Our club took a ski trip to Utah in Feb/March 2008. The experience left us with big smiles and happy memories. We were a small group of long time skiers still looking for the next great mountain.
I had mixed feelings about taking our group to a new area that: a) wasn't a quaint old ski town b) wasn't ski in/ski out and c) had only hotel rooms (no condos). However, the experience truly exceeded my expectations. Layton is about 25-30 minutes north from the Salt Lake City airport. Although it is not an old, quaint town, the area has everything. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard, which included a full breakfast. They also gave us a free pizza party during the week and there is a Manager's Reception on Wednesday that includes drinks and appetizers. Some rooms come with mini fridges and I understand a fridge is available to anyone upon request. I requested a room with a fridge and was changed with no problem. Room size was quite comfortable. Facility has a hot tub, pool and work out area. Also, The Summit Bar is located right inside the Marriott. We were walking distance from many restaurants as well as a Super Target (carries groceries and beer) across the street.
We were 1/2 hour from Snow Basin & about 45 minutes from Powder Mountain. The skiing was phenomenal! Snowbasin is a gorgeous facility done in the style of Sun Valley. Lots of groomed runs. It even has an elevator if you can't handle the steps at the end of the day.
Powder Mountain has 5500 acres of terrain. You can ski with or without trees, on or off trails. I never really knew what off trail skiing could mean until I skied here. You have to hike or take a Snowcat to some of the runs, but in the next few years they are adding ski lifts to accommodate accessibility. It had no lift lines, great snow, friendly people...really the best of everything. We skied fresh snow all day the second day after a snowfall.
The restaurants where we dined had the optimum balance of good service and good prices. I highly recommend Mimi's (walking distance). They have an eclectic menu with fabulous food and a fun atmosphere. Go on Sunday night and you'll have the place to yourself. For a little Irish flavor go to MacCool's. They specialize in lamb dishes but serve good food for any palate in a festive, friendly Irish atmosphere. After you eat, play a game of tabletop shuffleboard or real darts and I'd like to add, the wait staff at both of these places made me feel like a regular.
We also ate at The Mandarin in Bountiful one night. Best Chinese food in Utah! They mix styles to come up with a whole different spin. The best thing to do with a group is to sit at the large table in back and order a variety of entrees that everyone can taste. We did this and determined we only needed to order half as much food as we would have if everyone had gotten individual entrees. Just remember to get really good directions before you go there, it is a bit tricky to find.
At both mountains and wherever we went in Layton, everyone we encountered was like a goodwill ambassador for the area.
We received help in putting the trip together from Brandon Berrett at Davis Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. Call him! He also gave us a local's tour of some off run skiing at Powder Mountain. I highly recommend that you give this area a try next year. Everyone will think you're a genius for suggesting it!
Wow! That's all I kept saying yesterday. I had started at Snowbasin on Friday, which was great (sunny ~ 40degrees) and then spent 2 amazing days at Powder Mountain. I then decided to close my 4days adventure back at Snowbasin, which was nothing less than "unfreaking believable." There was more powder than you knew what to do with and it kept coming and coming. What a way to close March 08. OnTheSnow.com reported much less than what all of us kept witnessing. Very small crowds. Everyone having the time of our lives. As I have said before on a different commentary, this 2 resorts, Snowbasin & Powder Mountain, are Utah's best. If you want steep slopes and big crowds then head to the others, but there is nothing that you'll be missing by coming to what I consider to be my 2 most favorite places. I have trully lived the cliche. Utah has by far "The Best Snow On Earth." Good snow everyone. See you all next season
Anonymous - March 27th, 2008
1 of 1 people found this Resort Review helpful.
Overall
5 of 5
Family Friendly
4 of 5
Downhill Terrain
5 of 5
Terrain Park
3 of 5
Apres Ski
n/a
Great time. My son, 13, and I spent two days at Snowbasin. He skied and I rode my board. The mountain has a lot of variety, open terrain, and natural bowls. The facilities were first class and exceeded our expectations.
We stayed at The Canyons and it's about an hour drive to Snowbasin. Worth the drive.
Anonymous - March 17th, 2008
1 of 1 people found this Resort Review helpful.
Overall
5 of 5
Family Friendly
4 of 5
Downhill Terrain
5 of 5
Terrain Park
n/a
Apres Ski
1 of 5
I spent a week skiing in Utah (Mar. 9-15, 2008). I happened to ski Snowbasin on March 13-here are some of my impressions.
1). Terrain-I found the terrain to be both impressive as well as challenging. Unlike the resorts in the Park City area, Snowbasin is more of a "mountain" than a collection of individual ski hills, so your "runs" consist of much more vertical and are a lot longer. I skied each of the Olympic downhill courses and took several runs off of the John Paul Express quad. All consisted of long, long groomers on which you can build up some serious speed. My only regret was that the snow conditions weren't very good that day. There was no fresh snow and the sky was overcast throughout most of the day-so I really didn't get to sample more of the double blacks. However, I found Snowbasin's groomers to be much more challenging than what you'd find at any of the 3 Park City resorts.
2). Lifts-Snowbasin has a modern lift system. There are 3 gondolas, 1 high speed quad and a couple of older, slow chairs. I thought that the best skiing was off of the super-long John Paul express quad. It runs from the base to a high mountain lodge. From here you can access several black and double black runs or take a tram to the start of the Olympic downhill course(s). The only complaint that I have with Snowbasin's lifts is the lack of a mid-mountain, high speed lift-but only because I got tired of continuously skiing all the way to the bottom. This is only a matter of taste though!
3). Facilities-Snowbasin has the most impressive on-mountain lodges in the USA. The Needles lodge at the Tram base is particularly impressive. I've been to Vail, Aspen & Deer Valley and none of these places can match Snowbasin in this area. They've literally built several Country Clubs on the mountain. Brass, luxurious carpeting, leather furniture is used in abundance. The food was typical ski resort fare but it was cheaper to eat here than it was at Snowbird.
4). The Verdict-I like Snowbasin a lot and hope to visit when snow conditions are better. I felt it was well worth a trip from Park City-especially if you are an advanced skier such as myself.
Never ski Park City over Snowbasin, the drive is always worth it. Midweek the mountain was empty and the snow was killer!!! I would rank Snowbasin along with Alta as my favorite in Utah.
Didn't get to really ski the place since when I was there over half the hill was shut down because of high winds. I understand this safety precaution and my gripe is not about this.
My grip is that with 15min lift lines and over half the hill shutdown due to the high winds the place would not offer any voucher or refund. After 1 run I realized the conditions and did not want to ski. I was on a week vacation and did not want to waste my legs skiing in those conditions since I would be there for another 3 days. When I tried to sell my lift ticket (since they wouldn't voucher or refund) they took my ticket and kicked me out.
I will never visit nor recommend this place ever again...
Anonymous - February 28th, 2008
0 of 1 people found this Resort Review helpful.
Overall
5 of 5
Family Friendly
4 of 5
Downhill Terrain
4 of 5
Terrain Park
n/a
Apres Ski
4 of 5
I had a great time at Snowbasin in Feb. Like other resorts, they don't put their snowguns away for the night to satisfy the needs of people who overski their ability and vision. I was there when the top of the mountain was in a cloud and the visibility was near zero. Guess what? I slowed down and skied within my ability to stop and within the limitations imposed by the mountain. I did notice a MediVac helicopter while I was having an excellent lunch at the top of the mountain on 12th of Feb. I think my question about what happened has been answered.
Because of that, I'll be able to go back and won't have to whine about my hospital stay and about how stupid they are for my mistake. See back of any lift ticket and/or trail map for more info:
"skiing is inherently risky and the user assumes all liability, blah,blah etc,etc."
Anonymous - February 26th, 2008
1 of 1 people found this Resort Review helpful.
Overall
1 of 5
Family Friendly
3 of 5
Downhill Terrain
4 of 5
Terrain Park
n/a
Apres Ski
n/a
If you like a resort that puts permanent snow guns out in the run, Snowbasin is your place. If you go up the gondola, you can start a traverse on a cat track complete with a line of barely marked snow gun obstacles. If you are lucky, it will be a little foggy out for your first-ever run at Snowbasin. And when you click in your boots, ski your first 20 seconds down the first cat track right into the first snow gun and severely fracture your shin for the first time right below your knee resulting in severe pain, a toboggan ride, more pain, 6 days in the hospital, two surgeries and installed hardware, more pain, then you know Snowbasin is your place (true story 2/22/08).
Anonymous - February 4th, 2008
1 of 1 people found this Resort Review helpful.
Overall
5 of 5
Family Friendly
4 of 5
Downhill Terrain
5 of 5
Terrain Park
5 of 5
Apres Ski
3 of 5
Loved it!!! First night we had 19 inches of powder, the next night we had 17 inches of powder. We arrived on 1/29/08 (mid week) and the only lift line was first thing in the morning, then we would head out to the strawberry lift and didn't wait in line once all day. The lifts are very nice, the two gondolas are newer as is the John Paul HSQ. I've been to snowbird and alta before and after this trip I recommend snowbasin (I'm going back soon (and I'm taking my snowboard this time)). Only down side is that they still need a onsite hotel to make it a full resort. However, we stayed at the red moose lodge about 10 miles away and the hotel was very nice. My only two desires for this resort is a HSQ on becker/porcupine and onsite hotel.
Loved it! Skied with my dad and my brother. Well, one run with my brother, he's always skiing the chutes and scary stuff. My dad and I are about the same speed, so we enjoyed our tele-marking leg-burn all the way down! The runs are amazingly long, we discovered, thus the leg-burn, but worth the lift ride up, for sure! The gondolas and lodges are wonderful. I felt totally spoiled for the day!
I'm just a small town girl, so I was amazed at the heated sidewalk. It was covered in about six inches of snow at 9 am., a little slushy at 11 and by noon or so it was completely dry! Wow! I wish I had that at my house! This resort is well worth the price! You definitely get your money's worth at Snowbasin!
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