Powder Mountain 1-14

[skimore]

Powder to be had all over 3 days after last snow fall...wow. What a old school cool place. Had some of the most friendly and helpful people working there I have ever seen at ski resort. We made our way over to Hidden Lake Lodge to see about getting in on the Heli skiing. Plenty of untracked to be found in the mellow tree runs. It was a little busy at the heli op upstairs in the lodge due to it being their first time out this year up there and them doing some kind of photo shoot with big group from Black diamond sports. We were told to come back in an hour. So we hit up the trees in Powder Country. We were able to ski untacked lines all the way down to road where shuttle bus picked us up....it was a holiday weekend and there only 2 other people waiting at the shuttle pickup besides us....gotta like that. Shuttle bus usually doesn't take you back to Hidden Lake lodge, but we told driver that we were trying get in on the heli skiing and he had no problem taking us up there.....told us a story about 180'ing the bus and going backwards down the road from Hidden lake...and pulling out of it...that must have been a ride. Back at Hidden lake we opted to just take a single run for $100 as it was already 11 o'clock. As it turns out the single run clients get the South facing runs, snow was a little sun baked and crusty up top but get better as we went down. Posted pic of where they dropped us. We skied some lines off James Peak and skied back into resort where we parted with guides. Overall seemed like a good heli operation. Then bought some $8 tickets for the cat skiing on Lightning ridge. Was very surprised at the untracked in chutes between Waterfall and Hook Chute. This area had better snow than we got on the heli ride. I could do that all day

Overall- not the steepest place, but very vast and plenty off untracked to be had,$8 cat ski rides and shuttle bus pickup from ski down to road.....would absolutly go again

 

[Admin]

Yup, Pow Mow is cool retro funky goodness. Glad you had fun!

 

[snowave]

I definitely plan to hit up Pow Mtn on my trip in a coupel weeks.. I'm praying that we get at least a little snow around that time. How long is the snow cat ride up?

 

[Admin]

How long is the snow cat ride up?

It's short, maybe a half mile, maybe less. You start from a low point on the ridge connecting the Sunset lift and James Peak. You get there via the Sunset chair. The cat just takes you to a higher point on the ridge, high enough to get to the Lightning Ridge terrain.

 

[JC]

Nice post! I'm trying to line up my itinerary for a March 1-5 trip to Park City. Unfortunately, I had arm surgery and had to pass on the annual "guys" trip for Feb and so it looks like I may be on my own in March and looking for some group ski activities. With that in mind, I'm doing the Snowbird Mountain Experience tour on Saturday(supposedly ...hopefully...experts only) and the Interconnect tour on Sunday. Thursday and Monday are half ski/half travel days at Park City.

That leaves Friday.....torn between doing a little hiking at PCMR (East/West faces, Pinecone Ridge, Scott Bowl, etc.) or a day at Powder Mtn. I called Powder Mountain yesterday and the prospect of some Lightning Ridge cat track runs supplemented by 1 or 2 pay-by-the-run heli-ski runs is quite appealing. I've spent quite a bit of time at the Cottonwoods and Park City and perhaps its time to give PowMow a shot. James Peak looks quite nice!

 

[skimore]

They were taking the full day skiers over the other side of James which appeared to have better snow for what its worth

 

[Sharon]

I hope that we make it to PowMow during our visit in 2 weeks. This area has been on my hitlist for years, and each time we seem to not get there. Sure hope it snows out there again soon!!!

 

[yak]

Nice line off of James. PowMow is my favorite place in UT!

The best way to end the day, if you can time it right, is to get off the Hidden Lake Chair after they've roped off the frontside, and instead of skiing right to the base, go straight back and get one more run into Powder Country, hitch back up to the Sundown Chair, and if you have a day/night ticket, ride Sundown and hike Lightening Ridge for a twilight run down Weber or Cache back to the parking lot. You get two more shweet runs while everybody else is done.

I have an old trip report from last year that has a few shots here.
The first shot is Cache looking up to Lightning Ridge.

 

[Tony Crocker]

You better check on the Powder Country shuttle and cat rides. They may only operate on the weekends. I want to go there one day of President's weekend.

 

[sszycher]

I have a trip scheduled for PowMow (flying in from the East) in the very late Jan/early Feb week. After this wknd's system (which may not be much), I find myself staring down the barrel of dry conditions for a good 7-8 days before I get out there.

The long range models are on-again / off again with a system coming thru right around the 31st or 1st, but if that doesn't pan out, this could be a real problem. I mean, PowMow is great for finding great conditions days after a storm, but 10+ days is pushing things.

At what point is it acceptable for me to push the panic button?

 

[Tony Crocker]

Despite the 75% of average snowfall, coverage in Utah is more than adequate as evidenced by admin's report from Park City yesterday.

Powder Mt's terrain is not as interesting as many other Utah areas if there's no fresh snow. And some of its best, such as Powder Country, faces south and would likely be quite nasty after 10 days of no snow.

So I don't think you will have poor skiing, but I would spend more time in the Cottonwoods and at Snowbasin and less at Powder Mt. than if the snow were fresher.

 

[Admin]

I second all of Tony's comments.

 

[ChrisC]

That leaves Friday.....torn between doing a little hiking at PCMR (East/West faces, Pinecone Ridge, Scott Bowl, etc.) or a day at Powder Mtn. I called Powder Mountain yesterday and the prospect of some Lightning Ridge cat track runs supplemented by 1 or 2 pay-by-the-run heli-ski runs is quite appealing. I've spent quite a bit of time at the Cottonwoods and Park City and perhaps its time to give PowMow a shot. James Peak looks quite nice!

If a mountain really needed a 360/topo map - it's Powder Mountain.

Yellow - Powder Country/bus terrain. Blue - Cat terrain.

You can reach James Peak with a 15-25 min hike after a cat ('snowmobile') ride. Then traverse along the James Peak ridge. A little cheaper. cat - blue, yellow - hike

 

[JC]

Thanks for the info. Chris. Very helpful.

 

[skimore]

And that Powder country seems to be a little more west facing than south

 

[Admin]

And that Powder country seems to be a little more west facing than south

Let's call it southwest -- that would be a bit more accurate. And you can ski off the back of Sunset down to the access road, too - that would face southeast.

 

[ChrisC]

Frankly, I thought Powder Country was all south....

but the ridge in Powder Mountain makes it all south with east/west aspects

The SE is better preserved - shorter vertical, but better terrain.

But a few inches on the SW, you got till noon before BAD

Remember Powder MT is lower. Alta/Snowbird is 2-3k higher.

 

[Tony Crocker]

The only day I was at Powder Mt. it was puking snow all day long. Therefore I was guessing on aspect. The Powder Country runs from Hidden Lake were the clear standout runs of the day. This was on old skis in 1991 and the snow was fairly high water content, so those were the runs where I was least likely to get stuck in flat spots.