You already know I love living in Park City Utah year-round, and summer in Park City is a blast! With sky-high airfares the last two summers, I am sticking close to home and exploring the beauty in my backyard. When I wrote my second guidebook, Utah Day Trips by Theme, I skied all 14 Utah ski resorts in one season. Last year, my hotel job came with a Gold Pass, which allows access to all Utah ski resorts year-round. So, I set out to see what’s happening at Utah ski resorts in summer. Whether you’re a Utah local or visiting on summer vacation, you should definitely experience some of these Utah ski resort summer activities.

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Alta Ski Area

Unlike their neighbor, Snowbird, Alta is pretty low-key in the summer. They don’t run lifts, but they do have some nature programs and guided hikes, as well as volunteer days. In July, Alta hosts one day of the Wasatch Wildflower Festival. Summer is a great time to enjoy lower rates on lodging at Alta!

• Hiking (no lifts run in summer)
• Sunday Brunch at Alta Lodge
• Nature Programs & Guided Hikes
• Fast Casual & Sit-Down Dining at the Gulch Pub and Swen’s Restaurant

A fantastic and somewhat easy hike is Cecret Lake from Albion Basin. Follow the Little Cottonwood Canyon road all the way to the end. There’s a toll booth to enter Albion Basin, which opens on July 3rd this year. Once you pay the $12 day-use fee, follow that road to the end, where you’ll find the campground and Cecret Lake trailhead. The hike is just two miles round-trip, with stunning scenery the entire way!

Be prepared for elevation with my high altitude travel tips!

Brighton Resort

Brighton Resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon is the closest Salt Lake City ski resort to Park City…in the summer only! It’s a quick drive over Guardsman Pass, which is typically closed from mid-October through late May. Brighton also happens to be one of my favorite places to hike near Park City. Brighton has historically been pretty low-key in the summer. However, in 2023, they opened a disc golf course and started running the Majestic Lift from 9am until 5pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The $15 lift ticket is awfully tempting for skipping some of the elevation gain on Brighton’s hiking trails!

• Scenic lift rides are available through October 8th, weather permitting
• Hiking – Brighton Lakes Loop is one of my favorite hikes in Utah!
• Majestic Movie Mondays will feature classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Spaceballs this summer
• Sunday Brunch at Milly Chalet from 7/9 – 9/17 (reservations recommended)
• Mount Majestic Music Series: live music on Saturday and Sunday from 12-5 through mid-September

Close out summer at Brighton with Sunfest; a three-day fall festival held the first full weekend in October!

Deer Valley Summer Operations

If you haven’t read my local’s guide to Deer Valley Resort, that’s a good place to start. Suffice it to say, that summer in Deer Valley is almost as good as winter! There are tons of great Deer Valley summer activities, and the season flies by so quickly!

• Deer Valley operates three chairlifts in summer, with adapted lifts for mountain bikes. Silver Lake Express and Sterling Express are the main chairlifts from the base to mid-mountain and from mid-mountain to the peak. Homestake Express also runs.
  • Typically, Tuesday and Thursday will open later for Twilight Rides, but that hasn’t been confirmed for 2024 yet.
• There are tons of hiking and mountain biking trails in Deer Valley; bike trails are color-coded just like ski trails (green = easiest)
  • Some of my favorite hiking trails in Deer Valley are the Solamere Loop, the Sultan Loop, and the Ontario Trail to Bald Mountain. Pick up a trail map when you buy your lift tickets!
  • Deer Valley offers guided hikes, which offer a fun historical perspective of the area.
• For beginner paddle boarding in Park City, you can’t beat the Deer Valley ponds; there are rentals on-site.
• The Deer Valley summer concert series is a huge hit; you have to be on the mailing list as some concerts sell out immediately.
• Every Saturday in summer, DV hosts Mountaintop Brews and Tunes from 12 – 2:30, with live music, beer sponsors, and to-go food.
• Boulder Mountain Ranch operates 1 and 2-hour horseback riding tours at Deer Valley.
• The Deer Valley summer season wraps up with the Mountain Beer Festival on September 14 and 15.
• The various lodges, including St. Regis, Goldener Hirsch Auberge Resorts Collection, and Stein Eriksen usually have some fun outdoor events throughout the summer as well. The champagne sabering in the St. Regis fire garden is always a great way to kick off your evening!

Book summer lodging at Deer Valley!

Park City Mountain Resort

Like Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort (Vail Resorts) has a whole host of summer activities to choose from between their two base areas: Park City and the Canyons. As a bonus, you can get some great rates on Park City hotels!

• The Town Lift runs straight from Main Street up to the top; you can hike down or hop back on the chairlift. Go straight from the hiking trails to the best restaurants in Park City!
• The Adventure Park has an alpine slide, an alpine coaster, gem panning, and zip lines
• Canyons Village has a summer concert series a few nights per week, plus fireworks and drone shows on holidays like July 4th and Pioneer Day.
• The Park City base hosts a farmer’s market on Wednesdays until 5 pm.
• At Canyons, the Red Pine Gondola runs in the summer; at the top, there are hiking trails, a disc golf course, and Red Pine Lodge which serves cafeteria-style food. They have a great patio, too!

Mirror Lake Scenic Byway is the best summer day trip from Park City!

Snowbasin Resort

Snowbasin is kind of a locals’ resort. It’s a bit farther from Salt Lake City than the Cottonwoods or Park City, but still close enough for a day trip, with far fewer people on any given day. Snowbasin is beautiful in the summer, too, but the lifts are only open on the weekends. The Needles Gondola is open on Saturday and Sunday for hiking, mountain biking, and sightseeing. Needles Lodge serves lunch on Saturdays and brunch on Sundays. The gondola and trails are also dog-friendly, so if you’re looking for a place to hike with your dog, check it out!

When I visited in late June, the hiking trails above the gondola were still closed due to snow, so I just enjoyed the views before descending back to the base area for live music. On Sundays in July and September, Snowbasin hosts Blues and Brews, with live music, food, and beer all day long. If you do go, bring an umbrella or shade tent as the sun is intense at this elevation! We lucked out and got a table with an umbrella, but I wouldn’t count on that.

• Needles Gondola – Saturdays/Sundays 9 am-4 pm
• 18-hole Mini Golf – Saturdays/Sundays
• Blues & Brews most Sundays 2:15-7:00 pm
• SnowWiesn Oktoberfest: Saturdays and Sundays from 8/16-10/3
• Sunday Brunch at Needles Lodge 10 am-2:00 pm

Make a weekend trip out of all the things to do in Ogden Utah!

Snowbird Summer Activities

For folks in Salt Lake City, Snowbird Ski Resort is THE summer destination in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Last year, Snowbird launched rooftop balconies on their two iconic trams. There’s an additional fee to ride on top, but you get to enjoy unobstructed views of the surrounding peaks. Bring a jacket, though, because you’ll reach 11,00 feet on the tram! Snowbird summer can be misleading, as there has been skiing on July 4th, so call ahead before you arrive to see what trails are open.

• Scenic Tram – daily 11 am-8 pm
• Adventure Park – daily 11 am-8 pm
  • The All-Day activity pass includes the mountain coaster, alpine slide, ropes course, climbing wall, mini ropes course, mini tree climb
  • There’s also a fishing pond and gemstone mining for an additional fee
• Scenic Chairlift Rides
• Guided Hikes starting July 5 until August 4 – daily 10 am
• Oktoberfest: Saturdays & Sundays 8/10-10/13
• Dining ranges from fast casual to fine dining

An easy Snowbird summer day would be to take the tram up to the top, then hike down to the top of the Peruvian chairlift and take that back to the base area. You can walk through the Peruvian tunnel, which is like a little mini-museum of ski history. For a longer hike, there are trails all over Mineral Basin, which is the back side of the mountain. You can also hike all the way down from the tram summit.

Solitude Mountain Resort

The other Big Cottonwood Canyon ski resort is Solitude; a fantastic low-key summer ski resort. With Guardsman Pass open in the summer, it’s a quick 40-minute super scenic drive from Park City to Solitude. (This road is only open in the summer months; during fall/winter/spring, you have to drive down to Salt Lake City and back up to Solitude, which takes a bit over an hour.)

Solitude runs three chairlifts daily through Labor Day. Link runs from the lower Moonbeam base area to Solitude Village and from there, the Sunrise Lift will take you up the mountain. Moonbeam Express is also open for easy access to the brand new mountain bike park.

From the top of the Sunrise Lift, it’s a short hike of about one mile to Lake Solitude. If you pack a picnic lunch, this is the spot to relax and enjoy the scenery! Otherwise, grab a patio table at Honeycomb Grill after your adventures. The bison burger and a beer hit the spot after a day of hiking!

Solitude Mountain also has family-friendly activities that include an adventure park with a climbing wall, trampoline, and bounce house, as well as an 18-hole disc golf course that winds up the mountain, and mountain bike lessons. On Thursday nights, they show outdoor movies at the Moonbeam base area. For a small ski resort, Solitude has a lot of fun summer activities, and you can’t beat the scenery!

• Scenic Chairlift Rides: Daily through Labor Day, weekends through October 6
• Adventure Park
• Thursday Outdoor Movies
• 18-hole disc golf course
• Saturday Guided Hikes and free outdoor yoga classes
• Sunday Live Music Series
• Fast Casual & Sit-Down Dining

Sundance Mountain Resort

Sundance is one of my favorite Utah destinations any time of year. It’s set in a beautiful canyon and you expect some bougie resort, but it’s super quaint and rustic. (The prices are bougie, though!) You can take the chairlift up to the peak for lunch at Bearclaw Cabin, and hike to Stewart Falls, one of my favorite hikes in Utah!

• Scenic Lift Rides – daily 10 am-5 pm
• Full Moon Lift Rides and Halloween Lift Rides
• Zip Line – daily from 10 am-4 pm – read all about the Sundance Zipline Tour from Travels of Jenna!
• Mountain Bike rentals & trails
• Hiking Trails
• Horseback riding
• Fast Casual & Sit-Down Dining (Sundance Deli is a great place to grab lunch before a hike!)

Don’t miss other Park City summer activities like fly fishing, hot air balloon tours and Jeep rides!

Other Utah Ski Resorts in Summer

Besides these Salt Lake City area ski resorts, there are six other ski resorts in Utah to explore.

• Brian Head is a fun summer destination near Cedar City Utah, with hiking, mountain biking, disc golf, batting cages, and tubing.
• Eagle Point is also in Southern Utah and has hiking trails but no services in the summer
• Cherry Peak in Northern Utah has a live music series in the summer
• Beaver Mountain has a campground and yurt rentals, with hiking and biking trails
• Nordic Valley and Powder Mountain both have hiking and biking trails