Snowbird Ski Resort
Snowbird Ski Resort is a world-renowned ski destination located in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. The resort boasts over 2,500 skiable acres of terrain and offers a wide variety of runs for skiers and snowboarders of all abilities. The ski season at Snowbird typically runs from November to May, depending on snow conditions.
Annual snowfall at Snowbird is substantial, averaging around 500 inches per year. The resort is known for its deep, light powder snow, which is a favorite among skiers and snowboarders.
In addition to its extensive skiing and snowboarding terrain, Snowbird also offers a number of other features for visitors to enjoy. These include several terrain parks, ski and snowboard lessons, on-mountain dining, and a variety of other activities and events. Snowbird also has a ski and snowboard school, and offers guided tours as well as private ski instruction.
One of the most distinctive features of Snowbird Ski resort is that it offers the longest ski and snowboard season in Utah, with the ski season extending well into May, which is perfect for spring skiing and snowboarding. The resort also has a tram service that take guests to the top of the mountain and offers breathtaking views of the surrounding areas.
We recently ranked all of Utah's ski resorts, so you can see where Snowbird stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Snowbird 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.
Snowbird 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 Snowbird around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Snowbird Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Snowbird has a total of 171 ski trails, which are serviced by 14 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 2,500 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 1,012 hectares, 3.9 square miles, or 10.1 square kilometers.
Snowbird's slopes see on average 500 inches (15.2 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 41 feet every year!
Total Runs
171
Lifts
14
Skiable Acres
2,500(10 km2)
Annual Snowfall
500"(15,240 cm)
Snowbird Ski Resort Elevation
Snowbird Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 11,000 feet, or 3,353 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 7,760 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 3,240 feet (988 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 11,000 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
11,000'(3,353 m)
Vertical Drop
3,240'(988 m)
Base Elevation
7,760'(2,365 m)
Snowbird Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
82.8out 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
Snowbird has 2,500 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Seeing as Snowbird is one of the hardest ski areas in the country, it's no surprise that over 92% of its trails rated as either intermediate or expert-level. This leaves only 8% of its skiable acres as beginner terrain.
Beginner
8%(200 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
25%(625 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
67%(1,675 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 Snowbird Ski Resort good for beginners?
This is one of the hardest ski areas in the country to ski at, so it is not great for beginners. Snowbird Ski Resort ranks in the top 10% of the most-difficult ski resorts in the country. It has 67% of its trails rated as expert, or black-diamond level.
Snowbird Ski Resort Location
Snowbird Ski Resort is located in the state of Utah, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Snowbird, UT.
Address:
Snowbird, UT 84092 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
snowbird.com
GPS Coordinates:
40.58000, -111.65000
Getting to Snowbird Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Snowbird Ski Resort), its coordinates of 40.58000, -111.65000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Snowbird, 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 Snowbird Ski Resort.
| 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 Snowbird.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provo-Utah Lake International Airport | PVU | Provo, UT | 25 mi |
| Ogden Hinckley Airport | OGD | Ogden, UT | 47 mi |
| Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport | RKS | Rock Springs, WY | 152 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Snowbird Ski Resort, 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 Snowbird Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alta | Salt Lake City, UT | 10,550 ft | 53% | 1 mi |
| Brighton | Brighton, UT | 10,500 ft | 53% | 4 mi |
| Solitude | Salt Lake City, UT | 10,035 ft | 53% | 5 mi |
| Deer Valley | Park City, UT | 9,570 ft | 66% | 8 mi |
| Park City Mountain | Park City, UT | 10,000 ft | 76% | 11 mi |
| Sundance | Sundance, UT | 8,250 ft | 58% | 12 mi |
| Woodward Park City | Park City, UT | 6,840 ft | 14% | 12 mi |
| Nordic Valley (Wolf Mountain) | Eden, UT | 6,400 ft | 42% | 34 mi |
| Powder Mountain | Cedar Valley, UT | 9,422 ft | 58% | 41 mi |
| Eagle Point | Huntsville, UT | 10,600 ft | 53% | 47 mi |
| Snowbasin | Orangeville, UT | 9,350 ft | 62% | 92 mi |
| Cherry Peak Resort | Richmond, UT | 7,040 ft | 40% | 93 mi |
| Beaver Mountain | Garden City, UT | 8,860 ft | 43% | 96 mi |
Snowbird Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 11,000 ft |
| Base Elevation | 7,760 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 3,240 ft |
| Trails | 171 (8% Beginner, 25% Intermediate, 67% Expert) |
| Lifts | 14 |
| Skiable Acres | 2,500 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 500 inches |