Ski USA this 2011-12 Winter: Utah
Utah Skiing
Some resorts in Utah have around 12m of ‘champagne powder’ fall per year, and with many resorts within a short distance of each other, it makes visiting multiple resorts easy. Since the Winter Olympic Games were held in Salt Lake City in 2002, many of the resorts have benefited from increasingly developed infrastructure.
Park City and Deer Valley (no snowboarding) are very popular resorts and are only 45 minutes from Salt Lake City International Airport. These resorts claim they have the greatest snow on earth, and they have a right to, Utah is up amongst the best destinations in the world for skiing/snowboarding.
Deer Valley has consistently won awards for the best resort in North America, it is very family friendly and the groomers are so good they are talked about around the world.
Alta ski resort is a favourite amongst many, it is one of the oldest in the US (it also doesn’t allow snowboarding). Take a peek at their Youtube video to get a glimpse of just how good it is. You can access Snowbird from Alta, another popular resort with fantastic snow, the off-piste skiing at Snowbird is raved about.
Brighton is one of the oldest ski resorts in America, and was Utah’s first. It was also the first resort in Utah to allow snowboarders, and it is still a favourite with great terrain parks, natural features and a huge amount of powder. It is a family friendly, good value resort.
The Canyons Resort is a monstrous resort with almost 3,700 acres of terrain. It caters for all abilities however the advanced and expert skier will thoroughly enjoy the challenges here. Because The Canyons is located in the Park City ski area, it is a short drive from Salt Lake City.
As I said in my last article, a USA snow trip this winter is highly recommended due to the high quality snow and the strong Aussie dollar, which has recently fallen just below parity, but still is good value. Everything in the US is supersized and one can easily get by for under $100 a day (excluding lift tix). Consider renting a car as they too are inexpensive and ‘gas’ (commonly known as petrol or fuel) is incredibly cheap especially after becoming used to $1.50/L here in Australia – it hovered around $3 per gallon when I was there earlier in the year which is less than $1/L.
Stay tuned for more from the USA soon.
