Utah’s resorts are famously close to the city, and on a powder morning everyone in the Salt Lake Valley knows it. The snow is the easy part. The canyon road is what decides how much of the morning you get.

The canyons and who they serve

  • Little Cottonwood Canyon (SR-210) goes to Snowbird. It’s narrow and steep and crosses dozens of avalanche paths, so it closes for avalanche control after big storms, sometimes well into the morning.
  • Big Cottonwood Canyon (SR-190) goes to Solitude and Brighton. It’s a little less exposed, but the upper canyon above the Spruces gets the most snow and the most trouble.
  • Parleys Canyon (I-80) is the way up to Park City and Deer Valley. It’s an interstate, but the climb to Parleys Summit still turns slick and slow in heavy snow.
  • Weber Canyon and Trappers Loop lead to Snowbasin from the Ogden side.
  • Provo Canyon (US-189) leads to Sundance, with the last stretch on SR-92.
  • SR-143 climbs from Parowan to Brian Head in southern Utah, the highest base in the state.

The canyon traction law

From October 1 through April 30, Utah enforces a traction law in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. When it’s in effect, vehicles need four-wheel or all-wheel drive, or tires marked M+S or with the mountain snowflake, or chains. UDOT and the police can and do check at the mouth of the canyon on storm days, and a car that doesn’t qualify gets turned around.

Even when the law is met, a front-wheel drive car on worn tires is how the canyon gets blocked for everyone. If your tires are marginal, take the bus or ride with someone whose aren’t.

Closures and interlodge

After a big storm, avalanche crews close Little Cottonwood to do control work before it reopens to traffic. If you’re already up the canyon, an interlodge order can keep everyone inside buildings until control work is done. It’s safety work, not a delay for the fun of it, and it can last hours.

The practical advice: on a big storm morning in Little Cottonwood, either be in line well before the road opens or wait until the morning rush has cleared. Arriving at the mouth at 8:30 on a powder Saturday is the worst of both.

Where to check

The mountain pages for each of these resorts show UDOT’s current conditions for the canyon roads in the conditions panel, segment by segment, next to the resort’s cams. UDOT also publishes road conditions, cams and closures on udottraffic.utah.gov.

Then look at the cams themselves. The base and parking area cams tell you how full the lots are, and the snow stake cams at Solitude, Deer Valley and other Utah resorts tell you whether the drive is worth it in the first place.