Utah is one of those special places in North America that is an outdoor adventurer’s dream. With the Mighty 5 National Parks and some of the best ski resorts in the United States, there are so many options.
Heading to Utah, but can’t decide which mountains to visit? These are the best Utah ski resorts to help you plan your winter adventure.
P.S. I purposefully left out the skier only mountains, being a rider myself I can’t comment on those.
Getting to the mountains in Utah
The best airport to fly into to access all the mountains mentioned below is Salt Lake City International Airport. Many will stay right in Salt Lake City because hotels are cheaper and there are lots of food options that won’t break the bank. I would argue that Park City is the better location (with the exception of Snowbasin and Powder Mountain, I would recommend staying in Ogden).
At Park City you have that mountain feel, breweries, and fun dining options. Yes, you will pay a little more, but the vibe is so much better and just a great place to stay and Solitude, Brighton, and Snowbird are only a 45-minute drive from Park City vs 30 minutes from Salt Lake City. Guardsman Pass, which is by far the best and fastest way to get to these three mountains is closed in the winter. You will instead need to head through Salt Lake City on I-80, then I-215 south through either Big Cottonwood Canyon or Little Cottonwood Canyon. But trust me, the drive to those mountains is stunning and totally worth the extra time in the car.
Solitude Mountain Resort
As the name suggests, Solitude is a quiet Utah mountain. It has significantly fewer visitors than some of the bigger mountains like Park City. So, if you want to avoid the big crowds and don’t want to be overwhelmed by too much terrain, Solitude is a great choice.
Solitude is on the Ikon Pass (which I highly recommend if you want to save some money on lift tickets this year) and is a 30-minute drive from Salt Lake City. It has a top elevation of 10,488 ft (3,197 m) with 1,200 skiable acres.
Depending on your ability there is about 10% beginner terrain, 40% intermediate and 50% advanced with 82 different runs to choose from. I didn’t find Solitude to be super challenging to be honest. I thought the trails were a lot of fun and being an intermediate to advanced rider myself, the variety was perfect.
There is not a lot of food options here, but to me it makes it feel less commercialized compared to the bigger mountains like Park City, where the town area plays as much of a role in it’s popularity as the mountain itself.
So, if you don’t want jam packed lift lines and like a bit of solitude this is the perfect way to spend a day.
Brighton Ski Resort
One big surprise for me was how much I loved Brighton resort and how it quickly became one of my absolute favorite mountains in Utah.
Another small Utah mountain located just a short drive down the road from Solitude, and another Ikon pass mountain, that is more family friendly, terrain wise, than its neighbor.
Brighton has an elevation of 10,500 ft and 1,875 vertical feet with 1,050 skiable terrain and gets over 500 inches of snow a season. Of their 66 trails, 21% terrain for beginner skiers and riders, 40% of the terrain is for more intermediate skiers and riders and the remaining 39% is considered for expert skiers and riders. There are some tree runs to play in and you can easily see the whole mountain in one day.
Another spot with very few lunch options but Molly Greens is a great spot for those over 21 years with a cool locals’ vibe and decent food.
Snowbird
If you are looking for more expert terrain and are more of an advanced rider, Snowbird is the mountain for you. I wouldn’t recommend going during “spring skiing” conditions as the lack of snow and bare spots make it quite a bit less enjoyable.
This is a busy mountain, with its connection to Alta ski area (a skier only mountain) bringing in more traffic but it has some cool features.
The mountain itself does not have the look or feel of your typical ski mountain. When I arrived, I wasn’t even sure I was in the right spot at first, it just seemed like I was next to a mountain with some trees on it.
A couple of really unique things to check out while you are there are the tram, which holds like 30 people (it was a bit unnerving to say the least on my first trip up, because, you know, heights), the tunnel between the front and back side and mineral basin.
The tunnel is a magic carpet style walkway that takes about 10 minutes. You enter this tunnel built into the side of the mountain and it’s like a museum with photos and props from a past time, before you are spit out into mineral basin.
Mineral basin is a fun, but extremely popular area, so go early, get a few runs in and head back to the front side. The only green circle terrain you are going to find here are the cross over paths to get to various parts of the mountain, otherwise it’s mostly black diamonds and double black diamonds with the occasional blue square.
The food scene here is fun though, with a couple options for sitting inside or outside. However, some are only open for dinner, so be aware of that.
Park City Mountain Resort
Park City is probably the most popular of the ski mountains in Utah and by far the largest ski resort and for the snowboarders who love terrain parks, Woodward Park City is in close proximity. With a historic downtown area for some of the best apre-ski spots and a massive amount of terrain, it’s a must visit. At least once.
This is an Epic Pass Mountain, because it is owned by Vail resorts, but I still recommend spending a day here. The best deal I have found on the Epic Pass, for like a 2–4-day pass, was during black Friday. At the window you ticket prices are around $250 a lift ticket, but if you get a 4-day Epic Pass on a deal you will be paying as little as $85/day.
This mountain has terrain for literally everyone, but I would recommend picking one area if you only have one day because otherwise you will spend your day on the lifts and not on the terrain.
The Canyons area is a cool spot and unique experience, but not to spend a whole day at. It’s all pretty easy terrain, that has multi-million-dollar homes sprinkled throughout. You will ride over and under bridges and feel like you are just touring around the area, not riding terrain at a ski resort.
This mountain has an elevation of 10, 026 ft and with over 7,300 skiable acres and more than 330 trails you could ride all day and never do the same trail twice. The official breakdown is 8% beginner (which I am surprised to see because I would consider some of their intermediate trails more beginner), 42% intermediate and 50% expert.
Of course, with the historic downtown right there and a trail to ride right into the middle of town, there is a ton of food options, including at the mountain.
Powder Mountain
Known as a “locals mountain” and one of Utah’s best kept secrets (sorry, I may have just let the cat out of the bag so to speak) this northern Utah mountain is for those who like to ride off trail. They only sell at set number of tickets per day, so make sure to book early and one change in 2024 is they will be splitting up the terrain a bit to have private access only areas for people with property at the mountain. The rest will remain the same, though they are upgrading a few of their lifts as well and have dropped their night skiing prices down under $20.
Powder Mountain, like Park City, has some of the most skiable terrain in the country and gets around 300 inches of snow a year, most of which is ungroomed. So, if you are into riding the groomers (and there is nothing wrong with that, I like a groomer on occasion as well) you aren’t going to easily find it here.
Snowbasin Resort
The other mountain that can get overrun with people is Snowbasin, but it’s such a good mountain. It is located close to Ogden, similar to Powder Mountain. So, if you don’t want to stay in Salt Lake City and the other mountains aren’t on the agenda you can do both Snowbasin and Powder Mountain in one go. Though I wouldn’t let the isolation deter you from visiting both the Park City “area” and these two mountains.
Snowbasin got a bunch of money to upgrade its base area and mountain for the winter Olympics several years ago, so the facilities are top notch and as of the 2022-23 ski season, Snowbasin became part of the Ikon Base Plus Pass.
Concluding Thoughts
There are so many options when it comes to snow season in Utah. And the beauty of it is that even in the winter, you can ride one day and then head out for a hike the next with no snow.
That’s just life elevated 😉
