Park City, The Canyons and Deer Valley, Utah, USA

Park City is a 45-minute drive west of Salt Lake City, Utah, and by car or ski bus you can quickly reach the nearby ski resorts of Canyons and Deer Valley, each with a different character. Utah has several other ski areas such as Alta, Snowbird and Sundance. The climate makes the snow extremely dry.

Park City

At first glance you might wonder what a couple of tree-covered hills with a few slopes can offer for skiing. After taking one of the sixteen fast lifts up, you understand more, as you can only see about 20% of the run from below. There are a total of eight mountains with a maximum altitude of +3000 meters. Most of the runs are red and more than 30% are black. There are nine bowls for cruelly steep skiing, mainly in birch or spruce forest. And the snow is dry, even when it's above freezing. There are no lift queues even during Christmas and New Year, everyone is friendly and there is plenty of food and service almost everywhere. The slopes are wide and well groomed.

The town itself is fairly authentic but also sadly ordinary, but who cares when the skiing is great.

The Canyons

Above the shabby plastic resort village you will find the long egg lift up among the nine mountains. Already on the way up you understand what gave the ski area its name. There are five bowls and six natural half-pipes, and plenty of other skiing. Almost half of the skiing is black, and when it dumps, Utah's extremely dry snow makes the experience complete. Stay better at neighboring Park City, though.

Deer Valley

Ever played SSX? Maybe mostly for families who have plenty of money, but if you ignore the huge lodges, mountain villas and Disney plastic, you will still find six mountains, 950 altitude meters and 100 slopes that provide very good skiing and great views. For those of us who like to go off-piste, there are six bowls and glade skiing to keep you busy for weeks. The dry snow is indescribable. The resort is one of three in the US that does not allow snowboards(!?) and the only one that has staff to carry your skis to the car(!?) Stay and ski better at neighboring Park City.

The text also published on freeride.se