Big Sky or Snowbird?

Neither resort is anywhere near a sea, and swimming is not why anyone visits either one. At Big Sky, summer swimming means a hotel pool or a cold dip at a pond, since the Gallatin River is too fast and chilly to swim in. Snowbird has heated resort pools, and the Heber Valley reservoirs, about an hour away, have small beaches. The Great Salt Lake nearby is worth seeing as a curiosity but is not a place to swim.

Both resorts offer hearty food at resort prices, and the food is broadly on a par. Big Sky has more of a regional character, with bison, elk, trout and Montana beef, a local brewing scene and roadhouses along the canyon highway. The restaurants are spread across three villages, though, and some cut their hours between seasons.

Snowbird's restaurants are all in the lodges and the base plaza. The highlight is eating at the top of the tram with the range spread out below, but little of the food is local. Utah's liquor laws affect how drinks are served. When the menus get repetitive, Salt Lake City's restaurant districts are about forty minutes away, which is closer than Bozeman is to Big Sky.

Both are purpose-built resorts from the 1970s, and neither has much history for a visitor to see. Big Sky has one real piece of heritage, the log cabins of the Crail Ranch homestead in Meadow Village. Snowbird's most distinctive buildings are its angular concrete lodges, designed to withstand avalanches. The canyon's silver-mining history and the quarry that supplied Salt Lake City's temple granite have left very little to look at.

Evenings are quiet at both, but Big Sky has a bit more going on after dinner. Its Town Center taverns stay open a while, and the old saloons in the Gallatin Canyon, with pool tables, wooden bars and a ranch-country crowd, are worth a drink.

At Snowbird, the evening is mostly over once après-ski on the base deck ends. Anyone wanting a real night out has to drive the mountain road to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Big Sky gives the wider range of things to do outdoors. Lone Peak towers over one of the largest ski areas in North America, with steep high runs, long groomers and cross-country trails through the meadows below. Summer adds hiking in the Spanish Peaks and the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, plus fly fishing and rafting on the Gallatin. Yellowstone's west entrance is about an hour south, so the park's geysers, bison and elk make a full day out.

Snowbird is the more specialised mountain, and its draw is the snow. Little Cottonwood Canyon gets some of the deepest, driest powder on the continent, and the tram runs straight up to Hidden Peak. Its steep chutes, bowls and tree runs connect across the ridge to Alta, and the season often lasts well into spring. In summer there is hiking, the wildflower meadows of Albion Basin and climbing on the canyon's granite walls.

Snowbird has more to offer for days off the mountain. Salt Lake City is about forty minutes away, with Temple Square, the State Capitol and its museums. Park City, about an hour away, has a Victorian Main Street from its silver-mining days. Midway, Sundance and Ogden's 25th Street are pleasant extra outings.

Most of Big Sky's outings are into the landscape rather than to towns. Bozeman and its dinosaur fossils at the Museum of the Rockies are worth the hour's drive. The preserved gold-rush towns of Virginia City and Nevada City take about two hours to reach.

Big Sky is easier with younger children. Its beginner slopes are gentle, and in summer the base turns into an adventure park with zip lines, ropes courses and a climbing wall. Horse riding, calm rafting and bison in Yellowstone appeal to all ages.

Snowbird's compact, car-free base is easy to manage with children, and its summer mountain coaster and alpine slide are popular. But the mountain is built around expert skiing, so it suits teenagers better than toddlers. At both resorts the altitude can tire small children for the first few days.

Snowbird is easier to get around once you are there. The lodges, tram and lifts are a short walk apart on a car-free base, and the airport is only about forty minutes away. The catch is the single canyon road in and out, which gets jammed on powder mornings and is sometimes closed for avalanche control.

Big Sky is spread along about 15km of road. A free bus links its villages, but you cannot walk between them. The airport is an hour away, and you will need a car for Yellowstone and careful driving through the canyon in winter.

Neither resort is a place to go shopping, though Big Sky has a little more to browse. As well as ski and fly-fishing gear, it has a few Western-style boutiques and galleries selling wildlife and landscape art. Snowbird's base shops cover goggles, rentals and resort-branded clothing. Its advantage is being close to Park City's boutique main street and the malls of Salt Lake City.

Both are costly, but Big Sky is harder on the budget. Its slopeside lodges and luxury resorts set high winter prices, and staying in the canyon or in Bozeman saves money only at the cost of more driving.

Snowbird has more ways to cut costs. Multi-resort season passes reduce the price of lift tickets, and the many hotels in Salt Lake City are an easy drive below the canyon. Summer is the cheaper season at both.

Big Sky has a real arts calendar for a resort of its size. The small performing arts centre in Meadow Village hosts touring musicians, chamber music and theatre in winter, and in summer there are free lawn concerts and a short classical festival in Town Center.

Snowbird has summer plaza concerts and its long-running Oktoberfest with oompah bands, and not much more. However, Salt Lake City's symphony, opera and theatre are only a drive down the canyon.

At Big Sky, relaxing happens in many small places. There are hot tubs on lodge decks under starry skies, and the larger resorts have full-service spas offering massages for sore ski legs. The nearest natural hot springs are about an hour away towards Bozeman.

Snowbird puts it all in one place, the large spa on top of its main lodge. It has a rooftop pool, hot tubs and steam rooms that look out on the canyon walls as the light fades. For a different kind of soak, the geothermal crater at Homestead in Midway, about an hour away, has warm mineral water inside a limestone dome, which is a stranger setting than Big Sky's hot springs.