Park City April Skiing
Park City in April: Overview
Pros:
- Park City usually remains open until about the third Sunday in the month of April, giving skiers a good window to fit in an April trip to Utah.
- Most winters are strong enough, even on this lee side of the Wasatch, to support good skiing into April.
- Skiers can find great corn on east-facing slopes in the late morning. Look to the Super Condor and Tombstone lifts for some of the best spring runs.
- Walking the streets of Park City in the warm April sun is a pleasure, and drinking a beer or two outside is recommended.
- As always, getting to Park City is a snap, and there's even less of a chance of I-80 issues in April.
- With more than 7,300 skiable acres and 300 runs, there will be some great stashes of snow, even in April. The key to skiing Park City at any time of year is not to get caught schlepping north-south too much. Have a plan and mine areas where the snow is holding up well.
Cons:
- Park City's modest elevations and its preponderance of east-facing terrain make late spring skiing less predictable than it is on the other side of the Wasatch in Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons. Conditions at the bottom of the resort—at both bases—can degrade quickly.
- Park City has a dearth of steep north-facing terrain, which is what holds snow best in the spring. There are stashes of it here and there, but you'll have to pay us to tell you where those best pockets exist. But there are good amounts of north-facing blue terrain, and those hold up well into April.
- The town lift isn't always open into April on account of conditions, and riding that is definitely a hallmark of skiing PCMR.
Park City snow in April
- Snow quantity at Park City
- Snow quality at Park City
- How much snow is required for proper terrain coverage at Park City—steeper resorts require more snow to get 100% open.
- Park City's snow frequency (standard deviation)
- Park City's elevation
- Park City's latitude
- Park City's slope aspects - more north-facing slopes protect snow later into winter
About 43% of the terrain at Park City faces north, which helps preserve snow into April. But the lower terrain only receives 150 inches of snow per year compared with the top bowls, which top 300 inches, which means runs closer to the base area can get spotty as the season runs out. Skiers who like dipping into the woods for a few turns should avoid doing that too low.
Snow preservation at the higher elevations is solid, but some aspects can slip into a freeze-thaw cycle if a storm hasn't carried through recently.
What matters when it comes to snow for April skiing:
The rules of thumb in place for better skiing in March—high elevations and lots of north-facing terrain—hold true in April as well. The difference between April and March is that most ski resorts close up for the year by the second Sunday in April. After that, skiers have a much smaller cohort of ski resorts they can target for trips. Many ski resorts, especially those that are easily driveable from the metro areas of Denver, Salt Lake, San Francisco (Tahoe area) and Seattle (Crystal and Stevens Pass) will alter their close dates depending on the quanitity of snow that remains on their slopes in March. More snow means later closing dates.
One of the ski resorts best known for its April skiing is A-Basin, which enjoys myriad factors in its favor. It has exceedingly high elevations, good amounts of north-facing terrain, and it's easily driveable from Denver, which keeps its slopes crowded—and the revenue flowing to resort coffers—well into May.
There are other gems, too, however. Snowbird is an excellent bet, as is Copper Mountain, whose high elevations and preponderance of north-facing terrain means that its conditions don't peak until late March, and the surfaces at Copper tend to hold up well through April. Telluride closes earlier in April because its location doesn't draw many skiers in cars, but that week or two in April that it is open usually offer good conditions, as the resort's high elecations and north aspects keep upper reaches of the mountain chalky, with the slopes to town giving skiers good corn conditions.
For skiers planning ahead for an April trip, just know that it could be quite warm. But sometimes those April days, especially when a big snowstorm creeps in, can be the best of the year, with fewer skiers competing for the snow and fun days that finish with warm après vibes and cold beer. For the record, this writer's best ski day ever was on April 26, in Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon, at Alta. The mountain had closed in mid April, but then it snowed six feet in four days, and Alta announced it would reopen it's doors on a Friday. Not many people were there, but I was. Laps and untracked all day.
To find out more about where to target for April trips, see our snow rankings page.