Utah Season Pass Suggestions

I would consider joining one of the ski/snowboard clubs on campus to get discounted student passes. One Love is the best. A lot of kids (if they can afford it) go two passes one geared towards a mountain with a good park (Park City is what I did) and the other towards powder (I went Brighton last year but am considering Alta).

I heard last year snow basin had some ridiculous season pass deal. It was something like 200 bucks.

Since you tele you probably don't care about park, so I'm making these recs based off that assumption.

AltaBird- gets all the hype, gets all the snow. But also gets all the crowds. But as a student I'm sure you'd be able to ski mid-week and not fight the Saturday shitshow all the time. Incredible terrain, no park.

Brighton- one of my personal favorite spots. Gets plenty of snow, has a really laid back vibe to it. Some good mini-golf cliff lines right under the chairs that won't require you to traverse all over the place (one of the few knocks on AltaBird is that there's a lot of traversing involved to get to certain spots). Vertical isn't as big, but doesn't get anywhere near as crowded.

I live in Park City and had my pass there last year. Fun for sure, but I don't really ski park much any more and that's kinda the main appeal of PCMR. Canyons has better terrain and backcountry access, but so many idiots leave those gates without any avy knowledge and are very likely to trigger something on top of you so you have to be even more careful than usual.

Snowbasin is kinda the wild card... awesome terrain, great steeps, even a decent park. But kinda out there location-wise. However as someone else said, you can get some really good deals on passes there.

Anything more specific you want just ask and I'll try to answer.

Three main canyons containing resorts :: 1. Parley's Canyon = Deer Valley, PCMR, and Canyons. Mediocre terrain (at best) and the snow isn't nearly as deep. No even close. The resorts are basically the benches of the Wasatch Range, and are at lower elevations. Park skiing is main attraction. 2. Big Cottonwood Canyon = Brighton and Solitude. Snow is deep, and the resorts are empty. Especially Solitude. It's weird. Brighton is a local favorite of the snowboarding scene. Also, it's very difficult to have so much snow in this canyon to the point of having it shut down. Slides and avalanches are also very uncommon in this canyon. 3. Little Cottonwood Canyon = Alta and Snowbird. Snow is even deeper - I've read it's due to the position of these peaks in relation to the Great Salt Lake and the effect that has on the right storm. Snowbird is packed on most days, but on pow days it's out of control. Also, (IMHO) no one goes to Snowbird without the ambition to prove to you that they are better than you. I don't get that feeling anywhere else. The tram line is cut-throat. There's apparently not enough pow to share so everyone is mean mugging everyone else. Again, just my humble opinion. It should be said that the terrain at Snowbird is the steepest and gnarliest. Alta is for skiers only,mans the vibe there is fantastic. Nothing but smiles and high fives from complete strangers on pow days. However, LCC almost always closes when it snows a lot, and waiting in the queu up the canyon can be frustrating. Tis has its advantages too. For example, a lot of people get the news that LCC has been shut down and they bail and head for BCC. Also, you could be one of those dudes that gets stuck up the canyon at one of the resorts, which has epic consequences. If it ain't obvious - I prefer Alta. it's hard to explain, but just go there and you'll see. Or don't! And leave me with more freshies. **Note**I hate the way the iPad cannot format well using web based NS.com