# which mountain for season pass in utah?



## damanb (Sep 9, 2011)

Tuan209 said:


> hey guys,
> 
> I just moved to Utah for school, and I am thinking about purchasing season tickets. There are quite a few resorts here in Utah and I am not quite sure what the best option is for me as I have never snowboarded in Utah.
> 
> I am an intermediate level rider that likes to cruise up and down the mountain. I am not into the park stuff. Any input would be great!


Hey, I moved up here for school too. What are you going to school for? And make sure to check out the U of U one love table outside the union between 10A-2P on mon-thur. Crazy big discounts if you join and I think it's only like $15 to join. 

I got my pass to Brighton but I am wanting to learn the park stuff and it is pretty big there. I've been to snowbird once when I visited the school here and loved it for cruising around, plus the bird gets A LOT more snow than most of the other resorts. So that would be a good one for what you want to do. Not sure about any others from personal experience but you'd probably be alright with any of the Cottonwood canyon resorts.


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## mrmidWest (Sep 26, 2011)

been to utah once, and i would kill someone to go back to The Canyons. I usually ride park but i spent maybe 2 hours in the park in 2 days there..


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## WasatchMan (Aug 30, 2011)

Well since you missed out on most of the amazing season pass deals, I would suggest what I did when I first moved here. Try to hit every resort, get a taste for Utah - the right way. That way next season, you can get a great deal on a pass at your favorite resort. Moving to Salt Lake was the best decision I have ever made. I love it here so freaking much...

http://www.skiutah.com/winter/index.html


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## neednsnow (Nov 30, 2007)

Coming from a non-local, I suggest Brighton or Snowbird. At Brighton you'll meet a lot of locals and get into a great scene that'll never let you go. It isn't huge, but it doesn't get the tourist or powder surge that you'll see at Snowbird. Plus, I think the pass is a little cheaper.


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## damanb (Sep 9, 2011)

neednsnow said:


> Coming from a non-local, I suggest Brighton or Snowbird. At Brighton you'll meet a lot of locals and get into a great scene that'll never let you go. It isn't huge, but it doesn't get the tourist or powder surge that you'll see at Snowbird. Plus, I think the pass is a little cheaper.


Brighton pass went up $100 on Sept 15 but it still isn't that expensive. The season pass right now is $600 which includes a season pass for the UTA ski bus as well so you can use less gas getting up there.

If you follow the advice about trying different resorts to sample for next year, check out the outdoor adventure club on campus. I've heard they sell crazy discounted lift tickets..


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## snowvols (Apr 16, 2008)

Pshh hitchhike at the bottom who cares about the dumb bus. Snowbird and Brighton get the same amount of snow. Snowbird will show more since they are open for several months longer. Since you enjoy just cruising and aren't really into park don't forget Solitude. That is a great mountain and doesn't have the lifts that snowbird has. It is pretty steep too, but the front side gets pretty bumped out if it hasn't snowed in a couple days.


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## hikeswithdogs (Sep 23, 2011)

Just got ours at Brighton, cheaper just as much snow as snowbird but way less crowded really really great backcountry access.

Then you can get a solitude "epass" deal so you can pay for single lift rides instead of a full day or season pass and ride the awesome Honeycomb canyon sidecountry area and then work your way back to Brighton proper through the side country\connector runs.


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## Tuan209 (Dec 26, 2008)

thanks guys!

I moved to utah for dental school, and so far, I like it here . 

Cant wait for the snow season so i can get out and go boarding. 

I think I am going to try all the mountains or just get a season pass to Canyons.


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## damanb (Sep 9, 2011)

Tuan209 said:


> thanks guys!
> 
> I moved to utah for dental school, and so far, I like it here .
> 
> ...


Out of those two options I'd say try all of them..

Canyons has a pretty expensive pass for a much shorter season than the resorts in the cottonwood canyon area.


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## WasatchMan (Aug 30, 2011)

Tuan209 said:


> thanks guys!
> 
> I moved to utah for dental school, and so far, I like it here .
> 
> ...


Unless you're really into park riding, I would avoid the canyons... 

The canyons was a huge disappointment to me, they barely get any snow as well....


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## neednsnow (Nov 30, 2007)

I'm going to echo the common sentiment and boo on The Canyons. It is great if you are visiting for a short period of time or you have a place right there, but if you're commuting from SLC/Provo......umm, I'd select a different mountain to call home, personally.


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## snowvols (Apr 16, 2008)

Canyons has good hike to terrain. Also they will have a bus service going from SLC to PC this year for the first time. I find it funny the Canyons averages over 350" and people say they don't get much snow. How much to the Summit county resorts in CO get? The terrain might not be as steep but still plenty to choose from.


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## Tuan209 (Dec 26, 2008)

I really want to get a pass for snowbird, but I will be going with a few classmates that have never gone snowboarding/skiing before. They dont want anything too steep.

I qualify for student discounts to all the resorts, so a season pass is about 500-700, which isnt too bad.....

Which resort has long, wide open trails?


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## hikeswithdogs (Sep 23, 2011)

Last winter big\little Cottonwood canyons got around 730 inches of snow, I think PC resorts got around 520.

Favorite SLC\PC resorts in order
Brighton
Snowbird
Solitude
Park City
The Canyons

Have been the the Canyons twice, 

-Too much leather and fur for my taste($Richie Rich$)
-Expensive Food\Drinks
-lots of housing\condos on\near hill
-Mostly groomed runs
-Have to drive from SLC--30+ minutes
-Vacationers\Tourists\Families
-More skiers
+Great Park
+Near Park City city(very cool)
+Very nice lifts\facilities
South Facing??

Brighton is our favorite because it's lots of locals and laid back folks, no uber fancy shops or restaurants, no lift lines,cheaper day\season tickets, lots of variety, open boundary policy, also it's right next door to Solitude and you can ride back and forth between the 2 resorts with a Solitude ePass.

Snowbird has lots of uber epic\steep terrain and backcountry access and is rated in teh top 5 resorts in teh country every year, most pow in Utah, lots of bells and whistles and the tram of course, but it's more crowded and more expensive, plus there's ton of super hard core skiirs riders there so the good terrain seems to get ridden out quickly where as solitude has freshies sometimes DAYS after a storm.


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## hikeswithdogs (Sep 23, 2011)

Tuan209 said:


> I really want to get a pass for snowbird, but I will be going with a few classmates that have never gone snowboarding/skiing before. They dont want anything too steep.
> 
> I qualify for student discounts to all the resorts, so a season pass is about 500-700, which isnt too bad.....
> 
> Which resort has long, wide open trails?


Snowbird is STEEP and lots of high level of difficult runs , I would go to Brighton or Solitude great variety where riders of dissimilar abilities can hang together.


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## WasatchMan (Aug 30, 2011)

snowvols said:


> Canyons has good hike to terrain. Also they will have a bus service going from SLC to PC this year for the first time. I find it funny the Canyons averages over 350" and people say they don't get much snow. How much to the Summit county resorts in CO get? The terrain might not be as steep but still plenty to choose from.


Yeah in comparison they do get a lot of snow compared to out of state resorts.

I only said that because every powder day I always ( at least used to) check the canyons snowfall total because their terrain looks like a lot of fun and there is TONS of it to be had, and the powder will last all day. But it just always seems like they never get anything decent over night. Snowbird/Brighton will get like 12" and i'll check the canyons and it's like 3-4"... I just always get let down. Frustration has caused me to give up on the Canyons.

I also really don't understand how the snowfall totals can be that different. I mean some of the chairlifts at the canyons BORDER big cottonwood... that always confused me.


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## snowvols (Apr 16, 2008)

But you gotta remember on those 3-4" days wind can be a key thing. Look which way the wind was blowing with the speed to determine the loading that could have occurred. Yes, loading can be bad in the BC but at a resort a 3-4" snow day could be over the head blower if the wind cooperates. Or a 12-16" snowfall could be completely miserable all depending on the wind that occurred during and after the storm. 

The altitude plays a big factor in the amount of snowfall for sure. The PC resorts are a lower altitude which is awesome for spring days. Last year PC closing day Brighton was bulletproof and just miserable so we went to PC and it was sunny and super slushy.


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## snowvols (Apr 16, 2008)

hikeswithdogs said:


> Last winter big\little Cottonwood canyons got around 730 inches of snow, I think PC resorts got around 520.
> 
> Favorite SLC\PC resorts in order
> Brighton
> ...



The vibe at the bird blows huge balls compared to Brighton. Also snowbird is a dump once you get away from the base. I just feel Dick Ass err I mean Dick Bass could spend money upgrading the overall mountain instead of the base and building better condos/hotels. Or instead of blowing all of his money on wanting to build a roller coaster at the bottom of Sup I mean WTF? I am glad that was shot down. Now Alta wants to have Grizzly lift accessed soon Sup with will be lift accessible which is lame. 

The tram they are talking about building between Solitude and the Canyons is super frustrating as well. Wasatch is already crowded I would hate for them to limit even more BC terrain.


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## hikeswithdogs (Sep 23, 2011)

snowvols said:


> The vibe at the bird blows huge balls compared to Brighton. Also snowbird is a dump once you get away from the base. I just feel Dick Ass err I mean Dick Bass could spend money upgrading the overall mountain instead of the base and building better condos/hotels. Or instead of blowing all of his money on wanting to build a roller coaster at the bottom of Sup I mean WTF? I am glad that was shot down. Now Alta wants to have Grizzly lift accessed soon Sup with will be lift accessible which is lame.
> 
> The tram they are talking about building between Solitude and the Canyons is super frustrating as well. Wasatch is already crowded I would hate for them to limit even more BC terrain.


I know all the media\reviewers RAVE about snowbird and NO DOUBT there's some epic terrain there, if you can be there on like a Wed morning with 12 inches of fresh and do laps using the tram you can probably get in a awesome 20k vertical foot day, I need to spend some more time there with someone who knows the place to get a better idea as the gnarliest I've gotten there is the chutes down below the black forest but honestly I'm so happy with the Brighton\Solitude terrain\snow that I just don't have much motivation to drive up to PC or Little cottonwood, who knows this being my first non-tourist season maybe I'll change my mind and if the gets employee passes at Snowbird I'll be taking pow days off work to ride it.

I get what your saying about the base area versus the upper mountain, I just figured they did that on purpose to keep the idiot tourists\families off of the summit and upper areas, they probably spent all their money propping up Alta and building that stupid tourist tunnel.

I have mixed feelings about the connector tram(between Solitude and the Canyons) on one hand it would be insane to have the 4 resorts and all the side country between them connected(largest ski area on the world) but the other part of me doesn't' want all those Park City\Snowbird people at Brighton\Solitude where I like the "vibe" and little to no crowds.


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