Day 2 - Snowbasin

Saturday, February 2^nd, 2007 - Anxious for more powder turns, we left our hotel early to head north about an hours drive to Snowbasin Ski Resort. Snowbasin underwent a massive facelift before the winter Olympics a few years ago in Salt Lake City, and hosted the downhill ski races. I had been to Snowbasin once when I lived here in 1995, but not since the renovation. Andrew had been there last year, and called me from the lift to rave about the best run he had ever had in his life.

As we approached the mountain, we could see clouds hanging over the peaks, and knew that the snow was falling again from a small disturbance moving through the area. We could immediately see an area of untracked powder and tree runs to skiers left of the lifts. I commented how it was amazing that such steep and deep terrain was lift accessible so close to the base area. Andrew said that this indeed the same area that he had called me from, and we were heading straight there.

It turned out that while the previous day had been a powder day, the area we were seeing from the base was closed due to avalanche danger. The deep snow had settled overnight, making it perfect for steep tree runs leading to a traverse back to the lifts. Going up the high-speed quad, we could see our line from the chair. It was on!

After a handful of runs into our new found playground, we decided to go explore some of the rest of the mountain. We headed up the gondola to mid-mountain, and down to the Strawberry Express, on the far skiers right. I had been to this area when I was there before, and remembered some low angle glades that offered some incredible turns. We had several nice runs in this area before it started getting tracked out, and it was time to go grab a sandwich out of the car.

It was tough to motivate after lunch, but we were determined to get back up the John Paul Express and get another few lines down our morning playground. We figured out a high traverse that allowed us to get some fresh lines, even though there were a lot of people in and out of that area all day. We decided at the end to hike No Name peak for the last run of the day.

With less than an hour left in the day, we took the downhill tram from the top of the John Paul up to the ridge. It was spooky as the clouds obscured the ridge, and you couldn’t really tell where you were going on the way up the hill. But once at the top, it was pretty easy to see where we needed to go. We got an additional 500 vertical out of our favorite run, and some great powder turns.

When we got back to the top, we had missed last chair on the tram. So it was a little extra hike up to No Name, but we were up for the challenge. So we started out to the ridge, about a 30 minute hike and short traverse up to the top. From the top of No Name peak you can see directly down into Ogden, where we were staying! There are runs going from the top down into the valley, but I have seen several reports of people being buried in avalanches in that area.

The hike was well worth it! We found epic powder turns the entire way down, with snow up to mid-thigh deep, and only a short traverse out to the lower parking lot at the bottom. What an incredible mountain! Andrew said I would like it, and he was right. With a winter storm warning in effect for 17 inches of snow overnight, we are going back again tomorrow.