Utah has 14 ski resorts, 11 of which are within an hour of the Salt Lake City International Airport. As such, it is one of the most convenient places to plan a last-minute ski trip because you won't have to spend much time traveling. Book an early morning flight and/or a late departure and you could easily ski on your travel days. The three resorts in Park City and four resorts in Little and Big Cottonwood canyons are all within 40 miles or so of the airport.
The best way to get your Utah ski trip off to the right start is by planning to ski on your day of arrival. Sweetening this idea even more, the QuickStart program makes it free. You'll need to sign up at www.parkcity.com/quickstart.cfm before you leave, and will need to show your boarding pass at the ticket window. That's all you'll need to get your free lift ticket at Park City, Deer Valley or The Canyons. Park City has night skiing, so even if you arrive late, you can still take advantage of free skiing. The Quickstart offer is blacked out during the holidays and part of the season.
The thing about last-minute trips is you don't have too much time to research and plan, which means you probably won't have time to study every resort's website for the best deals. This is another reason that Utah is well-suited to last-minute travel. Unlike other ski resorts, which tower over isolated mountain towns, Utah's resorts are convenient to its cities and suburbs. You can skip expensive base-area or ski town lodging in places like Park City and stay in towns like Midvale, Sandy and Ogden. The former two are convenient to Alta, Brighton, Snowbird and Solitude and the latter is convenient to Snowbasin and Powder Mountain. Because they're not tourist towns, lodging prices are much cheaper.
If you had planned earlier, you could have had your choice of large, four-wheel-drive rentals. Waiting until last minute, the only thing left is a tiny two-door with three bald tires. Since you won't even be able to travel in certain parts of ski country without snow tires, four-wheel-drive and/or chains (the Cottonwood Canyons, for instance, require snow tires or chains for all winter travel and chains or four-wheel-drive during storms), you may want to opt for public transportation. The Utah Transit Authority runs ski buses that service all four resorts in the Cottonwood Canyons and are a good option if you don't want to rent a car.
