Snowbird or Alta, Utah?

Neither resort is a place to swim. In summer Alta offers a lodge pool or hot tub and nothing else. Snowbird has heated resort pools and is about an hour from the Heber Valley reservoirs, where small beaches meet cold mountain water. The Great Salt Lake is something to look at from either place, not somewhere to bathe.

At both resorts you eat where you sleep, and both send people down the canyon to Salt Lake City when they want variety. At Alta that usually means half board in a lodge dining room, with set dinners at communal tables and lunch in a day-lodge cafeteria.

Snowbird has a little more choice. It has a handful of restaurants around the base plaza, a dining room at the top of the tram with views across the range, and après-ski bars serving burgers and pizza. Neither has anything you would call local cooking, and Utah's liquor rules apply at both.

There are no sights to speak of at either resort, but their histories differ. Alta grew out of a silver-mining camp and became one of the oldest ski areas in the West, and you can still find traces of the old mines on its slopes. Snowbird was built from scratch in 1971, and its angular concrete lodges were designed to stand up to avalanches. For museums and Temple Square, both mean a trip down to Salt Lake City.

Alta's evening is one drink in a lodge bar and then bed, and its regulars like it that way. The livelier après-ski in the canyon is at Snowbird, where skiers fill a couple of bars and a sunny deck at the base as the lifts close. Even there the crowd has gone to dinner by mid-evening, and nothing runs late. A real night out means driving to Salt Lake City or Park City from either resort.

This is what both places are for. They share the same deep, dry powder and a pass that links their slopes across the ridge, so what separates them is character. Alta keeps its steep, varied terrain for skiers only and is known for backcountry touring into the surrounding bowls. Its summers centre on Albion Basin, with Cecret Lake and Sugarloaf above it.

Snowbird has the aerial tram to Hidden Peak at about 3,350m, the open terrain of Mineral Basin and one of the longest seasons in the country, and it welcomes snowboarders. In summer it adds climbing on the canyon's granite walls and trails into the Twin Peaks and Lone Peak wilderness areas.

From both resorts the main day out is Salt Lake City, with Park City's old silver-mining Main Street about an hour away. Snowbird sits a little lower in the canyon, so the city is a shorter drive.

Snowbird also has a slightly longer list of extras. There is Swiss-flavoured Midway and the Heber Valley, and Sundance below Mount Timpanogos, while Alta's list stops at Ogden's railway street. Every winter outing from either resort depends on the one canyon road staying open.

Snowbird does more for children. Its car-free base keeps everything within a short walk, and in summer it runs a mountain coaster, an alpine slide, a ropes course, climbing walls and tram rides to the summit. Its expert terrain suits teenagers and confident young skiers better than toddlers.

Alta has a ski school, gentle slopes near the base and easy wildflower walks in summer, but nothing else made for children. At both resorts the altitude can tire small children, and the zoo and children's museums are down in the city.

Both resorts sit on the same single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and closes for avalanche control after storms. Alta's lodges are spread along the base of the lifts, with a winter shuttle linking them. Snowbird's lodges, tram and lifts are packed into one compact car-free base, which makes moving around on foot a little easier. Outside the ski season you need a car for anything beyond either resort.

Neither resort is a place to shop. Alta has rental and tuning shops and a few places selling outdoor gear. Snowbird's base-area stores add outerwear, sunglasses and resort-branded clothing, which helps if you have forgotten your goggles. For boutiques, Park City's main street is the nearest option from either.

Both are expensive, and they are expensive in the same way. Beds up the canyon are few and command winter rates, so visitors on a budget stay in the Salt Lake valley and come up each day.

The details differ a little. Alta's lift tickets are moderate for a major Western resort, and lodge rates usually include dinner. Snowbird's multi-resort passes help frequent skiers, and its summer stays cost noticeably less than its winter ones.

Neither resort has a theatre, a concert hall or a music venue, and there is little between them. Alta puts on nothing of its own, and its evenings stay in the lodges. In summer, Alta guests can go just down the road to whatever Snowbird has on.

Snowbird is the one with a programme, small as it is. Its base plaza is where live music happens in summer for guests of both resorts, and its Oktoberfest weekends carry that into the autumn. In winter it offers little more than Alta does. For the symphony, opera or a play, guests at either resort drive down to Salt Lake City.

Snowbird has the better facilities. Its large spa on top of the main lodge has a rooftop pool, hot tubs facing the canyon walls, steam rooms and a full treatment menu. The geothermal crater at Homestead, about an hour away, is also close enough for a soak.

Alta offers simpler pleasures: outdoor hot tubs, saunas and massage in the lodges' small spas. What it has instead is deeper calm, a tiny village where on storm days the snow muffles everything.