If you’re looking for advice on whether Park City or Snowbird is best for you, you’re in luck!
Over the years, I’ve taken multiple trips to each of these two mountains, and I may be more familiar with them and their ski towns than just about any of the other 22+ ski resorts I’ve visited.
From first hand experience, I know that these two mountains are near in location, but miles apart in their vibes, terrain type, and in my opinion, ideal visitors.
Read on for my detailed (and honest!) comparison between Park City and Snowbird.
Contents
Location
Both Park City and Snowbird are located near Salt Lake City, less than 45 minutes from the airport.
As the crow flies, they’re less than 10 miles from each other. Except, there’s just one problem – there’s a huge mountain range between them! So, to drive from one resort to the other takes at least an hour.
In other words, reading this article just got even more important, because most visitors don’t have the time or patience to hit both spots in one trip!
Ease of Access
Although the travel times from SLC are similar, Park City is definitely the easier mountain to get to.
Snowbird sits within Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon. This is a narrow, box canyon with only one way in and one way out. Did I mention it’s also one of the most avalanche prone roads in the United States?
In other words, driving to Snowbird is no joke. Personally, I think most Snowbird visitors would be wise to abandon the rental car entirely and instead hire a shuttle or ride the bus. I talk about this in my detailed guide for how to get to Snowbird.
By comparison, getting to Park City is as easy as it comes for ski resorts. You can either rent a car and take an easy drive, hop on a few different bus options, grab a reasonable shuttle, or even take affordable Ubers/Lyfts. You can see the pros and cons of all these options in my guide for how to get to Park City.
Ski Towns: Park City vs. Snowbird
The ski town atmosphere is completely different between Snowbird and Park City.
And personally, I think Park City has to be the clear winner in this category.
Park City is one of the all-time great ski towns in North America, and possibly the world. It’s a real, historic town with a rich history, and recently, an impressive collection of restaurants, breweries, distilleries, bars, and shopping.
Simply put, if you’re imagining a day of skiing followed by an evening of entertainment in an idyllic mountain town, it doesn’t get any better than Park City. (All of this made even more iconic by the resort’s chairlifts that run right onto Main Street!)
Snowbird, by comparison, is a totally different ski town experience. Since the resort sits in a narrow canyon, the only development in the area is limited to the resort itself. While they’ve done a great job building up a wide range of restaurants and attractions, you just won’t find the sheer array of options as you will at Park City.
Instead, everything at Snowbird is owned by the resort. So while Park City boasts brand name shopping, authentic bars and saloons, and unique restaurants, Snowbird is limited to mountain gift shops, hotel bars, and resort restaurants.
The vibes can be summed up as the difference between a charming mountain town (Park City) and a world class mountain retreat (Snowbird).
I love both, but I’m also more tolerant of sleepy ski towns than most. I suspect the average ski vacationer will much prefer the bustling scene at Park City.
Mountain Vibe / Atmosphere
As far as the vibe on the mountain itself, the two are again completely different.
Snowbird is a mecca for expert powder skiers and boarders. On your typical lift ride up the mountain, you can expect to hear conversations focused around snow conditions and which chute or cliff is skiing best.
Park City, on the other hand, caters much more to families and casual vacation-goers, so the discussions about double black diamond steeps are usually replaced with dinner plans, travel arrangements, and the like.
Scenery
I always say that if you blindfolded a first time visitor and dropped them off at Park City and then Snowbird, they might not even realize they’re in the same state, let alone just a couple miles from each other.
Park City’s scenery overlooks gradual, rolling mountains and flat, beautiful open vistas.
Snowbird, on the other hand, stares at a wall of the jagged and dramatic mountains lining the Little Cottonwood Canyon, plus glimpses of Salt Lake City off in the distance. I’ve heard Snowbird described as the closest you can get to the look of the Swiss Alps in America, and based on the sheer steepness of the peaks surrounding the resort, I can see the comparison.
Personally, I find that Park City’s scenery pales in comparison to the dramatic sights at Snowbird.
Crowds
Both places can get crowded, but in my experience, Snowbird is less busy overall.
Park City is a crown jewel in the Vail portfolio, and this status means that you can expect lift lines just about all day every day.
Snowbird also gets some noticeable lift lines, although those lines are mostly caused by the feeding frenzy of eager locals who drive up from Salt Lake City any time there’s a powder day. Outside of this total chaos, Snowbird on a non-powder day is usually relatively tame.
Snow at Park City vs. Snowbird
This one isn’t even close. By any metric, Snowbird gets nearly double the snow as Park City.
While Park City’s snow totals are still respectable among typical ski resorts, Snowbird’s privileged location makes it a total outlier, and legitimately one of the snowiest places on earth.
(To get specific, the snowiest parts of Park City averages about 300 inches of snow per year, with much of the mountain receiving less, while nearly all of Snowbird averages over 500 inches.)
Terrain Comparison
In keeping with the trend, the skiable terrain at Park City and Snowbird is also completely different.
Park City vs. Snowbird for Beginners
Park City is definitely the better beginner’s mountain.
Snowbird is not a beginner’s spot. Outside of a bunch of cat-tracks, there’s basically one green run on the entire mountain, and it’s accessed by an old, slow chairlift. (I’m talking about Middle/Lower Emma… technically the Baby Thunder and Chickadee lifts offer a few more greens, although none of them amazing.)
Park City, on the other hand, has plenty of green runs that shoot all across the mountain. This means a beginning skier could legitimately tour the mountain, taking in lots of different views in the process. Even better, Park City has a number of easier blue runs, too, which makes for a good progression for those starting out.
(This sort of progression would be basically impossible at Snowbird – the blues jump up in difficulty very quickly.)
Park City vs. Snowbird for Intermediates
Again, Park City is a better mountain for intermediates.
If Snowbird isn’t a beginner mountain, it also isn’t much of an intermediate’s mountain, either.
An intermediate skier looking at Snowbird’s trail map might find themselves scared off by the frequency of black runs. And in reality, finding those wide, long open blue groomers is a challenge at Snowbird, for a few reasons:
- There’s just not that many of them. This mountain is steep, which means moderate blue terrain is a rarity.
- Snowbird’s frequent dumps and powder days mean that those few groomers are often overtaken by copious snowfall, which starts the day as more technical powder skiing and ends the day as a challenging mogul field.
Park City’s trail map, by contrast, has more blue runs than you’ve probably ever seen. And in reality, most of these blues ski just as moderate as their trail map designation. (Many even easier.)
Park City vs. Snowbird for Advanced Skiers
Now this is where Snowbird starts to pull ahead.
At Snowbird, nearly the entire mountain is covered in black diamond terrain. But more interesting? This challenging terrain is also accessible off nearly every run. Meaning you can be taking a blue groomer, and at any time jump into a steeper black diamond or venture off into a challenging mogul field.
Park City also has a wide variety of black diamond terrain, although in general I don’t find these runs quite as interesting as the endless steeps and bowls all over Snowbird.
Park City vs. Snowbird for Expert Terrain
Park City does bring Jupiter bowl, and as amazing as Jupiter can be, it’s basically just a teaser of what you can find at Snowbird.
Snowbird’s jagged peaks shoot out of the earth with a fury, and it means that the whole mountain is packed with steeps, chutes, cliffs, jumps, and bowls. For steep and extreme terrain, there’s very few places in America that compare.
This isn’t really a knock on Park City as much as it is a showcase of Snowbird’s uniqueness.
Final Thoughts
Most of SlopeLab’s ski resort comparisons come down to splitting hairs over similar mountains, but Park City vs. Snowbird is one instance where the two mountains are totally different.
In the end, it really comes down to what sort of experience you’re looking for.
- If you’re a powder-hound looking to ski steep terrain all day and then relax in a world-class mountain resort, then you’ll probably feel more at home at Snowbird.
- If, on the other hand, you’re a beginner to intermediate skier or you prioritize the mountain town experience just as much as the skiing itself, then you’ll love Park City.
In either case, these are two of the most popular ski resorts for a reason!