Pow Mow / Snowbasin

factory81

factory81

Active member
I am heading back to Utah for another trip this winter and I've never been to either of these places (or beaver mountain).
Snowbasin has a good selection of lifts it looks like plus they try and compete with deer valley for food and being rich, so whatever thats cool i guess. i hear the place suffers in early season and late season to the low elevation, and even when it is good the mountain faces a direction that causes it to be really windy?
Powder Mountain i hear is just...cool yet tame like snowbasin? I've been reading on TGR and no one is ever up front about shit it seems, but they make it seem like you can cat ski, do all kinds of cool shit, but the terrain isn't gnarrr like LCC or BCC. I like fun terrain and face shots. Snowbird and Alta have been my home on powder days pretty much. (tired of fighting over the powder though and watching it get tracked out in no time as ski patrol opens it up and all of SLC valley is trying to go out the circue or the road to provo.
But does it suck? And do pow mow / snowbasin generally lack the snow that you find in lcc / bcc in your earlier season? Aka New years eve time you will want to most likely be in LCC / BCC because they will have the most snow coverage, and the most terrain open probably.

I am going to play it by weather, and the dude is my new plan to avoid lines and get some face shots during a powder day, but I hear that Pow MOw / snowbasin are worthy alternatives.

Come on NS.
Whats up with Pow Mow / Snowbasin? Are they worth visiting? Or do the lifts blow that much at pow mow?
 
ok here is the deal. Snowbasin is a big mountain with good steep skiing just like lcc, bcc but does lack some of the snow. They do make a good about of snow although. If its a stormriding day snowbasin is not the best resort to ski since there are not alot of trees to ski. Its windy many times gondolas which access most of the terrain will be on wind hold. Powder mountain is less of a resort than snowbasin and more of a ski area. The terrain is more mellow that most places in Utah and in turn is not the best spot to ski nipple deep pow.
 
Snowbasin is fun. Not as rocky as other places, but still some fun gnarly terrain if you look for it. I like the place. I could see it suffering from lack of snow for sure, but I've only rode there twice. There's plenty of steep stuff, but more in-between mellow stuff than other mountains.

The lodges are super super posh. Walking into a lodge will have you questioning whether you missed the coat check and the sign asking you to remove your skiboots at the door. but nothing is really even close as pricey as DV. You're still paying 10 bucks for lunch, but it's really really good, way better than most lodge food.

Powder Mountain is also fun. NOBODY rides there. It's crazy. So if you hit the right day, you will have plenty of fun skiiing deep powder, all day. There's a few random rippers but for the most part you will be the only one jumping of things, look hard and there are some sweet little (little.) lines to ski and some fun rocks to jump off. I found plenty of smaller 10-25 ish cliffs there but nothing I wanted to jump off with the snow conditions on the day I was there.

You will be very surprised at how short everything is, don't let yourself be disappointed. It's all short shots pretty much. It seems like there's a good hikable ridge that would get you a longer run, but it dumps you out in a pretty random place - which is the other thing. PM is laid out really strange. It will take you a minute (or an hour, haha) to figure it out, as the map flattens out a resort that accesses like 270 degrees of major aspects.

hope that helps.

 
I went to powder mountain once two days after a storm and there was still a surprisingly large amount of untracked. While most of the mountain is more mellow there was some real sick stuff off of the paradise lift. My buddy also goes cat skiing up there and has nothing but good things to say about it. Can't speak much for snowbasin because the day i went the snow was icy windblown bullshit, but some of the terrain was definately decent.
 
i would go to snow basin, its always super fun especially on a pow day. powder is also really fun though iv only been there twice but its nice way easy to find untouched stuff always.
 
Sounds like if the weather is right, that Snowbasin and Pow Mow are the place to be. I could give a fuck less about how posh the place is. But it is pretty wicked when you wander around Silver Lake Lodge at Deer Valley sayin "you old bastards...not skiing the powder.....need your groomed runs all the way from empire to the parking lot dontcha?"
special k for everyone.
LCC is awesome, but its such a shit show and it will be tracked out around the holidays anyways.
Snowbasin sounds just because they have a plethora of lifts that look like they take you everwhere. Pow Mow sounds cool because of the cat skiing.
I will hike some, 20 minutes or so, and I hear that a little bit of hiking at Pow Mow will bring ya to some great spots.

 
Snowbasin is pretty awesome. its HUGE. It also skis really big because alot of the lifts are nearly top to bottom (nothing actually goes to the "top" other than the tram.)

John Paul Express is in my top 5 for favorite lifts. in terms of the terrain you get from it.

i believe you are a midwesterner like myself. and from one to the other, you will love it! its not Alta or the bird but its still sick!
 
you can find un tracked pow a week after it snows at the bird, you just gotta have some secret stashes, but i feel ya on the runs getting tracked out, shit blows
 
Powder Mountain is the shit!
It is a win win situation for you though.. Powder is cheaper, and way less crowded.. Basin is steeper
 
As a tourist with a limited time to enjoy the mountains....

Snowbasin looks like a place for me to go. They have lifts leading everywhere and as people say, its pretty steep. The nice food and stuff cool, but that isn't going to make or break a place to ski.
Powder Mountain...the only thing that wants me to say go here is the fact everyone says it is always empty, and its huge, and you can always find powder. But looking at a lift map, it would appear that the resort boundaries are just huge, and to get to 30% of the resort you have to do some moderate hiking, but than for $15 I can go up lightning ridge and cat ski....too many what if's.
I need to check google earth out, and youtube videos more I guess.
 
24+ inches of fresh go with snowbasin, tons of steeps and tree skiing. trees are spaced wide enough to make turns with out dying, and tight enough to keep the gapers out. how ever i would stay away from here on week ends. Powder Mtn is great and is always empty but way to flat for alot of pow. they do have what is probably the best learning park in the US, tons of boxes of all kinds, and small safe jumps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top