With ski season in full swing and winter break right around the corner, many students are faced with a dilemma: from which ski resort they should purchase a season pass.
This can be a difficult choice, as locations vary in price, quality, size, amenities and pass-holder benefits. In the greater Salt Lake area, students have about seven choices. As such, it seems the decision should depend solely on the pros and cons of different resorts. However, this is usually not the case. As someone who has belonged to the winter sport enthusiast community since early childhood, it is evident that skiing and snowboarding is less about recreation and more of a socially functional activity. So, more often than not, this imperative life choice is consequentially based on social benefits and proximity rather than concrete, tangible characteristics of different resorts. For those of you who are still indecisive, it may help to understand the choice in the context of group pertinence. Three essential resort cliques emerge and are quite similar to traditional ideas pertaining to lunchroom politics. These cliques include the pariah, the elitist and the popular/majority.
First there are the pariahs. The unpopular, infrequently visited, antisocial ski resorts. This means the resident majority (especially the younger demographic) don’t tend to frequent these locations in large numbers. These resorts are The Canyons and Solitude. Once again, the “unpopularity” of these resorts among young and resident skiers is entirely consequential. In fact, both of these locations seem very desirable on paper. The Canyons is one of the more expansive resorts, offering 21 different lifts servicing up to 182 different runs. It has received a total of 31 inches of snow this season and belongs to the “Epic Pass” group of ski resorts across the country, meaning that a particular Canyons pass is also valid in other resorts like Vail, Beaver Creek and Park City Mountain Resort. For college students, pass options at the Canyons range from $400 to $800. Furthermore, the commute from the U is about 30 minutes. Solitude is less impressive, with only eight total lifts, but is fairly affordable and has fair pass rates. Both of these resorts offer great skiing amenities and benefits but little social appeal for the local pass holder.
Next are the elitist resorts. These resorts only allow skiers and are the optimal location if you are looking to be surrounded by old, rich, white people. Along with being more expensive, the atmosphere is somewhat anal-retentive and composed. You’ve guessed it! These resorts are Deer Valley and Alta. However, if you are a skier, Deer Valley and Alta both offer some of the nicest runs and terrain. While these resorts are often perceived as stuck-up and are not the best investments for a frequent social skier, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to snag the day pass Groupons when they come around.
Last, but not least, there are the majority, or the popular resorts. These resorts — Park City Mountain Resort, Brighton and Snowbird — are the cornerstone attractions for the younger skiing and snowboarding communities. The difference in popularity between these three can be attributed to geographic proximity (e.g. If you live in Park City, you go to PCMR; if you live in Salt lake, Brighton or Snowbird are your best bets). This year, something interesting has happened within the Park City social structure. PCMR became a Vail-associated resort, meaning it is now a package deal with its weird cousin, The Canyons. However, since most of the U cohort resides in the greater Salt Lake area, Brighton or Snowbird are the primary choices, the differences between these being that Brighton is in Big Cottonwood Canyon, and Snowbird is located slightly farther south in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Brighton houses six lifts, servicing 66 official runs, and has an extensive “side country” area, along with having a long-standing reputation for a somewhat wild social scene. Snowbird has the most appealing terrain, with five lifts and nearly 170 trails, and has received 69 inches of snow so far this year. Essentially, the decision comes down to these two resorts and can be made individually, based on proximity and general clique association.