We are planning to spend 2.5-3.5 weeks of our winter Ikon tour in Utah and I'm trying to figure out just how long to spend there. We'll be arriving from a week in Big Sky and a week in Jackson Hole around the 23rd of January. My 11 y/o son is an advanced intermediate, my wife is a lower intermediate and my 15 y/o daughter is the most beginner and prefers greens to easy blues. What I'm trying to figure out is of the Ikon resorts, which are likely going to be the best for the family days as I realize a lot of the terrain at each of these is beyond their abilities. A family day typically consists of a couple hours on greens to easy blue groomers, then my wife and daughter hang in the lodge while my son and I ski some harder stuff/off piste, followed by maybe another few runs as a family before their legs are shot and we call it a day. My wife and daughter aren't yet at the point where they want to go exploring all over the mountain and are really happy lapping the same runs if they find a few they like (wide, not too long, not too crowded, mostly single fall lines, good snow). In other words, they can be very content, and we can have a fun family ski day on just a small portion of the mountain which is good since a lot of the terrain at the Utah Ikon resorts are beyond them.
I'm kind of thinking of saving all of my Alta-bird days for myself as they couldn't appreciate the expert terrain like I can. So I'm wondering between Solitude, Brighton and Deer Valley, which of those sound like they'll be the best for our family because if one or two of those have much better expert terrain but with not as good of beginner/intermediate terrain, I may only take them there one day and save the rest of the days for my days and just focus on the better mountains for their abilities. Keep in mind they typically only ski 2-3 days per week so we are talking about maybe 7-9 days total for them in Utah where I'd like them to get at least one day at each of those 3 and then more at whichever places they prefer. I'll be skiing 6 days per week and will cherry pick the best powder days since they don't like to ski storms.
I'd also appreciate if you could give us a little beta on some of the lifts/terrain to focus on at those 3 as a good starting place on the first family day at each. Thanks so much!
I'm kind of thinking of saving all of my Alta-bird days for myself as they couldn't appreciate the expert terrain like I can. So I'm wondering between Solitude, Brighton and Deer Valley, which of those sound like they'll be the best for our family because if one or two of those have much better expert terrain but with not as good of beginner/intermediate terrain, I may only take them there one day and save the rest of the days for my days and just focus on the better mountains for their abilities. Keep in mind they typically only ski 2-3 days per week so we are talking about maybe 7-9 days total for them in Utah where I'd like them to get at least one day at each of those 3 and then more at whichever places they prefer. I'll be skiing 6 days per week and will cherry pick the best powder days since they don't like to ski storms.
I'd also appreciate if you could give us a little beta on some of the lifts/terrain to focus on at those 3 as a good starting place on the first family day at each. Thanks so much!