I’ve been going out to Salt Lake City pretty consistently for the past 5 years, at least once a season, to indulge in what could arguably be the best snow in the world. Over that time I’ve learned a couple things that are worth sharing.
- It’s cheap to fly there. Real cheap. Typically it’s about $200 round trip from Chicago to SLC depending on who you fly with. Add in taxes and the cost of shipping your board both ways and it will realistically cost you around $250. Compare that to $450 to Reno or $600 to Aspen or Vail and there’s just no question. Check expedia.com and try not to travel on heavy days like Fridays and Mondays and you should find some great deals.
- They have the largest variety of resorts within less than 1 hour of the airport. Sure Reno has Mt. Rose and Aspen has the Highlands, Snowmass and Buttermilk, but SLC has an incredible variety of resorts like The Canyons, Park City, Brighton, Solitude, Alta, Snowbird and more all within 30-45 minutes of the airport.
- Buy discount tickets. Utah Ski & Golf has a great selection of discounted tickets for sale right downtown SLC. You can ride most resorts all day, any day for just over $50. In some cases that can save you up to $40 in a single day.
- The Park City area is nice because it has plenty of infrastructure to house and distract you while not on the mountain, but Park City gets the least amount of snow of all the resorts. Check SkiUtah.com for an honest daily listing of snow reports. Just this past Sunday the Canyons got 1″ of new snow, whileThe Wasatch Mountains get crazy dumped on consistently that last week of March every year. Last year I was out there for 7 days and they got at least 1 foot of snow 5 of those 7 days and that storm kept up the week after I left. Now, granted, this is an el nino year and snow has been pretty scarce everywhere, but if I were a gambling man I would still put all in that the last week of March is the perfect time to hit your favorite resort or two in the Wasatch Mountains.
- For the past few years the Canyons has been running a great deal during that last week of March and first week of April. $200 gets you lodging, 2 lift tickets and 2 breakfasts every day. So far I have not seen them advertising this deal for this year though, the closest being the Ski Free & Breakfast, but you only get that deal if you rent one of their suites that start at $350. Not as good of a deal. I’m going to keep my eyes open and I’ll shout if I see that deal come up. It’s kind of a bummer because then you’re stuck riding the Canyons the whole time you are there, but the price and convenience is just real hard to beat. Plus, if you’re staying at the base of the mountain, no storm, even the one as epic as last season’s that shut down 80 up to Kimball Junction, can keep you off the mountain.