Planning a Utah ski vacation for Christmas 2003

My husband and I are planning our first ski visit to Utah and would like to spend Christmas week there next year. We are thinking Park City. We would like to stay at a ski-in/ski-out location, but the cost is so much. Does anyone have any suggestions for good accommodations close to Park City (say walking distance). We were also wondering how the shuttle service is if we did stay a little distance from the ski area. We've used shuttle service at different areas before and they are usually slow, unpredictable, and crowded. Any suggestions would be extremely helpful.

You probably won't like my answers to your questions. <BR> <BR>1.) Christmas-to-New-Year's is problematic for skiing at most resorts due to cost, crowds and early season snow issues. The Park City area is not reliable for natural coverage of advanced terrain that early in the season. For example the current base of 3 feet is not adequate in my opinion. Like most destination resorts it is best visited mid-January to mid-March. <BR> <BR>2.) Very little of Park City's lodging is truly walking distance to the lifts. But most Utah visitors rent a car anyway to visit multiple areas. If you're at Park City, you'll want to try Deer Valley and The Canyons at a minimum. These other areas also have apres ski and restaurants you may want to try as well. Driving from SLC to Park City is easy by Interstate, no mountain driving and the town doesn't get much snow to mess up the roads. <BR> <BR>3.) In terms of quality of both snow and terrain the Cottonwood Canyons are far superior to the Park City group by my personal prejudices. But if on-site apres-ski is part of the equation Park City is excellent and the the only viable option in Utah. On-site lodging at Alta/Snowbird is family oriented and expensive. Most visitors day commute from lodging in SLC. The distance is short but it's tough if the weather is bad. <BR> <BR>4.) Returning to #1, I have analyzed early season snow reliability across North America, with specific reference to the holiday season, in some detail at <A HREF="http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/travel/article/0%2C12910%2C328640%2C00.html" TARGET="_top">http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/travel/article/0,12910,328640,00.html</A>