This post is brought to you by Utah, home of The Greatest Snow On Earth® and was featured in the Salt Lake Tribune on January 7, 2014. With 11 ski resorts less than an hour from Salt Lake City International Airport, theres plenty of powder for the perfect ski vacation.
Alta
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $79
- Skiable acres: 2,200
- Vertical feet: 2,020
- Number of named trails: 116
- Number of lifts: 7
- Number of snowboarders found on this mountain: 0
- Snow thats already fallen on the hill this year: 130+
Beaver Mountain
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $45
- Skiable acres: 828
- Vertical feet: 1,600
- Number of named trails: 48
- Number of lifts: 4
- Number of generations of Seeholzers youll find working on this mountain at any given time: 3
- Number of years the Seeholzers have been running Beaver Mountain: 64 and counting
Brian Head
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $54
- Skiable acres: 650
- Vertical feet: 1,370
- Number of named trails: 71
- Number of lifts: 8
- Number of resorts with a higher base elevation (9,600?) in Utah: 0
- Cost for spending the entire day launching your fragile body into the only inflatable air bag in the state: $20
Brighton
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $68
- Skiable acres: 1,050
- Vertical feet: 1,745
- Number of named trails: 62
- Number of lifts: 6
- Number of terrain parks on the mountain: 6, plus a bonus halfpipe
- Number of girls-only parks on the mountain: 1
- Year Brighton opened with a rope tow: 1936, making it the first resort in Utah
Canyons
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $86
- Skiable acres: 4,000
- Vertical feet: 3,190
- Number of named trails: 182
- Number of lifts: 19
- Number of terrain parks on the mountain: 4, plus 6 natural halfpipes
- Length in feet of Boxzilla 2013, a continuous, face-schmearing jib set up last spring: 19
Deer Valley
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $108
- Skiable acres: 2,026
- Vertical feet: 3,000
- Number of named trails: 101
- Number of lifts: 21
- Number of crab legs youre legitimately allowed to eat at the legendary Seafood Buffet: As many as you can handle
Eagle Point
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $48 on Fridays and Saturdays ($25 on Thursdays and Sundays)
- Skiable acres: 600
- Vertical feet: 1,500
- Number of named trails: 40
- Number of lifts: 5
- Average sunshine-y days each year: 320
Park City
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $107
- Skiable acres: 3,300
- Vertical feet: 3,100
- Number of named trails: 116
- Number of lifts: 16
- Number of years in the snow biz: Hitting the big 5-0 this year
Powder Mountain
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $65
- Skiable acres: 7,000
- Vertical feet: 2,205
- Number of named trails: 154
- Number of lifts: 4
- Price for a snowcat ride up Lightning Ridge to hit over 700 acres of powder: A measly $18
- Minutes of hoofing it up from Lightning Ridge to James Peak for the best, least-tracked-out powder bowls youve ever seen in your entire life: 20-30
- Regrets: 0
Snowbasin
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $82
- Skiable acres: 3,300
- Vertical feet: 2,950
- Number of named trails: 104
- Number of lifts: 9
- Terrain parks available on the mountain: 7, 4 of which are pocket parks
- Number of Yelp reviewers who made a point to mention their incredibly fancy bathrooms: 7
Snowbird
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $92
- Skiable acres: 2,500
- Vertical feet: 3,240
- Number of named trails: 98
- Number of lifts: 11
- Length, in miles, of the longest run: 2.5, Chips Run
- On-mountain eateries: 15 restaurants, 5 bars
Solitude
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $74
- Skiable acres: 1,200
- Vertical feet: 2,047
- Number of named trails: 65
- Number of lifts: 8
- Lift lines to speak of: 0
Sundance
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $61
- Skiable acres: 450
- Vertical feet: 2,150
- Number of named trails: 42
- Number of lifts: 4
- Classes daily in drawing and painting, pottery, jewelry-making, photography, and printmaking: 3
- Resident glass-blowers: 2
Wolf Mountain
- Cost for an adult one-day lift ticket: $36
- Skiable acres: 110
- Vertical feet: 1,000
- Number of named trails: 22
- Number of lifts: 3
- Acres of terrain park: 20
Epic stats that will make you want to strap in NOW
- Total skiable acreage in Utah: 29,214
- Amount of said area thats considered advanced: 10,272 acres
- Total number of named trails: 1,221 (With the average length of season hovering around 140 days, you could feasibly ski every single day of the season in Utah without ever having to repeat a trail.)
- Cumulative vertical feet you can careen down on skis in the entire state of Utah: 31,117 (Thats about 25 Empire State Buildings.)
- Longest run in Utah: Park Citys Homerun at 3.5 miles
- Number of parks and pipes in Utah: 36
- On the front page of the Google best ski resorts search results, number of times youll find a Utah resort name-dropped in the piece: 9 out of 10 (One list mentioned 6 different Utah resorts; the piece that failed to mention a Utah resort was titled Best ski resorts for non-skiers, so )
Getting here
- Number of cities offering direct flights to SLC: 92
- Number of resorts within a 55-mile radius of the airport: 11 (Which adds up to 27,136 skiable acres accessible in an hour or less once youve liberated your gear from the baggage carousel.)
- Closest resort to the tarmac: Snowbird, at 29 miles away (This means that if you hopped on a plane at 7am in New York City, youd find yourself standing at the top of a slope at Snowbird by noon on the same day.)
Cost
- Average cost for a gallon of gas in Salt Lake City: $2.98 (At 23mpg, itll cost you approximately $3.76 to get to Snowbird. You paid more than that for a croissantwich at the airport.)
- Cheapest lift ticket in Utah: Eagle Points $25 ticket on Thursdays and Sundays gets you access to 600 skiable acres. Every other day, head to Wolf Mountain for a $36 ticket.
Apres
- Number of ski-in/ski-out distilleries in Utah: 1
- Number of ski-in/ski-out distilleries anywhere else in the world: 0
- Number of other bars and restaurants in Park City that will serve you despite your clompy ski boots and soggy clothing: At least 99
- Average score of the top 40 Utah beers on RateBeer.com: 95.99
- Number of Utah beers that snagged medals at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival: 5
- Excuses needed to drink local: 0
- And if youd rather skip the apres ski and go straight for more skiing, number of resorts open for night skiing and riding: 6