Alta Ski Area
Alta Ski Resort is a world-renowned ski destination located in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. The resort is known for its organic small town feel, nostalgic skiing atmosphere (it's one of the oldest in the nation), and an impressive annual snowfall, which averages over 500 inches per season. The snow at Alta is typically dry and powdery, making for excellent conditions (when it actually snows) for skiing and snowboarding.
The ski season at Alta typically runs from mid-November to mid-April, and the resort offers over 2,200 acres of skiable terrain for all levels of skiers and snowboarders to enjoy. While Alta does not have any terrain parks, it is known for its challenging and diverse terrain, which includes a backcountry for off-piste skiing like no other.
There is no night skiing at Alta.
We recently ranked all of Utah's ski resorts, so you can see where Alta Ski Area stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Alta Ski Area is a part of the Ikon Ski Pass network. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all or most of the Ikon-sponsored slopes with it throughout the year, depending on the type of pass you bought.
Alta Ski Area is a part of the Mountain Collective network. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all of the slopes that are also a part of the Collective.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Alta Ski Area around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Alta Ski Area Terrain Overview
Alta Ski Area has a total of 119 ski trails, which are serviced by 6 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 2,200 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 890 hectares, 3.4 square miles, or 8.9 square kilometers.
Alta Ski Area's slopes see on average 536 inches (13.6 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 44 feet every year!
Total Runs
119
Lifts
6
Skiable Acres
2,200(9 km2)
Annual Snowfall
536"(1,361 cm)
Alta Ski Area Elevation
Alta Ski Area has a summit elevation of 11,068 feet, or 3,373 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 8,530 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 2,538 feet (774 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 11,068 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
11,068'(3,373 m)
Vertical Drop
2,538'(774 m)
Base Elevation
8,530'(2,600 m)
Alta Ski Area Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
71.5out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Alta Ski Area has 2,200 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Seeing as Alta Ski Area is one of the hardest ski areas in the country, it's no surprise that over 85% of its trails rated as either intermediate or expert-level. This leaves only 15% of its skiable acres as beginner terrain.
Beginner
15%(330 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
30%(660 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
55%(1,210 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Alta Ski Area good for beginners?
This is one of the hardest ski areas in the country to ski at, so it is not great for beginners. Alta Ski Area ranks in the top 10% of the most-difficult ski resorts in the country. It has 55% of its trails rated as expert, or black-diamond level.
Alta Ski Area Location
Alta Ski Area is located in the state of Utah, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Salt Lake City, UT.
Address:
Salt Lake City, UT 84121 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
alta.com
GPS Coordinates:
40.60000, -111.64000
Getting to Alta Ski Area
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Alta Ski Area), its coordinates of 40.60000, -111.64000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Salt Lake City, UT to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Alta Ski Area.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake City International Airport | SLC | Salt Lake City, UT | 22 mi |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Alta Ski Area.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provo-Utah Lake International Airport | PVU | Provo, UT | 27 mi |
| Ogden Hinckley Airport | OGD | Ogden, UT | 45 mi |
| Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport | RKS | Rock Springs, WY | 151 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Alta Ski Area, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Alta Ski Area.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snowbird | Snowbird, UT | 11,000 ft | 67% | 1 mi |
| Brighton | Brighton, UT | 10,500 ft | 56% | 3 mi |
| Solitude Mountain | Salt Lake City, UT | 10,488 ft | 70% | 3 mi |
| Canyons Village at Park City | Park City, UT | 9,990 ft | 76% | 7 mi |
| Deer Valley | Park City, UT | 9,570 ft | 68% | 7 mi |
| Park City (Park City Mountain) | Park City, UT | 10,026 ft | 76% | 10 mi |
| Park City Mountain | Park City, UT | 10,026 ft | 78% | 10 mi |
| Woodward Park City | Park City, UT | 6,840 ft | 14% | 11 mi |
| Sundance | Sundance, UT | 8,250 ft | 63% | 13 mi |
| Nordic Valley (Wolf Mountain) | Eden, UT | 6,400 ft | 44% | 34 mi |
| Powder Mountain | Cedar Valley, UT | 9,422 ft | 60% | 42 mi |
| Eagle Point | Huntsville, UT | 10,600 ft | 55% | 46 mi |
| Cherry Peak Resort | Richmond, UT | 7,040 ft | 42% | 92 mi |
| Snowbasin | Orangeville, UT | 9,350 ft | 79% | 93 mi |
| Beaver Mountain | Garden City, UT | 8,860 ft | 52% | 95 mi |
Alta Ski Area Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 11,068 ft |
| Base Elevation | 8,530 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 2,538 ft |
| Trails | 119 (15% Beginner, 30% Intermediate, 55% Expert) |
| Lifts | 6 |
| Skiable Acres | 2,200 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 536 inches |