I love to ski, and frankly one of the best places (in my opinion) to ski is Utah. I live in California, and everybody around me will tell you that I am flat out wrong. They’ll tell you how great lake Tahoe is for skiing and how nice it is to be able to drive up there. It is nice to be able to drive, but it is not nice to get stuck in traffic between here and there for 7 hours! That’s more common than the map quest time of 4 hours that everyone always quotes. Well, if you head up on Wednesday and home on Monday you can easily avoid the heavy traffic. So long as your job permits that kind of schedule and it does not snow, you are good to go!
That leads me to why I like jumping on a plane and flying to Utah better than getting in a car and going to Tahoe. Put simply, it is faster for me to go skiing in Utah! The mountains are only about 20 minutes away from the Salt Lake city airport. And, there is plenty Utah Lodging to keep the price down. So, after a 45 minute flight and a 20 minute drive, and maybe some extra time for security and bags at the airport you are on the slopes same day. It does cost a bit more money, but it is a much better travel experience. And, yes, the snow in Utah is true powder, which lake Tahoe does not ever have!