Snowmobiling With Kids In Park City Utah: A Review

What’s In This Article

Great fun
Amazing scenery
It’s cold – dress warm!

Snowmobiling In Park City, Utah With Kids

Park City, Utah, is known for being one of the best places in the world for snowmobiling. But what if you want to bring your kids along? We went snowmobiling in Park City with our kids for Christmas, which was the best part of the trip!

Snowmobiling With Kids In Park City Utah View Of Snowmobile

Top Tour Operators

After reading reviews of different snowmobile companies, we booked with Park City Peaks (formally Thousand Peaks), located about 40 minutes east of the Park City area.

Park City Peaks snowmobile trips offer miles of groomed trails over fifty thousand acres and breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains. The elevation reaches 11,000 ft above sea level. We were looking for somewhere with incredible scenery, and the 5-star reviews of Park City Peaks made it a good option.

We booked directly through the Park City Peaks website about a week before, and most days and times were booked up already for Christmas week.

Here’s another top choice, bookable via Viator:

Other highly recommended options of the snowmobile tour companies are Red Pine Adventures and Summit Meadows Adventures

For rentals without tour guides, several companies offer Park City snowmobile rentals.

Park City Peaks

Park City Peaks offers some of the best equipment and newer snowmobiles, and there are several different tours for the snowmobile trails. We did the shortest one, which was 2 hours, and it was the best option, as it was long enough for the kids.

We went at 9 AM as that was the only available time. If you have the chance later, the roads driving there may be in better condition from the snow melting.

The total for two snowmobiles and four people was around $550 after tax. After booking, you get an email with some waivers to fill out to save time when you get there.

It’s a 40-minute drive from Park City to the Park City Peaks snowmobiling base camp, with the last half on back roads.

There was snow the night before, and it was about 15 degrees out when we drove there. While the roads weren’t too slippery, they were covered in snow the last half of the drive, and that will add some time, mainly if you’re not used to driving in the snow.

The Google Maps directions will take you to the location of the red dot. The road ends just before you arrive, and the private property starts. You continue past the Google Maps point along the driveway, then turn left down a hill (marked by the red line). There was plenty of snow, but it was well-packed, and our 2WD rental car did OK.

They ask you to arrive 45 minutes before your time to give you enough time to get ready. If you’ve already filled out the waivers and have warm ski gear, that is probably more than you need. We only needed to find a helmet that fit and head outside.

Safety demo

As you can see from the picture, there are a lot of snowmobiles here and several groups of about eight snowmobiles left simultaneously. We met our guide outside and went over the controls. A good part of our group hadn’t ridden snowmobiles before, and they are easy enough to figure out, especially if you’ve ridden any other off-road vehicle.

There are a couple of miles of flat trails to get used to the snowmobile, then an open field to get going with some high speed. We were running a bit behind, so we skipped the field and went up the trail that goes up the mountain.

It took over an hour to reach the turnaround point in the mountains at around 11,000 feet elevation. There is a small cabin there with some porta potties, and we took a break to warm back up and check out the spectacular views.

At the higher points, you are around 10,000 ft elevation, and you may notice the difference when 17 Best Things to Do in Park City, Utah 2023 (Besides Skiing)you’re walking around if you’ve just arrived from somewhere at sea level elevation.

From there, it was only about 30 minutes back to the start, and you get to pick up some speed on the straight sections near the end.

Tips and safety precautions

Dress warm! We were almost too hot doing other outdoor activities in the same temperatures. But once you start moving on the snowmobile, you’ll need all the warmth you can get. The windshield doesn’t block much of the wind. The helmets don’t have a face shield, so bring a balaclava-type ski mask or helmet liner.
Under helmet balaclava masks
Sunglasses or ski goggles. We didn’t have ski goggles and just used sunglasses, which worked OK but fogged up with the balaclava.
Hand and foot warmers
- Thin foot warmers from any outdoor store/Amazon to stick to your socks
- Hand warmers to go inside the kid’s gloves. The drivers will have heated hand grips from the snowmobile that work great, but the kids appreciate the hand warmers.
Like riding any other off-road vehicle, shift your weight on the side of a hill to keep it from tipping over. Two snowmobiles in our group tipped over onto the riders after they went sideways across a hill, trying to get back onto the trail while letting another group pass. But no one got hurt or damaged any snowmobiles, and if you’re on a trail, you will be fine.

Recommended Gear for a Snowmobiling Trip

Conclusion

Snowmobiling in Park City, Utah, with kids at Park City Peaks, was a great time! We would do it again. If you’ve never snowmobiled before, it’s a lot of fun and easy enough to do. For more Park City ideas, check out the following.