Snow Basin or Powder Mountain?

[andyzee]

I'll be flying out to Utah this Thursday and will be there until Saturday 3/3. I will be staying in Sandy and plan on skiing Alta, Snowbird, and Solitude, did this last year for the first time and loved it. Anyway, I've heard plenty of good things about Snow Basin and would like to check that out. Also have done some research on Powder Mountain and that's peaked my interest. Since I will be in Sandy, I only plan on a 1 day trip up to Ogden. Was just wondering if it's worth going to both on two seperate days? Doing one or the other on one day and sticking to the Cottonwood Canyon areas. Or since conditions aren't as good as they normally are, sticking with the Canyon areas. Oh, what the hell while I'm at it, any recommendations on discount tix for either mountain Any help will be appreciated, thanks.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Andy, since you are staying in Sandy it will be about a 45 minute to 1 hour drive to Snowbasin depending upon traffic (Use the HOV lane on I-15 when you head north). PowMow is further north and will take additional time. If you haven't had a chance to ski either one and time is limited, do Snowbasin first. As I have posted numerous times, it is a beautiful area. According to the list on < skiutah.com > both have about the same base, and equal amounts of recent snow. Clearly LCC and BCC have the better base depths, but beyond skiing, you just have see how beautiful Snowbasin's facilities are. Despite 9 trips out to UT to ski, I haven't had the chance to ski Powder Mountain yet. I fully intend to as soon as I move out there after the middle of March (My fingers are crossed that this time it will all work out!). In any case, I cannot make a comparison between the two having only been to one of them, but three trips to Snowbasin have definitely convinced me that it is a place not to be missed. On the other hand, you certainly have plenty of time to get to both places. If snow depths and weather cooperate go for both! In any event, have a great time, and if you do get to PowMow be sure to post a report. Hope you get a DUMP while you are there. Actually, I hope it hits just before you get there. TP

 

[andyzee]

Thanks tirolerpeter, yeah it's looking better, Snowbird is reporting 12" in the past 24 hours and predicting more for this week. Hope I bring some pow from the east to the west for a change Not sure what I'll do, that's why I'm trying to get some opinions here as to what the areas are like. Oh, and thanks for turning me on to this site Wish I had checked it out earlier.

 

[sszycher]

In no particular order:

-you can get to Sbasin faster than PowMow from Sandy

-PowMow has rec'd more snow than Sbasin this year. I advise you to be skeptical of base depth reports.

-If, as a skier/rider, you love racking up lots of vertical on groomed terrain while riding fast lifts, Sbasin is 4 you.

-If you're into ungroomed/trees/exploration and are willing to sacrifice some vertical, PowMow is 4 you, and is worth the extra time it takes to get there.

Just my opinion, and I've skied both.

 

[Admin]

Good analysis by sszycher. Slightly flawed in that No Name at Snowbasin has steep pow and trees, but if it's not fresh it gets baked. Personally, I'm partial to Pow Mow for the reasons that sszycher cited.

Tony was at PowMow on Saturday and Snowbasin on Sunday. I didn't join him at Snowbasin, so I'll let him offer snow cover comments.

 

[itbeme]

The only "skiing" 1.5 hrs. from me is a 900 ft. slab of ice, which you must share elbow-to-elbow with everyone else. I regularly drive 3 hrs. to ski slightly better hills. So when I drove to Powder Mountain from SLC last year the drive was nothing, and this year we're going to Snowbasin, and maybe Powder Mountain again. So my vote is to try them both, especially because it looks like you will have plenty of time to also ski the closer areas as well.

 

[tseeb]

Discount Utah lift tickets http://www.canyonsports.com/tickets.html
Other Utah discounts http://www.slidingonthecheap.com/ut/

 

[Admin]

Those Canyon Sports lift ticket discounts are similarly priced to vouchers available at ski shops throughout the Salt Lake Valley. FYI, they're not offered at Park City-area ski shops.

If you're running late to Powder Mountain, their vouchers are sold at the cash registers at the Valley Market grocery store at the bottom of the access road in Eden.

 

[andyzee]

Hey everyone, thanks for the feedback.

 

[Sharon]

Andy,

This year we went to PowMow instead of Snowbasin, and I was so enamoured that I can't wait to get back to PowMow.

If there is even 3-4" of snow at PowMow...go there...it skis better than 608" at Alta because of the low angle and lack of traffic. You will make fresh tracks all day long on its 5500 acres. Definitely do the bus and cat skiing. Don't spend too much time trying to find your way around the mountain. If you can't enlist a local to help you out, definitely hire a guide if you can afford it. It would be worthwhile. We spent too much time trying to figure the place out and almost missed cat skiing (it stops at 3pm).

Hit PowMow on a saturday for crowd avoidance. It won't be crowded like Alta and Snowbird, or even Snowbasin gets a good crowd on a saturday. But PowMow may run out of food in the cafeteria if 50 more people show up than they expect. We had no waits for the lifts...maybe 6 people in front of us at the poma and we hopped right on the cat. Admin seemed to have more than that during his visit. Our longest wait was at the cafeteria. I waited for 15 minutes only to find out that they ran out of soup and chili. Grab a Powder Burger at the bar downstairs instead. It was faster and better than the cafeteria, plus you can wash it down with a Cutthroat (Utah microbrew).

Snowbasin is an awesome mountain because it is steep and tall (~3000' vert), but I have yet to have fantastic conditions there...it is always windblown.

But you should definitely go and check it out. The skiing can be steep and gnarly, or just fast and fun on the groomers. The food there is way better than Snowbasin and the lodge in general is a whole nuther world.

PowMow is the down n dirty nitty gritty duct tape kinda place. The bar is kinda divey...cement floor, plastic chairs.

Snowbasin is much more upscale...high speed lifts, gondolas, gourmet food in the cafeteria, fancy carpets and antiques in the lodges, marble bathrooms.

PowMow is not more than 15 min further than Snowbasin. Definitely worth the drive. Visit both and tell us what you think.

 

[Tony Crocker]

PowMow is about 1/2 hour farther than Snowbasin, on a tough road that will be more likely to require chains/4WD if it's snowing. Otherwise, sszycher and Sharon have analyzed the areas well.

On a 10-day trip I think it's a no brainer to try both areas, conditions permitting.

With regard to current conditions I can add a few thoughts. Utah weather appears to have returned to normal in February. A couple more storms are predicted over the next week, and if they are anything like yesterday you will be very pleased.

Nonetheless season snowfall is 70% of normal and base depths reflect that. The bottom of Powder Country has more brush than I recall from 1991. The lower part of John Paul at Snowbasin has quite a bit of brush and thin spots and is a nuisance to ski now. If you ski No Name you'll be forced down there. Better to ski the bowl or trees near the upper liftline, then traverse out to the Grizzly Downhill.

Both areas should be cherry-picked for conditions on your 10-day trip. When you get a storm hammer the fresh with the locals at one of the Cottonwoods like I did yesterday at Solitude. Then hit PowMow a day or two later, when it will still have lots of untracked. If it's a weekday check to see if the bus and the cat will be running. PowMow is thus particularly attractive on weekends. 4 or 5 days after a storm the snow is going to set up with the varied exposures and be a lot of work to ski, as even the Utah locals commented Saturday.

Snowbasin will be mostly the long groomers this year. I was pleasantly surprised by snow surfaces Sunday, but much of it will go to spring conditions on warm days. What you want to avoid are the windhold days on Strawberry and the tram. There are some upper mountain steeps I didn't get to ski Sunday due to the lift closures.

 

[andyzee]

For sure, Solitude can be sweet, hit it 3 of 5 days last year, this is a pic of our last day:

Well, a lot of great advice here. I'll be sure to print it out and take it with me. Once again everyone thanks.

 

[JohnL]

As stated in earlier posts, both Snowbasin and Powder Mountain are worth the drive.

Some additional points.
On low visibility days, Snowbasin can be a bear to ski since a big portion of the terrain is open without trees. (The John Paul lift is the exception.) Plus you don't want to miss the views on a clear day. As noted earlier, wind can sometimes be an issue up top.

A large percentage of faces at Snowbasin turn to muck pretty quickly due to the low base elevation and exposure to the sun. On these faces, you may be doing Spring skiing when other areas are "still in Winter."

Besides the terrain served by the John Paul lift, much of the advanced terrain at Snowbasin is on the ridges at the top of the area.

For either Snowbasin or Powder Mountain, hit the Silver Star Saloon in Huntsville. Oldest continuously operating saloon in Utah. Open every day but closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

With the new High Speed Quad, Powder Mountain skis a bit differently now. The lift below the Hidden Lake Express is slooooow. (Can't remember the name of the lift.) Runs in Cobabe Canyon will take you to this bottom lift, so you'll burn some time on these runs.

Eat early at Powder Mountain, cuz they're liable to run out of food.

 

[Admin]

Good advice, but for those actually trying to find it in Huntsville it's actually the "Shooting Star Saloon." Don't miss the Star Burger, the stuffed St. Bernard mounted on the wall, or the "Honor System" jar behind the bar (head to the men's room to understand that last one).

 

[sszycher]

JohnL, the lift below the Hidden Lake hi-speed chair is called the Paradise chair. It's a fixed grip triple or quad.

Unless you cut your run short off that peak, you end up down at Paradise instead of the Hidden Lake Chair. However, the Hiddel Lake - Sunrise T bar combo, even when you do cut the run short to get back to the hidden lake chair, provides fantastic low-mid angle tree shots with excellent surface conditions. In a way, I think this slightly awkward quirk preserves the quality of the snow.

Speaking of which, when I was at PowMow in early Feb, the rumour was that there were plans to put in a lift of some type in Cobabe Canyon, which would address theis issue. Part of me doesn't want to see that. Am I the only one who feels that Alta isn't what it used to be, because the new lifts mean the place gets skied off much quicker than it used to?

I could have sworn I had read a quote from the grand dad of Alta (Alf Engen??) that said, "Too many skiers ruins the skiing. Alta is for skiers." Or is that an urban myth, so to speak?

 

[OHski]

I just returned from skiing Snowbasin and Powder Mountain. Here's the perspective of a dad with three teenagers. As background, we're all comfortable skiing up to single black diamond slopes at both resorts. We all enjoy exploring, aren't big on terrain parks, and prefer trees to trails. We despise long lines and crowded slopes. Because of this, both resorts are on our must-ski list when we visit Utah.

I mostly agree with the previous posts, so will comment on a few other aspects of the two resorts.

Some differences we noticed... fresh snow tracks out much faster at Snowbasin. Their lift capacity is light years beyond that of Powder Mountain. The good part is you can cover a lot of terrain in a day. The flip side is everyone else does too. We put down fresh tracks at Powder Mountain a day later, while Snow Basin was pretty much tracked out a few hours after the lines opened.

The food. I know a lot of folks couldn't care less about this, but for those who do, here's my take on the two. Resorts don't have to offer fine cuisine, but they shouldn't pawn off a $10 piece of gristly cereal patty as hamburger either (that would be Snowbird). Powder Mountain is a fun loving brats 'n beer crowd. It was warm, so we sat in the snow, dined on charcoal grilled brats, and listened to the tunes. It was very much a party atmosphere with the powder mountain folks going out of their way to make us feel welcome. Enough so that we came back two days later. Decent food, friendly people. The chili can run out, as we found out later that week. The burgers were very good.

Snowbasin cuisine, in my opinion, is the best. Food at any resort is expensive, but here you get what you pay for. Tomato bisque? Excellent. Pizza with gorganzola and fresh sausage? No problem. Where else can you relax and dine with dripping ski boots while enjoying the world-class architecture and incredible views (grizzly lodge). The total cost for a meal is the same as any other resort, but these guys are real chefs and take pride in their food preparation and service.

As others have said, If you're in the area for any duration, try and catch both places. If it's a powder day, ski Snowbasin first, then Powder Mountain.

 

[JohnL]

Good advice, but for those actually trying to find it in Huntsville it's actually the "Shooting Star Saloon."

Thanks for the correction. For some reason, I always screw up the name.

 

[JohnL]

Unless you cut your run short off that peak, you end up down at Paradise instead of the Hidden Lake Chair. However, the Hiddel Lake - Sunrise T bar combo, even when you do cut the run short to get back to the hidden lake chair, provides fantastic low-mid angle tree shots with excellent surface conditions. In a way, I think this slightly awkward quirk preserves the quality of the snow.

Agreed. You just have to scout out how far down you can go and still catch the Hidden Lake lift. It's always a trade-off of effort and time versus quality. Typically, but not exclusively, I hit the easier to get to stuff first.

In past years, I would ski the Paradise lift more, since the old Hidden Lake Chair was the longest lift ride known to man or woman. The Paradise was a bit shorter ride.

I also agree that I'd like to not see a lift in Cobabe. I was a bit disappointed when PCMR put a lift in McConkey's.

Once last Pow Mow tip, the trails on the Timberline lift are often nicely sun-warmed and skiable at the end of the day.

 

[andyzee]

Plane leaves in 9 hours be in Utah at 11 AM. First stop Backcountry.com to pick the pair of Phat Luvs I got for my wife on SteepandCheap.com. Then hotel in Sandy, stop at Canyon Sports to get the bindings mounted on her skis. Figure Friday it's going to be Snowbird and Saturday, maybe Powder or maybe Solitude, that will depend on the snow reports after Friday's storm :lol:

 

[Admin]

JohnL, the lift below the Hidden Lake hi-speed chair is called the Paradise chair. It's a fixed grip triple or quad.

Quad.

the Hidden Lake - Sunrise T bar combo

Sunrise is a poma, actually.