Park City or Salt Lake

dela

dela

Member
Hey me and my brother are looking to take a trip out West this winter to ride. Neither of us have ever been out that way but were set on riding Park City. My question is, were going to fly into Salt Lake, should we get a hotel in Salt Lake or in Park City.

Our first concern is going to be riding but it would be nice if there was some decent bar life, being in Park City and close to the slopes would be great I just want to make sure there will be stuff to do at night.

So any suggestions from the people around Utah? Which city to stay in? What hotel is the cheapest or most bang for your buck? We will most likely be renting a car regardless of where we stay so transportation shouldn't be an issue.

Also, is there anything that would be useful to know about getting to and from the resort that I may not be able to read on the internet?

Thanks!
 
Park City is really accessible, it's a pretty simple drive about 35 miles from the airport so figure about a 45-60 minute drive in the morning if you stay in SLC, or more if you get stuck in traffic. PC is pretty expensive though, I've been trying to find an apartment there for the last month or so and it's very pricey compared to SLC, so I would imagine the hotels or condos for rent would be about the same. Just depends if you want to drive or put out a little more cash to stay in PC.
 
Stay in the south suburbs of SLC (Sandy, Midvale, Cottonwood Heights...) and ski at Snowbird. If you're coming to Utah, come for the big mountain off-piste gnar, not the park. Snowbird owns.
 
Why do you want to ride in Park City? Besides the park. Brighton has a good park but i'm guessing you have a park at home so why not ride Alta/Bird? You'll also find a better night life in Salt Lake
 
I'm merely going off some research that I have done and by the recommendations of my friends. But I guess you're right if we're going to make the trip out we should be chasing the big mountains not to much the park. (I'm not a huge park rider anyway).

I would love to go to Alta but my brother is a snowboarder and I believe they don't allow snow boarders there?

I was planning on making a trip to snowbird for atleast one day. But maybe I'll switch it up and ride mostly snowbird then park city maybe one day.

We're planning on staying five days. Is brighton or deer valley worth hitting up?

Any recommendations on how many days we should ski at each place or which places would be the best to hit up given that I'm a skier and he snowboards?

We're really kind of winging this trip so if anyone has any recomendations that would be awesome. Also, you had recommended staying in the south suburbs, is the nightlife decent?

Thanks for all the help!
 
You are correct that Alta and DV do not allow snowboarders. DV is basically the Vaiol of Utah. Full of rich gapers, mostly just groomers. Not worth going to.

I haven't been to Brighton, it's probably worth checking out for a day though.

If it was up to me, I would say go to Snowbird the first day, go to Brighton the second day, and then assuming you liked Snowbird the most, go there the rest of the days. Or just skip Brighton and only do Snowbird. IMO if you come to Utah you should be coming for Snowbird and Alta, and given that Alta is out, I would strongly recommend spending most of your time at Snowbird. Especially if you like steep and challenging gnarly terrain.

I haven't been to Park City Mountain Resort, but given that it's now owned by Vail, I wouldn't have high expectations for it. And to my understanding it's park-oriented, not off-piste-oriented, and you can do all the park you want when you're not in Utah.

I'm not into nightlife at all so I can't say for sure, but I would guess that you'd have to go into SLC (near downtown) for nightlife. The reason I suggested Midvale, Sandy, and Cottonwood Heights (suburbs south of SLC) is that they are very close to LCC (Little Cottonwood Canyon--Alta and Snowbird) and BCC (Big Cottonwood Canyon--Solitude and Brighton).
 
I see, I appreciate all the help! If we would stay in Salt Lake and drive to the resorts in the morning. Should we expect a lot of traffic during the work week in early January?
 
I feel like you're expecting a city full of tourists that wakes up to ski, and dies down at night thanks to utah's mormon label. Early January is one of the busiest times of the year but for the most part midweek you'll have more than enough of your share of the mountain. Once you find your way around you'll have no problem finding your lines and staying away from a lot of the gaping tourists. The drive is really not bad at all and as soon as you turn into lcc/bcc you'll find like minded individuals that just want to haul ass to the hill. I can't comment for the night life in Park City but Salt Lake's night life is definitely picking up. Being 17 Ive only been into gracie's thanks to coworker connections/claim lol. There's definitely parties on the weekends though and you'll find lot's of places to unwind I know a lot of people like Beer Bar which is downtown and across from Este's pizza which is delicious. That's just my two cents from getting 70 days last year and most of the time being able to find a party thursday-saturday. Stay in SLC and shred the bird. At Brighton you'll also find some great stuff and stashes to be found days after the snow stops falling. Hit up the park in the afternoon to finish off when you've had your share of drops.
 
13166458:dela said:
I see, I appreciate all the help! If we would stay in Salt Lake and drive to the resorts in the morning. Should we expect a lot of traffic during the work week in early January?
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Traffic aside (I have no idea), that brings up a good point about traffic on the actual mountain. I was at PC last season from 18 dec to i think 6th january and on weekends it can get pretty crowded with no parking. get there when it opens, get up high on the mountain and stay off the green groomers and you generally won't have to wait in the half hour lift lines at the bottom
 
13166403:Sh4dow said:
You are correct that Alta and DV do not allow snowboarders. DV is basically the Vaiol of Utah. Full of rich gapers, mostly just groomers. Not worth going to.

I haven't been to Brighton, it's probably worth checking out for a day though.

If it was up to me, I would say go to Snowbird the first day, go to Brighton the second day, and then assuming you liked Snowbird the most, go there the rest of the days. Or just skip Brighton and only do Snowbird. IMO if you come to Utah you should be coming for Snowbird and Alta, and given that Alta is out, I would strongly recommend spending most of your time at Snowbird. Especially if you like steep and challenging gnarly terrain.

I haven't been to Park City Mountain Resort, but given that it's now owned by Vail, I wouldn't have high expectations for it. And to my understanding it's park-oriented, not off-piste-oriented, and you can do all the park you want when you're not in Utah.

I'm not into nightlife at all so I can't say for sure, but I would guess that you'd have to go into SLC (near downtown) for nightlife. The reason I suggested Midvale, Sandy, and Cottonwood Heights (suburbs south of SLC) is that they are very close to LCC (Little Cottonwood Canyon--Alta and Snowbird) and BCC (Big Cottonwood Canyon--Solitude and Brighton).
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I know you are trying to be helpful, but you really know shit about shit and should just stop giving advice.
 
13167580:SkiBum. said:
I know you are trying to be helpful, but you really know shit about shit and should just stop giving advice.
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>implying anything I said is wrong

You're probably a park kid if you disagree with anything I said.
 
traffic isn't that bad. just stay at the motel 6 near Ft Union Blvd(and I think 900 East).

If you can't go to alta, just bounce between snowbird, solitude, and brighton. brighton has night skiing too if you want that (PC does too) PCMR might be worth a day trip, but if I was gonna drive that far from Midvale/Sandy, Id just drive up to Snowbasin or Pow Mtn

For nightlife, hog wallow and A Bar Named Sue are cool (down closer to the south suburbs) but they are all isolated, so dont expect a cool district with a row of bars. Sugarhouse is closer to that. I like Sugarhouse Pub and Campfire, although Im relatively new and haven't been that many place. Downtown is also good. Beer Bar is cool, and you can just walk around and find a bunch of different places.
 
13166458:dela said:
I see, I appreciate all the help! If we would stay in Salt Lake and drive to the resorts in the morning. Should we expect a lot of traffic during the work week in early January?
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crowds will be pretty light mid-week. leave early and get lots of skiing done in the AM if you're worried about crowds. they werent bad at all mid week from what i recall at PCMR last year, but over a few breaks, i avoided skiing there. so make sure its a good week you guys are coming out. would be shitty to fly out just to sit in crowded lift lines.

PC area is going to be more expensive, so id suggest salt lake, not to mention there are tons of great food/drink establishments in the valley at your disposal. hotels on the benches/foothill areas are going to be your best bet, there is a really cool hilton right in cottonwood heights I think next to a ski shop thats like right down the street from tons of good food and cool bars.
 
13169404:DeebieSkeebies said:
crowds will be pretty light mid-week. leave early and get lots of skiing done in the AM if you're worried about crowds. they werent bad at all mid week from what i recall at PCMR last year, but over a few breaks, i avoided skiing there. so make sure its a good week you guys are coming out. would be shitty to fly out just to sit in crowded lift lines.

PC area is going to be more expensive, so id suggest salt lake, not to mention there are tons of great food/drink establishments in the valley at your disposal. hotels on the benches/foothill areas are going to be your best bet, there is a really cool hilton right in cottonwood heights I think next to a ski shop thats like right down the street from tons of good food and cool bars.
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Thanks for all the info everyone!

Could you point me in the direction of this hilton hotel? I searched and can't find a hilton in that area. I found a Hyatt (link below), could this be what you're thinking of?
http://cottonwood.place.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html
 
We're flying into SLC on Sunday. We're staying in a holiday inn express in cottonwood heights till Friday.

My question is, do any locals have any suggestions as far as places to eat, drink , shop, or just check out? Like is there any cool breweries, thrift shops, points of interest that are sweet that you're not going to find on the Internet? Anything that as a local you would recommend to check out to a visitor...

I'd like to see cool shit while I'm there since I probably won't be back for awhile. We don't mind driving around the city, I would like to check it out anyway.

Thanks so much for any feedback.
 
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