Snowbasin, Utah's hidden gem being explored by a 7 year old

Enjoy reading about European skiing here plus good advice always.

So this is video of our short trip to Utah, we did DV and then Snowbasin, video below is of Snowbasin. Its a remarkable place and I don't think many Europeans or Americans are aware of how fantastic the place is.



So here is a TR from Snowbasin, home of the Olympic Downhill, Super G and Combined races of 2002. It really is an incredible place with long-runs with 2500ft to 3000ft of vertical (for Utah), serious expert terrain, and UTah powder when its there. We experienced rain, soft crust, hardest ice for the areea and champagne ice-cream Utah powder ... and loved every minute of it, and my boy closed the gondolas every day.

the lodges on mountain are better than anything I have seen ANYWHERE, North America or Europe with bathrooms better than the finest hotels in Europe, and that is on mountain. This bit is for those who ski well and like the fine things on a mountain when not on blades.

Awesome :thumbup: I wish I'd learned to ski at that age.

Great vid dustyfog - thank you. Certainly looks like a fun place to be, and your nipper's on it!

Nice vid fella :thumbup:

Great video cleverly done, how did you make it appear to have great snow, massively wide pistes & erase the other skiers. :mrgreen:

I was just going to say the same as Brooksy! amazing vid mate but i cant believe how quiet the slopes were. must get myself out over that way! looks immense!

Snowbasin is known (now there lies a contradiction) as Utah's secret. It is 55miles directly north of Salt Lake City. Now the Cottonwood Canyon ski places : Alta/Snowbird(Little CC) are legendary and have on mountain lodging at the base; Solitude/Brighton(BCC) not as popular as LCC but really nice too, and these get the most snow, and are roughly 40-45 miles directly E-NE of SLC. The Park City resorts are Canyons (Utah's largest); Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley (the best groomed place), are 45-50miles NE of SLC. All are good and we have skied Alta, Solitude, Deer Valley and now Snowbasin.

We have a long way to go before we explore all the terrain anywhere but this poster's view is Snowbasin is the best, his son who is the main skier thinks its a toss-up between Snowbasin and Alta.

The thing is Snowbasin is known to Utah locals, and it is characterized by
(a) No on-mountain or base lodging; nearest lodging is 10minutes+ away but shuttles get you there real quick.
(b) longest continuous inbound vertical in Utah.
(c) Varied terrain, big long runs, serious chutes and powder bowls all inbounds.
(d) best mountain lodges to rest, eat, relieve in North America, probably anywhere.

The slopes are never seriously crowded, and we skied through what Utah folks think is seriously tough conditions : Day 1 crust, rain, winds (and son closed each gondola!) Day 2: frozen hardpack, could not buy an edge, and we did some seriously extreme terrain, Winds, loved it and the usual gondola closings occurred vis-a-vis young skier; Day 3: Beautiful overnight 8-10" and then snowing all day, dry utah powder, wind-buffed ice-cream snow, and a bit of serious fog rolled in while we were on the women's downhill, visibility 5ft or so, son in middle, Jim in front and Dad bringing up rear, with vertical distance between skiers less than 6 ft (it's reportedly 42deg pitch at the top of Women's Downhill run), and we revelled in it...just one huge adventure. Son closed lifts again!

Folks, Utah is the easiest place to get to ski in the US, and is the "greatest snow on earth" (their trademark, not mine), and you can ski free the day you land in any of the Park City resorts. I would visit Alta and Snowbasin once in this life at least, once there you will be hooked.

I believe only interior BC, and Mammoth Mountain get more snow.

Europe is different and definitely way less snow, and not dry fluffy powder like Utah.
We loved Lech-Zurs though a lot, beautiful place to ski.

You quite like Snowbasin then Dusty?
:mrgreen: