Utah ski resorts offer fun escape from heat

SALT LAKE CITY — When the snow melts and tourists have packed up their ski gear and left town, Utah's 13 ski resorts have an economic challenge on their hands.

For six months of the year, the "greatest snow on Earth" is gone, and resorts have to keep business afloat in a desert summer.

Sure, there's the cursory hiking and biking, but ski resorts have to be creative with their offerings to entice people to visit dry ski runs.

At Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon, the ski lift operator now manages a winding, 1,300-foot alpine slide.

"We've made a very conscious effort to add more and more activities every year and carve out a niche as a summer ski resort," said Jared Ishkanian, Snowbird's director of public relations. "The locals really seem to love it. When we tell people our name, we say we're Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. It's a rebranding effort in the last 10 years, and I think it's worked out really well."

Over the past decade, the resort has built a zip line and ropes course and has added horse and ATV rides in nearby Mineral Basin.

Skiing purists

Compare that with Alta Ski Area, the smaller skiers-only mountain just two miles up the road, where summers are quite bare.

"We don't make any money in the summer," said Onno Wieringa, the resort's general manager.

"For a start, our snow isn't all melted. It's just finally getting to the point where you can get up and over all the passes," Wieringa said. "It always takes awhile for the snow to melt. Then, in six weeks, the kids are back to school, and the summer is over. We've never evolved to having a summer economy here."

That's the difference between ski areas and ski resorts, he said. A few restaurants are open for events and Sunday brunches, but with no lodging, that's the extent of commercial business at Alta.

So Alta just keeps a core group of year-round employees to maintain lifts and gear up for a November opening. Alta makes up for the lack of summer business in the winter, though, as Altabirds flock at the first sign of winter.

"We try to stick to pure skiing. It works pretty darn good for us," Wieringa said.

Local market

Summer is all about locals for the resorts. No longer a destination spot with fresh powder for out-of-state tourists, the target market is the Wasatch Front.

"In the summer, Utah visitors are our primary guests," said Krista Parry, director of communications with Park City Mountain Resort, which entices locals with the simple line: "Beat the heat."

Park City temperatures often average a 10- to 15-degree relief from the valley's summer highs.