Moving to SLC, what pass do I get?

I’ve done a few passes and they all have their ups and downs. These are my experiences. Traffic is a disaster any powder day, parking reservations or not.

Full Ikon
pros- most of your friends will have it

cons- most of the city has it so there is no secret resort to avoid crowds. Supports mega passes.

Alta+Ikon base add on
pros- free reserved parking at Alta. Getting to ski Alta all the time. Can still ride with friends at Solitude and Brighton (unclear if snowbird, I thought it said you don’t get the days there specifically with the Alta version? Can someone clarify?)

cons- your Ikon friends will only want to ski Alta on the perfect day to “not waste their days”, unless you find people with an Alta pass (I never had luck). Snowboard friends can’t ride. Supports mega passes but to a lesser extent than full ikon.

Brighton+Ikon base add on
pros- everyone always wants to ride Brighton. Snowboard friends will have this pass. Free parking reservations at Brighton.

cons- limited to BCC resorts except snowbird, but everyone goes to snowbird with a base pass on a powder day so it’s hard to use those days conveniently. Supports mega passes but to a lesser extent than full ikon.

**This post was edited on Feb 23rd 2025 at 2:26:19pm

**This post was edited on Feb 23rd 2025 at 2:26:57pm

Forgot to add that with an Alta pass you have to deal with Snowbird traffic, which can be 1.5-2 hours to get up.

officechairForgot to add that with an Alta pass you have to deal with Snowbird traffic, which can be 1.5-2 hours to get up.

Appreciate it. Looking at a place in Midvale so figured BCC/LCC would be the best bet over Park City. Unfortunately I'll be joining the weekend warriors club next season and have heard the horror stories about the canyons. This is why I mentioned the Brighton Twilight pass as I'm hoping to get some after work park laps on weekdays.

It's going to be a big change coming from a no traffic 20 minute drive to Copper from Leadville.

jaxfulAppreciate it. Looking at a place in Midvale so figured BCC/LCC would be the best bet over Park City. Unfortunately I'll be joining the weekend warriors club next season and have heard the horror stories about the canyons. This is why I mentioned the Brighton Twilight pass as I'm hoping to get some after work park laps on weekdays.

It's going to be a big change coming from a no traffic 20 minute drive to Copper from Leadville.

Brighton pass does include night riding so it might be your best bet. The base add on is an additional $350 so a good deal overall.

I do a full Alta pass and a woody's pass, add a full Ikon or base add-on if you want to ride other Ikon resorts. Did a few trips the last two years that it paid off for, but this year had nothing planned. I gave up on Brighton as a weekend warrior, not worth the effort when I can roll up to woodys in 15, find some homies, take laps and go home.

Epic is only park city in Utah so not that one

jaxfulI'm relocating from CO to SLC for work and wondering what the move is for passes? I ski a decent amount of big mountain when the snow is good, but like access to a nice park when it's not. My gf will most likely be working for POWDR/Snowbird so I assume I will be able to use a few comps a season through her. I probably have the budget for a full pass (Ikon or Epic) + a cheaper one (twilight, woodies, etc)

Ikon + Brighton Twilight? Ikon + Epic local? Woodies?

Appreciate any input

**This thread was edited on Feb 23rd 2025 at 12:31:12pm

Don't be an ikon-only loser. Get a real pass and have a home mountain. You can get an ikon base pass addon too

As an east coast skier, it seems like you got it pretty good already. I would recommend just getting a season pass somewhere and actually joining a community (idk if the mountains out west are too big for that tho)

jaxfulAppreciate it. Looking at a place in Midvale so figured BCC/LCC would be the best bet over Park City. Unfortunately I'll be joining the weekend warriors club next season and have heard the horror stories about the canyons. This is why I mentioned the Brighton Twilight pass as I'm hoping to get some after work park laps on weekdays.

It's going to be a big change coming from a no traffic 20 minute drive to Copper from Leadville.

As someone who usually only gets to ski on weekends I have to say that although it's very busy and there's a lot of shitheads, there are ways to get around the amount of people that are up there. I ski Brighton and we take lots of sidecountry laps. The laps are long and we are basically cliff hunting the whole time. That makes your lift line to ski ratio much better. Also riding Milly is a lot better than riding crest on a Saturday in terms of lift lines. Unfortunately the park is off of Crest, however you can hike features or still just get some decent laps in usually. It's not always ideal but the busy part of the season is like end of December-beginning of March. As soon as it melts out in the valley enough for people to MTN bike in the spring, the resorts clear out like crazy.

SlushSeasonDon't be an ikon-only loser. Get a real pass and have a home mountain. You can get an ikon base pass addon too

I understand why you might say this, but the IKON pass in Utah is pretty undeniable, you get 7 days to the 5 best resorts in Utah plus unlimited access to the 6th best resort. If you want a bit of everything Utah has to offer, it's the best deal IMO, but it does not really benefit the park skiers.

The ikon add on is a decent option, but you it's only the base pass so no alta or deer valley. this may or may not matter to you.

From what I've heard PC is still the best park these days, woodies seems to be up and down, sometimes I hear its awesome, sometimes I hear its trash. Brighton always has a fun park too, but if you like hitting decent sized jumps you'll need to go to woodies or PC.

Ikon + Epic local is the ultimate move, but it's expensive. Another thing to consider is buying a pass where you may know skiers already, not sure if you have any homies in Utah but in a place like SLC wherever you're skiing with friends is the best place to be IMO. Every resort will be busy, every resort will have some pros and cons.

I believe that Brighton has a Majestic only pass as well that may be worth looking into it's only like $70 for the season and you get the lower half of the park which if you already have an Ikon ain't a bad play. I work at snowbird and you can get a spouse pass from your girl as long as you guys live together, I don't think they ask for marriage certificate. It's pretty common around here for people's roommates to have them.

If you get a spouse pass for snowbird that's really all the big mountain you need for the first season

Ikon base + Woodward monthly in January, February, March.

eheathI understand why you might say this, but the IKON pass in Utah is pretty undeniable, you get 7 days to the 5 best resorts in Utah plus unlimited access to the 6th best resort. If you want a bit of everything Utah has to offer, it's the best deal IMO, but it does not really benefit the park skiers.

The value is great, but so many people not having a home mountain is bad for the culture, bad for the community, and bad for the cottonwoods traffic situation.
It's much better when everyone has their home mountain and has some sort of buy in there. With ikon passes, everyone has an "I'm gonna get mine" mentality, at the expense of everyone else. They don't treat it like their home, instead they swoop in, fuck shit up, and leave. This is especially apparent at Snowbird on a powder day. I've noticed it's not nearly as bad at Alta, where more people are passholders and there's generally more of a community spirit.

Seems like all good advice.

Snowbird used to give a free pass to the employees spouse/partner if they could prove financials.

two year old advice could be out of date. But just get a joint bank with your girlfriend with like 10 bucks in it. Use that as proof to the bird and see if you can snowbird pass for free



someone correct me if that doesn’t fly anymore

**This post was edited on Feb 27th 2025 at 12:34:26am

SlushSeasonThe value is great, but so many people not having a home mountain is bad for the culture, bad for the community, and bad for the cottonwoods traffic situation.
It's much better when everyone has their home mountain and has some sort of buy in there. With ikon passes, everyone has an "I'm gonna get mine" mentality, at the expense of everyone else. They don't treat it like their home, instead they swoop in, fuck shit up, and leave. This is especially apparent at Snowbird on a powder day. I've noticed it's not nearly as bad at Alta, where more people are passholders and there's generally more of a community spirit.

I gotta say I agree with this. If you are gonna spend a season here, there is SO much terrain to ski at any one mountain. You'll never get to all the good off the beaten path areas unless you spend some real time exploring a mountain. Plus it is cool to become a regular and get to actually know a good deal of the people that ski there. do what ever you can to free up your weekdays and get a midweek pass with blackouts. its a complete waste to try to head up on weekends nowadays and you'll never ski good snow that way anyway. Do a different mountain every season and get a woodward pass for your park fix.