Copper Mountain or Deer Valley?

Neither place is a beach destination. Deer Valley has slightly more to offer: Jordanelle Reservoir, a short drive down the hill, has a sandy state-park shoreline that is pleasant for a dip on hot July and August afternoons.

Copper Mountain's Summit County lakes are fed by snowmelt and stay cold even in midsummer, so swimming there really means a heated pool or a hot tub.

Copper Mountain feeds hungry skiers and little more. You get burgers and chilli at mid-mountain lodges, a few pizza and Mexican places in the village, and plenty of self-catering in the condos. For a proper dinner out, you drive to Frisco or Breckenridge.

Deer Valley eats noticeably better. The lodges are more polished, and Park City's Main Street has a choice of steakhouses, sushi and modern American bistros that you would not expect in a town this size. Its weakness is depth below the upscale tier, so casual and cheap meals are harder to find.

Copper Mountain is a village of condos and lodges built around the lifts, with no museums, historic buildings or landmarks of its own. Its mining-era past belongs to the neighbouring towns, so any sightseeing means getting in the car.

Deer Valley has more to look at because Park City is on its doorstep. The restored silver-boom Main Street has wooden storefronts and old mine headframes on the slopes above. Add the Park City Museum in the old city hall and the ski-jump towers of the Utah Olympic Park, and you have a pleasant afternoon, though it is not enough to plan a trip around.

Copper Mountain's evenings start and finish with après-ski. Bars at the lift base fill up in boots, there is some music on the plaza at weekends, and by late evening the village is quiet.

Deer Valley's lodges are just as calm, with fireside lounges, but Park City's saloons and cocktail bars are a short bus ride away. That gives you a proper night out by small-town standards, though it closes early and Utah's liquor rules still apply.

These are two mountain bases of the same first rank, and they differ in character. Copper Mountain is high and wild, with treeless bowls above 3,600m in the Tenmile Range. Vail and other Summit County areas are close, the Colorado Trail crosses the resort, and fourteen-thousand-foot peaks such as Mount Elbert are within an hour.

Deer Valley is about perfect grooming and skiers-only slopes, with the huge Park City Mountain next door. The famously light powder of Alta and Snowbird is about an hour away. Its lower base is easier on the body, and summer brings fly-fishing on the Provo River and lift-served biking through aspen.

Copper Mountain has better places for an outing. Breckenridge's long Victorian main street and Leadville's weathered silver-boom district are each about half an hour away. Georgetown's narrow-gauge railway and Denver's museums are further along I-70, though weekend ski traffic can slow that drive badly.

Deer Valley's best trip is Salt Lake City, about forty minutes away, for Temple Square and the Capitol. Beyond that, Midway, Sundance and the Heber Valley steam railway are pleasant but small. Most of what is grand nearby is landscape rather than towns.

For families the two are evenly matched, and both centre on good children's ski schools. Copper Mountain has a car-free village core and an indoor action-sports centre with trampolines and foam pits, which is handy on a bad-weather day. The catch is its altitude of nearly 3,000m, which can hit small children hard.

Deer Valley's lower base is easier to adjust to, and its wide beginner runs have no snowboarders. Tubing, ziplines and a coaster wait at the Olympic Park. The drawback is cost, which multiplies quickly with each extra child.

On the ground, both work about equally well. Copper Mountain's compact villages are linked by walkways, lifts and a free shuttle, so you can leave the car parked for days. Arriving is harder, though, with Denver airport about two hours away over winter passes.

Deer Valley's resort spreads across steep hillsides that are impractical on foot. Park City's fare-free buses make up for it, and Salt Lake City airport is only about forty minutes away, a real advantage on a short ski trip.

Deer Valley has the better shopping. Park City's Main Street mixes art galleries, western boots and hats and upmarket boutiques behind old mining-town façades, and an outlet centre sits at Kimball Junction.

Copper Mountain's village sells rental gear, sunglasses and resort-branded clothing. For more, you drive to the Silverthorne outlets or Breckenridge's galleries.

Neither is cheap, but Copper Mountain costs clearly less. It is a little gentler than the grander Colorado resorts, condos with kitchens keep meal costs down, and lodging in Frisco or Silverthorne cuts the bill further.

Deer Valley is priced at the very top of the North American market. Slopeside beds are mostly luxury, and lessons, rentals and meals all cost to match. Staying in the Heber Valley or Salt Lake City is the usual way round it, and summer is easier on the wallet at both resorts.

Deer Valley has a real programme for a mountain town. The Utah Symphony's summer festival plays to picnickers on the grass at the Snow Park amphitheatre, and the restored 1920s Egyptian Theatre on Main Street stages plays and small concerts all year.

Copper Mountain offers plaza bands on summer weekends and acoustic sets at après-ski. For anything more, you go to Breckenridge's summer music season.

Deer Valley is the place to slow down. The resort is built around comfort, with quiet slopeside lodges, fireplaces and polished hotel spas where a massage after skiing is routine. The warm limestone dome of Homestead Crater in Midway is half an hour away for an unusual soak.

At Copper Mountain, relaxing means a condo hot tub facing the slopes and the pools at the athletic club. The nearest hot springs are a long drive away, and the higher altitude makes the first nights' sleep harder.