Cover Photo: Matt Stacy
The accessibility of skiing in Utah is second to none. From both downtown Salt Lake City and the airport, you’re within an hour of ten of the best ski resorts in the U.S.
As a freeskier, there’s no time better to enjoy it than spring. By April, the snow gets softer and the multitude of top-notch parks across the state are firing on all cylinders. Spring means softer landings, a bigger variety of features and a chance to mix with some of the best skiers in the game. It’s the perfect storm for anything from throwing your first backflip to perfecting that new double. Oh, and there’s still a good chance of getting a pow day, too.
We were in Utah in early April last season, and it was blower. Slush or pow, either way, it’s a win for progressing your skiing and just having a damn good time. We reckon the ultimate spring road trip takes place in both Cottonwood Canyons and Park City. You can start either in Park City and work your way south, or base yourself in Salt Lake City and travel from there.
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Stop 1: Park City Mountain:
Terrain Parks: 6 (+superpipe & mini pipe)
Stoke Factor: 8
Projected Closing day: Late April
Park City Mountain has been the home of newschool skiing in Utah since the time it was first called newschool skiing. With six terrain parks plus a superpipe and a riotously fun 13ft mini-pipe, there’s something here for everyone from beginners to the world’s elite. Little Kings, Pick Axe and the Transitions Park on the Canyons side provide a fantastic offering for progression. Little Kings is the perfect beginner terrain park with rollers, boxes, and smaller features, while Pick Axe offers everything you could need to take things to the next level. When you’re ready, the world-famous 3 Kings Terrain Park is there to welcome you. The training grounds of some of the best skiers on the planet, it has big jumps and a wealth of rail features. The sky is quite literally the limit here.
306083It’s not a coincidence that so many legendary Newschoolers, 4bi9, Armada, Clownschool (and countless other) edits are filmed in spring at Park City Mountain. March and April in Park City may be the best time and place to ski park on the planet.
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Stop 2: Big Cottonwood Canyon - Brighton:
Terrain Parks: 6
Stoke Factor: 9
Projected Closing day: Mid-may
Brighton is internationally recognizable for its famous tubes. If you have even a passing interest in the freeski scene you will have seen those fat green tubes, which come in all shapes and configurations, on your social media and in countless edits. They’re a big reason a plethora of pros, especially those who are more on the film side, call Brighton home. Why? They’re incredibly fun and provide for easy progression.
Of course, there’s far more to Brighton than just the tubes with fun, slushy jumps and any kind of park feature you can dream up, day or night. Yes, there’s night skiing, too. This past spring saw the inaugural Milly Meltdown, when Brighton shifted its terrain park features to just below the Milly Express Lift, offering park skiers unlimited slushy top-to-bottom park laps for just $129 for the month of May. Pray for snow people, because it’s the park skiers’ dream spring.
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Stop Three: Little Cottonwood Canyon - Alta, Snowbird & Grizzly Gulch
Terrain Parks: 0
Stoke Factor: 10 (turn it up to 11 on a pow day)
Projected Closing days: Alta - Late April, Snowbird - Mid-June, Grizzly Gulch - How brave are you feeling?
Little Cottonwood Canyon is legendary. You can’t spend time in Utah without taking a trip up the canyon. The sidehits alone at both Alta and Snowbird, are more than enough reason enough to make the short drive, and they are all the better with slushy landings to cushion the send. There are no permanent terrain parks, but there’s more than enough opportunity to go BIG deep into the spring.
And for those of you feeling ready to send to the moon, a short tour up Grizzly Gulch takes you into the territory of freeskiing's most legendary gap jumps, and spring is the best time to hit them. Chad’s Gap, Pyramid, and even Leviathan are easily accessible with a quick tour up ‘the Gulch’. Of course, built as gaps they’re only for the best, and craziest of skiers, but the landings make for great training features and there are a ton of other fun hits up there too. Plus there’s always the chance you’ll get to witness a session for the ages.
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