Utah Recommendation for week before Christmas - Utah?

[Joeski]

Edit: I'm open to other options if conditions aren't worth it

I'm thinking about visiting a friend in New Mexico for Christmas and noticed the flights go through Salt Lake City. I've never been there (or anywhere in the West) and I've also never travelled to go skiing (I lived in VT) so I thought I'd ask.

I most likely can't afford to stay slope side (at least not at Alta or Snowbird where I just checked.) I'm thinking of skiing the Mon, Tues, and Weds before Christmas but that can be flexible.

I'm single and an expert skier by East Coast standards. My favorite skiing is narrow, steep, windy trails, and I like bump runs. I don't like tight trees but wide open glades are fine. And I like 'big' so I can just get lost on an adventure and see where it leads.

So far I looked a little at Alta and Snowbird. It seems like Alta is more quaint and maybe diverse, but Snowbird is bigger with better access. I would probably choose Snowbird for the better access and higher trail count, but I guess you can ski both over a few days? Should I look elsewhere?

Thank you so much for reading and any suggestions!

 

[martyg]

It is going to be a crap shoot. 60's through the Intercontinental mtns, up into MT this week. Could it turn around? Yeap. However all of CO is very dry, very brown. There is a system that may hit us around the 10th. That could mean that 60 degree highs are 40 degree highs. Or it could mean feets of snow. For the foreseeable future, night time temps are too warm to make snow.

Adjust your expectations. Maybe Plan B is mtn biking.

 

[Pajarito-bred]

Unfortunately, unless the weather pattern changes, the best question to ask is "who has the best snowmaking?" And that might be Deer Valley- If you have an Ikon Pass. Mid-Dec this season at Snowbird, you're likely to be skiing hard-pack man-made on groomers past all those great-but-rocky steeps and planning a return trip for later in the season when the more-awesome parts of the mountain are skiable.
The mountain biking plan B might be in the cards for NM too.

There are plenty of good cheap places to stay in SLC, a great one for skiing either of the Cottonwood Canyons is Crystal Inn, in Mid-valley. It's on the bus line, which is free to ride if you have an Ikon pass. Crystal not only has free breakfast, but free dinner too! (College dining hall quality, at best, but hey...)

Beware, as we were driving thru SLC last season, googling "Crystal Inn" while approaching the city is likely to get you to a consolidator site, not the actual hotel. There is more than one location, and we realized the guy was who-knows-where-in the-world, unfamiliar with the actual hotel, hoping to get his cut, while charging us extra. It may take some searching to get the actual front desk.
(We were ending up a long drive from Jackson, and planning to stay at the downtown Crystal Inn, while farther from the resorts, is a whole lot closer to Red Iguana for dinner, just as good a reason to visit SLC as the powder.)

 

[martyg]

Unfortunately, unless the weather pattern changes, the best question to ask is "who has the best snowmaking?" And that might be Deer Valley- If you have an Ikon Pass. Mid-Dec this season at Snowbird, you're likely to be skiing hard-pack man-made on groomers past all those great-but-rocky steeps and planning a return trip for later in the season when the more-awesome parts of the mountain are skiable.
The mountain biking plan B might be in the cards for NM too.

There are plenty of good cheap places to stay in SLC, a great one for skiing either of the Cottonwood Canyons is Crystal Inn, in Mid-valley. It's on the bus line, which is free to ride if you have an Ikon pass. Crystal not only has free breakfast, but free dinner too! (College dining hall quality, at best, but hey...)

Beware, as we were driving thru SLC last season, googling "Crystal Inn" while approaching the city is likely to get you to a consolidator site, not the actual hotel. There is more than one location, and we realized the guy was who-knows-where-in the-world, unfamiliar with the actual hotel, hoping to get his cut, while charging us extra. It may take some searching to get the actual front desk.
(We were ending up a long drive from Jackson, and planning to stay at the downtown Crystal Inn, while farther from the resorts, is a whole lot closer to Red Iguana for dinner, just as good a reason to visit SLC as the powder.)

Second Red Iguana! Great call.

 

[Tony]

Alta sounds like they are doing well. Snowbird and rest of UT are not. See https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/threads/alta-ut-opening-weekend-11-25-28-2021.14445/