing? I do not think these two can be used together...

If you are using www.vrbo.com look at Sandy condos right at the entrance to Big Cottonwood Canyon. It will be cheaper and way "bad-assier" since you will be able to ski Alta/Snowbird and Solitude.

If you are hooked on Park City then go Canyons.

Reno is SW hub if I'm not mistaken and there are shuttles from RNO to North and South shore of Lake Tahoe. You can score really cheap deal on condo in South Lake Tahoe and ski Heavenly or Sierra at Tahoe or for a bit mote money get something in Truckee on the North side...

Cheers,

cfr

Taos ski valley, Jan is very inexpensive, SW flies to Albq, 3 hr drive to Taos, staying in town is cheaper, 19 mi drive to ski valley. Staying on the mtn is a more relaxing vacation. There might be enought sking for your bad ass.
Cheers Dan

Enjoy this Canyons video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paPbQL6tAvw

Sun Valley and Taos have questionable snow at best. If you are looking for something very high class, check out Snowbasin.

If you are intermediate, any of the resorts (except Snowbird) would be fine. However, if you're looking for best value, DV is not it. It's great, especially if you like groomed slopes and good on Mt. food, but if that's not huge priority, Park City Mt. resort, and The Canyons are great. If you stay in Park City, you can ski all three. Plenty of restaurants and activities. If you want quieter, stay at Solitude and ski Brighton/Solitude. Prettier in my opinion, but very quiet. Depends on what you want. The reason for the kind of replies you got were that you requested "Bad Ass" and "value". Deer Valley would generally be considered in last place of all ski resorts in Utah using that criteria. DV is great place, but not so much if you're looking for bad ass skiing and budget accomodations. IMHO.

Deer Valley and the overall Park City area is a wonderful place to ski. If lodging in Deer Valley is within your budget I think you will be happy with what you get. There is plenty of tough skiing for most skiers at DV, PCMR and Canyons but it's not steep and deeps like you might find heli skiing.
I think the confusion comes from someone who "hasn't had a ski trip in 8 years" looking for a "bad ass" ski area/trip.

Depends on what you call "good"

Deer Valley probably has best grooming in North America. They limit their ski tickets sales to limit crowds. Food is fancy. Tickets are easily most expensive in SLC area. Terrain is fairly intermediate. Park City is a "ski town" with associated environment. Snow quality and quantity in Park City resorts is below of that in both Cottonwood Canyons. If this is your definition of good then you are right on on Deer Valley.

I never skied Sun Valley, but I would not call it easily accessible and cheap.

All in all, considering price, accessability, terrain, snow consistency it is hard to beat Little and Big Cottonwood canyons.

Cheers,

cfr.

I would go to either Solitude or Brighton (or both). Lunch at Deer Valley will cost you more than a lift ticket at either of these places. There is plenty of terrain to keep intermediates happy.

Also consider Snowbasin. Out of the norm but a great place. Superb lodges, never stayed over there, but there's a lot of skiing.

DV - it's a great groomer and services mountain. No boarders. There are some harder trails if you know where to look but nothing compared with the others mentioned. Lunch is a great value IMO for what you get. PCMR - not bad a little crowded at the bottom. Harder stuff on Jupiter lift. Canyons, kind of spread out skis smaller than it looks but good BC access and some harder terrain too. Don't like the layout at the bottom there.

Can't go wrong with the 4 Cottonwood canyon resorts. Snowbird is tough - not a place for lower intermediates or beginners because the bailout trails get absolutely hammered. So you end up not bailing as much . Alta is very cool, Soli also nice and less crowded, Honeycomb is moneycomb, Brighton oft overlooked.

I miss em already

There is another recent thread on cheapest trips: http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=71518
But I'm assuming by best value you mean a rare and memorable outing with wife at a fair, but not necessarily low budget price. As mentioned by others, Deer Valley and Sun Valley are two of the pricier US ski destinations, but provide a luxury experience that many folks enjoy.
Some other candidates in that vein are: Beaver Creek, Aspen , Telluride, Vail, Whistler-Blackcomb.

Looking at the cities Southwest Air services it appears that SLC provides best skiing within an hour shuttle bus ride of airport; i. e., Park City areas and Cottonwoods areas. Other cities are 2-3 hours or more from good skiing with rental car probably mandatory; e. g., Boise (for Sun Valley), Denver (for Beaver Creek and Vail), Reno (for Squaw or Heavenly), Albuquerque (for Taos), Seattle (for Crystal Mtn and Whistler-Blackcomb) .

If Deer Valley doesn't break your bank, go for it. Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons are nearby and possibly less expensive alternatives. All provide excellent intermediate skiing and interchangeable ticket. The hub for all three is the resort town of Park City, which is a fun place for a little après ski activity. For these resorts also consider the Quick Start program for a half day of free skiing with same day airline ticket stub. Two other close, but more quiet options for you out of SLC are Alta and Solitude.

if they have the same deal on the ski salt lake superpass as last year, the cottonwoods will be hard to beat for value, i skied there last winter for ~$35 a day. you can also stay in salt lake pretty cheap.

Copper Mountain used to be about the cheapest place in the country for what you're looking for.

How about Winter Park? fly into denver, take "home james" shuttle. 1 1/2 hours to resort. free town bus service thereafter. great intermediate and family skiing. some bad ass skiing too if you feel up to it later. great ski school. you can buy Four pack discount tickets or even get season passes for the adults and 'buddy pass' tix for the kids if you plan to stay a while. better snow reliability than Taos. there are thousands of condo options in WP or neighboring Fraser (all on free bus route) via VRBO.com

You might also consider skiing both Snowbasin and Powder Mountain. I've never been there, but Lakeside Resort Properties has had some deals that caught my eye in the past.
http://www.lakesideresortproperties.com

If by "value" you mean "most bang for the buck" as opposed to "cheapest", Alta's lodges (Peruvian, GMD, Alta Lodge) might warrant some consideration. Not the cheapest places to stay, but the value is enhanced by the fact that you will not need a rental car, and all your meals are included.

Your experience won't include luxury accommodations, hot nightlife, or shopping.It will include meeting people, plenty of good food, and the experience of waking up each morning at one of the world's legendary ski areas. And between Alta and Snow Bird, enough true "bad ass" skiing to last you a lifetime.

+1 on that - considering the total deal those lodges are good value!

Have you tried to book the flight with your points yet?

Considering how hard it is to use frequent flier points for dates you actually want, I'd call the airline first and see where you can actually fly to before getting your heart set on a particular destination. You may be able to get to Denver but not Salt Lake, for example, and your decision could be made for you.

I recently looked for the best value in CO, considering things like airfare (so, it needed to be close to Denver--flying to Telluride or CB or Steamboat=$$$!!), lodging, lift ticket deals, etc etc. I also took crowds into account. I found Copper to be the best value and it seemed like it would have fewer crowds than many other resorts.

Bad ass skiing for intermediate? ;-) It doesn't get any better than DV!

Now, the inexpensive part, is a different story. One "usually" doesn't go to DV to save money...

Solitude sounds more like it, but I've never been. Canyons is not much cheaper than DV either, despite lacking the fame and glitz. And I wouldn't say the skiing is that much more "bad ass" than DV, especially not for an intermediate.

Jackson..... not cheap, but you can't beat the terrain and town atmosphere. If you haven't been on a ski vacation in that long than Jackson should be on your short list for sure.

Bottom line is that SLC sounds like where you want to go. Easy to get to the areas from the airport, lots of choice etc.

DV got one of the Ski mags "#1's" last year because of food, service and grooming . If you want wall-to-wall cordoroy, unremarkable boring terrain, and gaperworld participants(Stratton/Okemo of the west) it's the place to go. It's expensive and caters to the "we only ski groomers" crowd, who are impressed with the food, apparently not having gone to Snowbasin. Check out DV's ads in the mags, full of cordoroy - if that's what you like, there's nothing this side of Beaver Creek that comes close.

The only up side to me is that it's border-free (but so is Alta), but really, if you want real terrain, DV is the last of the areas to consider - yes there's Empire Canyon, and yes, yes, it holds decent snow for a couple of days because the typical DV skier is allergic to non-groomers, but it's not that great in itself - really.

To me, the best of the PC bunch is the Canyons, but no, there's nothing "bad-ass" there either, although compared to DV it's Chamonix. Good tree skiing in Dreamscape, but why they put a fixed grip quad in a new area is beyond everyone I ask .

Snowbasin sounds like what you want, but there's no lodging within about 20 miles of it. Discount tickets at some gas stations. Latest lifts, great terrain, outrageous $15 lunches, no crowds - BUT, it's farther from SLC (outside of Layton), so you'll need a car, and will have to drive daily. You can also go to Powder Mtn in that area, but I wouldn't bother - slowest, oldest lifts to be found in Utah, with flat terrain. Yeah, there's Cat skiing, but it's not that great either.

BCC has Solitude and Brighton which are both nice areas, and of course LCC has Altabird, which are the closest to real skiing in the area. You can stay in Sandy and get a jump on both BCC and LCC, and the discount lift tickets are fairly reasonable.

I have friends that fly into SLC and stay in Sandy. You can get a really cheap room at a national chain hotel, and you are only 30 minutes away from the BCC and LCC resorts. Snowbasin is worth a look. It is about a 45 minute drive from Sandy.
I think this is the first time I have ever heard DV referred to as bad ass. Good luck selling that one.

Uh, this is a pretty old thread to be waking up as your first post, Garrett12.  Did you do this just to post that link?

Pretty sure that's exactly what he did.

Let's hope so, otherwise it was just complete jibberish / nonsense

Nothing gets past you guys ... I mean nothing