Fun in the Utah mountains doesn’t melt away with the snow. Resorts throughout the state offer a host of gravity-fed activities all summer long to keep your adrenaline levels high. Snake through the trees at high speed on a mountain coaster. Race your friends to the bottom on side-by-side alpine slide tracks. Soar through the air above the trails on a zipline or accelerate unimpeded down the slopes on a summer tubing hill.
Utah resorts in summer deliver the same thrills as your favorite roller coaster only in an amazing high mountain setting instead of some overdeveloped parking lot with a bunch of animatronic cartoon characters skulking around. Let gravity do the work. Before we dig in to the gravity-fueled fun, check out all of Utah's resort summer operations (from hiking, to biking and scenic lift rides) here.
Park City Mountain
The namesake resort of Utah’s quintessential ski town has a host of activities from their base area just a few steps away from Historic Old Town.
Mountain Coaster – Park City’s Mountain Coaster covers more than a mile of track, making it the longest mountain coaster in Utah. The coaster is firmly and safely connected to the rails meaning it’s safe to open it up as fast as you dare through the corners.
Alpine Slide – Climb aboard the wheeled toboggan for over 3,000 feet of high-speed corners and steep straightaways in the woods underneath the Payday Express chairlift. Push the pace down the side-by-side tracks against your friends.
Snowbird
Experience summer thrills in an incomparable setting among the peaks of Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Mountain Coaster – Rocket along the 3,120-foot track back towards the base of the Peruvian Express chairlift on Snowbird’s Mountain Coaster. Let off the brakes and let gravity do its thing as you take in the Little Cottonwood views.
Alpine Slide – Dueling tracks twist down the slope on Chickadee Run, creating the perfect setting to race your friends and family back to the Tram Deck. You control your own speed on the toboggan, so no excuses if you aren’t first to the bottom.
Summer Tubing – Enjoy the thrill of tubing without the frigid temperatures. The innovative, low-friction Neverplast surface lets you tear down the hillside outside of the Cliff Lodge under the summer sun.
Sundance Mountain Resort
The views alone make Sundance worth the visit in summer. The state’s longest zipline is icing on the cake.
ZipTour – With more than 2,100 feet of vertical drop across two miles and four spans, the Bearclaw ZipTour is the longest in Utah. In between the adrenaline rush, you’ll enjoy two scenic rides on Ray’s and Red’s chairlifts in the shadow of Mount Timpanogos. Reservations are required.
Brian Head Ski Resort
Just a stone’s throw from Cedar Breaks National Monument, Brian Head brings high alpine fun to Southern Utah.
Avalanche Tubing – Brian Head converts Giant Steps into a summer tubing course with a variety of runs. For just $12 you get three runs and rides back to the top aboard a magic carpet-style conveyer belt.
Ridge Runner Mini Zipline – The 300-foot-long Ridge Runner Zip Line is the perfect introduction to high-speed, high-altitude thrills at Brian Head. Just as with Avalanche Tubing, you get three runs on the Mini Zipline for $12, making Brian Head one of the best summer values in Utah.
Utah Olympic Park
The site of the 2002 Winter Olympic bobsled, skeleton, luge and Nordic ski jumping events is a summer playground for anyone looking to get their heart rate up.
Bobsled Experience – Exhilaration on the Olympic bobsled course awaits when you climb in a modified summer bobsled. A professional pilot will have you reaching speeds of over 60 mph and feeling up to 3 g's as you fly down the course.
Extreme Zipline – The UOP Extreme Zipline approximates the feel of Olympic Nordic ski jumping as you take flight from atop the hillside on the K120 jump and hit speeds of over 50 mph on the way down.
Alpine Slide – 11 banked curves, numerous straightaways and steep drops will have riders feeing like skeleton stars above Snyderville Basin. Trust in the folks who designed and built the Olympic sliding sport tracks to create an alpine slide that delivers a good time.
Extreme Tubing – Rip down steep landing slopes on the K64 and K90 Nordic ski jumps at up to 50 mph. The green, plastic base material slides just like snow—people even practice ski jumping on it each summer.
