OVER at the popular Park City ski resorts, the hordes had chopped the day’s fine powder to a trashy mess within minutes. But at Snowbasin, with 3,000 skiable acres and hardly 2,000 skiers even on a Saturday, the freshly-fallen snow was all mine.
Well, mine and my guide Jim’s. He’s a local who knew the ropes around this area of the resort off the Strawberry Gondola known as Seven Sisters, or sometimes WFO, or Way Far Out.
The faithful refer to it as Dwayne’s World. Gnarled old aspens, thick trunked pines and spiny bushes speckled the slope, but there was plenty of space for turns.
“White trash heli-skiing,” one skier called it. Pretty close — we bounced through the trees, snow flowing over our knees, flying weightless into our faces, filling our nostrils. And when we returned — again and again — there was still plenty of untouched snow to be had.
“Sometimes,” Jim told me, “It’s so deep, you sink down and it totally covers you. You can’t see. You can’t breathe. Then you come up for air and get buried again.”
Welcome to Ogden — the other Utah.
There are actually two large ski hills in this outdoorsy town just 40 miles north of Salt Lake City; Snowbasin, of course, then Powder Mountain. The latter’s even bigger — upwards of 7,000 acres — and even more rustic. Purists love it.
Besides the commonality of fresh snow in abundance, both are relatively uncrowded, there’s no glitz or glamour and spending time at both is pretty easy on the wallet compared to the likes of Deer Valley.
There are reasons people don’t flock to Ogden, of course. While it’s an easy drive from the Salt Lake airport, there are eight incredible resorts a whole heck of a lot closer in. Consequently, skiing in Ogden is a mostly commuter affair. With the exception of some very simple motel-like rooms and a few dozen condo units on Powder Mountain, you pretty much have to drive to the ski hills from wherever you are sleeping. There have been rumors for a decade that a base hotel is coming to Snowbasin, though so far, nothing solid.
“We like to say we’ll believe it when the foundation is laid,” one Snowbasin ski host smiled.
Once you arrive, though, you get endless snow — an average of 500 inches per year — empty runs and staffer that just seem happy to see someone. Anyone. So they treat you like royalty.
To me, an old hand that’s watched skiing in North America trend ever more luxurious, skiing in Ogden — particularly at Powder Mountain — is the sport as it used to be. Simple, rustic, basic. There are no frills here. No tissue boxes at the lift stations, no gourmet mushroom salads, no valet parking. Just lots and lots of snow. And absolutely no people.
They’re here — they’re just spread out over 5,500 skiable acres. That’s bigger than Vail, bigger than pricey Whistler. But a busy, busy day, according to a resort representative, say, Christmas day, when the locals head for the ski hills, is 2,000 people. The rest of the time, you’re hard pressed to find 1,000 bodies on the hill. Even the day after a huge snowfall. Sometimes, the emptiness is spooky.
I’m never going to win a medal for my skiing, so I was thrilled to discover that what Powder Mountain does best is intermediate. There are these incredible aspen groves where the trees are spaced far enough apart and the slope is gentle enough that even I can figure out the mechanics of turning in snow that comes over my knees, making the whole experience as anxiety-free as you’d expect.
Most runs here are wide open and either novice or intermediate. Thrill seekers can hike up Lightning Ridge for what has to be the cheapest snowcat skiing in the country, a bargain at $12 a ride into the wilderness.
But as agreeable as Powder Mountain is, some want more luxury. Here. Snowbasin is happy to oblige. Both resorts were built by Utah billionaire Earl Holding, who owns Sun Valley in Utah; Snowbasin’s official name is actually “Snowbasin — A Sun Valley Resort.”
At Snowbasin. the gondolas are hand washed on a regular basis. Squint in one of the gilt edged lodges and you’d swear you were the actual Sun Valley — same blond, peeled logs, same comfy leather sofas, same huge stone fireplaces. Along with gourmet meals, endless swaths of marble, Italian burl ceilings and enough polished brass to give you a sunburn. And there are some runs here, including one so steep you can hardly stand up, that will definitely grow hair on your chest.
Sun Valley fancy, Utah snow, Montana prices? Yes, please.
HOW TO GO
The snow: Thanks to snowmaking, Snowbasin’s season is pretty much guaranteed from Thanksgiving to Easter. Powder Mountain, which spurns snowmaking and actually advertises this with a drawing of a snowgun that has a diagonal line through it, usually operates mid November to mid April.
The prices: Lift prices are in a time warp: $58 for Powder, $65 for Snowbasin (compared to, say, Vail at nearly $100).
Apres-ski: Stay in Ogden, a pleasant town of 80,000 that’s home to the US headquarters of the company that manufactures Salomon and Atomic skis. The city’s Salomon Center is a new mega-sportsplex that features, among other things, simulated surfing and an anti-gravity, freefall windtunnel. At the Shooting Star Saloon in nearby Huntsville, the burgers — served double and topped with sausage and plenty of onions — are among the best in the state (7350 East 200 South, Huntsville). What’s a burger without custard? JJ Gourmet near Ogden’s Union Station just the thing for anyone feeling homesick for Shake Shack in Manhattan (135 25th St.).
More info: www.powdermountain.com; www.snowbasin.com.