Where is Solitude Resort?
Solitude Ski Resort is located in Big Cottonwood Canyon (Highway 190), 29 miles southeast of
Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake City International Airport is only 34 miles away from the Solitude Resort, a drive that takes about 40 minutes.
Flying
Salt Lake City is a major airline hub, so flights into the city are numerous and you can look at
flight options here. There are various companies that offer shuttle services to Solitude, and these can be included in a
Solitude ski package.
Driving to Solitude Mountain Resort
A car is not necessary if Solitude Resort is your only destination and you stay on-mountain. If you want to visit multiple
Utah ski resorts or stay down at the base of the canyon, self-drive is a convenient but not essential option.
The address of Solitude Mountain for GPS navigation is 1200 Big Cottonwood Canyon. The route from downtown SLC and the airport is to take I-80 East to I-215 South, take 6200 South (exit 6), continue east onto Wasatch Blvd, then turn left at the signs to Big Cottonwood Canyon (and Solitude and Brighton). It is an easy 12 mile drive up the road to the resort. An exception to this can be on weekends or a big powder day, when the traffic can be rather problematic.
Occasionally the road up Big Cottonwood Canyon is closed for avalanche control, but not as often as in the neighbouring Little Cottonwood Canyon.
[AdListings collection="USA" category="Solitude" subcategory="Transport Car Rentals"]
Parking at Solitude
Entry 2 is for access to the village and
Solitude lodging, whilst Entry 1 has parking for day trippers with access to the Moonbeam and Link lifts. The day parking lot gets full on weekends despite the introduction of a hefty parking fee, and the process of paying for the parking is unwieldy especially if you want the discount for having 3 or more people in your car.
Bus to Solitude
From downtown SLC, use the UTA TRAX (Utah Transit Authority light rail) to transfer to a UTA ski bus which will take you to Solitude. This is a very cheap way to get to Solitude, but it doesn’t afford much flexibility because there are generally only a few schedules each day, despite the crowds and issues with road congestion and parking.
You can use the following park and ride stations, although sometimes on weekends these parking lots are full too: Big Cottonwood Canyon & Wasatch Blvd; 6200 S & Wasatch Blvd; Midvale Fort Union Station; and Bingham Junction Station.
Private Transportation
There are various private companies offering transportation to Solitude from SLC, Park City or Little Cottonwood Canyon (Snowbird and Alta). Canyon Hop and Canyon Transportation are examples.
[AdListings collection="USA" category="Solitude" subcategory="Transport Airport Shuttles"]
Getting Around Solitude Resort
The Solitude Village is small so everything is only a short walk away, but it takes a little effort to get between the village and the Moonbeam base where ski school is located. To ski to the Moonbeam base from the village initially requires a short walk across the bridge to get to Easy Street. This gentle green run goes down to the Moonbeam base. To get back, ride the Link lift from the Moonbeam base and ski down.
Alternatively there are van shuttles (or snowcat shuttles during peak holidays) that run between the Moonbeam base and the village.
Other Ski Resorts Nearby
Brighton Ski Resort is 2 miles further up Big Cottonwood Canyon and you can get there (and back) from Solitude by skiing or snowboarding down the Sol-Bright run (strong intermediate riders and up). Alternatively the UTA (Utah Transit Authority) has buses between the resorts. This is cheap but the service is not frequent.
Many other Utah ski resorts are less than an hour away. These include those in Little Cottonwood Canyon:
- Alta – 25 miles away by road (or a couple of miles to the south as the crow flies)
- Snowbird – next door to Alta and 23 miles by road from Solitude
The Park City resorts are also very close and it’s easy to see how the One Wasatch project could interconnect all the resorts. By road:
Near Ogden to the north is:
Near Provo to the south is: