The Top 5 Down Day Activities in Ski City

When Salt Lake lifer Carston Oliver wants a day off from Ski City pow, this is what he likes to do. Eric Balken photo.

The great snow quality and numerous ski areas of the central Wasatch tend to draw loads of people to Salt Lake City for their winter adventures and ski vacations–after all, the name “Ski City” gets tossed around quite a bit, with four amazing ski areas all within a 30-minute drive of 1,700 restaurants, 140 bars, and 140 hotels. But a lot of folks don’t realize what else the town has to offer for off-hill activities besides looking at the lights at the Mormon Temple.

Despite the stereotypes of the area and the conservative nature of its predominant religion, Salt Lake City actually has a lot going on and a lot of fun things to get into if you know where to look. The is also enough elevation difference between the mountains and the valley that the milder temperatures down low can often allow for diverse outdoor activities like biking, climbing, running, and hiking almost year-round if you get lucky with the weather. Indoor varieties of them all are widely available, so you can still get some multi-sport days if Old Man Winter happens to be really hitting hard when you’re here.

As a Salt Lake City resident for the last 28 years, I’m convinced that the best way to get around and get to know the city is to just wing it and get out and explore: outside of the places highlighted here we have great food of about every variety you can imagine (boosted by our surprisingly large and diverse immigrant population), year-round farmers markets, a thriving art scene with loads of galleries to peruse, live music on any given night at a bunch of different concert venues and bars, and tons of random, surprising, and entertaining things that you’ll just stumble across along your way.

For the best, most immersive, and relatively traffic-free exploration experience, go by bike. Trust me on this one, and just bundle up if it’s cold out. For less aimless wandering, some local favorites are listed below, but these only scratch the surface. I recommend a good mix and match, as everything is close enough together in this city that you can very easily pack several different activities into the same day if you feel like it.

Ski City has three impressive indoor climbing options in the form of The Front and Momentum, which has two climbing gyms. Momentum photo.

The same mountains that hold “The Greatest Snow on Earth” that you’ve come to shred are also home to some world-class rock climbing in the warmer months, so the climbing scene is big here. Even though there’s tons of snow up high, you might be able to get on some good rock at lower elevations if you time it right with the weather, or you can just go indoor at any time of the year, regardless of what the weather is doing and where you’re staying in the valley.

Momentum has two huge gyms (one in Sandy, and the other in Millcreek) and has tons of options, whether you want to boulder, top-rope, or lead climb. Closer to downtown, The Front has always been a popular option for the core climbing crowd. Originally it was all bouldering, but they recently did a giant expansion to build a roped climbing area as well. All three of these gyms open early and stay open late, so you could just as easily climb all day or get a solid session before or after skiing.

The Natural History Museum of Utah is in a sweet new building and sits right next to the Bonneville Shoreline trail for post mind-expansion calorie burning. Wikipedia photo.

Tucked into the foothills above the University of Utah and overlooking the entire city sits the Natural History Museum of Utah. The museum recently moved into a brand new building that’s an architectural masterpiece, and inside one can find tons of interesting exhibits and artifacts that highlight natural wonders and ancient cultures that can be found in Utah. It has fascinating exhibits on Paleontology, Anthropology, Entemology, Vertebrate Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, and Malacology, as well as active labs that are continuing to push the research in these fields since this is an active research institution. The museum is literally right on the Bonneville Shoreline trail, so after expanding your mind and exercising your brain, you can easily get your body into the mix and go right into a hike, run, or mountain bike ride with a great view of the whole valley.

Snogression packs multiple trampolines, foam pits, a handrail to practice on, and a sweet jump into a foam pit. Snogression photo.

So you want to land some new tricks while you’re here, but you don’t quite feel ready to commit or risk getting hurt on the mountain? Head to Snogression. Whether you want to dial in that double cork, you’re just starting to jump and learn basic air awareness, or you simply want to bounce around like you’re a kid again and burn some energy, there’s something for you. They have everything you need to expand your bag of tricks and safely get comfortable before taking things to snow. With flybeds, super tramps, pads, foam pits, and dry slope kicker, and rail set up, you’ll have plenty to keep yourself occupied. Bring your skis or board, boots, and a helmet if you want to use the ramp or rail set up, otherwise you just need some good socks to protect your feet on the trampolines.

The City Library is at the heart of downtown and right next to the rad Leonardo Museum. The City Library photo.

Right in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City is Library Square, which a great little zone to geek out and celebrate your inner nerd. The downtown library is the main branch of the Ski City’s library system, and on top of the expected treasure trove of knowledge and reading material, this beauty of a building has a bunch of cool little shops and galleries and tons of nice, quiet work spaces.

Right across the square is the Leonardo Museum, which always has new galleries and exhibits that are intriguing, inspiring, and which seek to hit those points where science, technology, and art collide. Library Square often hosts some really cool festivals and events, and is a great hub to find out about other things happing around the city. Since it’s right in the heart of downtown, once you’re done here you can easily launch off to hit any of the galleries, restaurants, bars, music venues etc. that the rest of downtown has to offer.

If you're itching to hit some jumps or roll a pump track, the Wasatch Bike Park is the spot to go. Wasatch Bike Park photo.

If you mountain bike or bmx, there’s a half decent chance that even in the winter you can get out on the trails in the foothills, dirt jump at I-Street or Tanner, or hit an outdoor skate park like Fairmont or Sandy. When the weather isn’t cooperating, however, you can always go to the Wasatch Bike Park. Regardless of your biking ability, this indoor facility has something for everyone: a pump track, MTB skills room, jump room with a couple different sized jump lines and airbag, and a new street room which allows skateboards and, yes, scooters as well. It’s all fun, flowy and really well done, so it’s a great way to spend an afternoon or evening.