High above the Great Salt Lake and its three-mile-deep copper shaft mines, Utah's Wasatch Mountain Range looms large, with a wrinkled expression and a tree line that often creeps up to the forehead. The high Sierra, which means "mountain pass" in the language of the Native American Shoshone tribe, is where the Rocky Mountains open into a desert full of dinosaur bones. But in recent winter seasons, the Wasatch has become known for something else: as the most memorable place to ski in North America.
Every record was broken last winter, as the best snowfall in four decades hit Utah and the season's closing dates stretched into the blazing summer sun. I skied at three of the fifteen resorts in late March: Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon; Powder Mountain in the Ogden Valley; and Sundance Mountain Resort, once owned by Robert Redford. Every night, every resort was rebuilt by heavy snowstorms. The good times didn't end until June 18, when Snowbird, the last resort to stay open, finally closed.
Nevertheless, Utah is better known to the British as the land of the red rocks, the all-American destination of horseshoe arches, desert plateaus and tombstone rock pillars. This is the United States of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Thelma and Louise. You're probably familiar with Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef or Zion National Parks. Maybe less, so the ski lifts were high above snow-capped cliffs.
Yet the Wasatch, just an hour's plane-to-piste transfer from gateway Salt Lake City, undergoes a mesmerizing transformation every winter, and it now lays claim to being the signature alternative to Colorado or California. Or, as the locals like to say in the spirit of total provocation: the gunpowder capital of North America.
Snowbird
I started in Snowbird. Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon has an unenviable reputation as home to the most dangerous snow road in the country. Steep canyon walls lean over the highway as it rises over seven miles, and snow blocks access as regularly as it falls. World War II howitzer guns blast almost daily to cause slides below 8,000 feet and keep everyone safe and moving.
The story continues
I couldn't quite believe my luck. In the weeks before I arrived, 17.9 meters of snow had fallen and there I was, skiing on a pristine slope in the sunshine, despite the avalanche-prone Mount Superior looming on the other side of the valley. Before that, I had asked the ski rental at the base station how Snowbird dealt with so much snowfall. The big fear was that the resort's main tram line could not be excavated. Weeks earlier it had been neck deep for the first time in its history.
Snowbird opened in 1969 and the resort bills itself as an all-rounder, with Grand Prix-style pistes and several off-piste bowls, all easily accessible from the top stations. A trip between the two main ski areas, made possible by a conveyor belt-cum-history museum detonated by the mountain, took me to a series of double black diamond runs with views of the Colorado Plateau and neighboring Alta.
Alta, Snowbird's twin resort, is just as beautiful, although you have to be tolerant of diehard American prejudices: the oldest resort with a lift in Utah is for skiers only. Let that happen, though, and know that Alta was hit with 70 feet of snow last year, the most ever recorded by any resort in the state's history.
Powder mountain
The north road to the quiet resorts surrounding the town of Ogden seems like the perfect remedy for those who find Little Cottonwood Canyon too busy. Powder Mountain numbers day passes at 1,500 skiers, and when I arrived the glades were covered in powder, the slopes empty and the resort blinded by snowfall that rolled in as fast as fog.
Behind the conceit that Utah has the most snow on record lies a meteorological anomaly caused by the Great Salt Lake's influence on precipitation. As Powder Mountain ski instructor Loel York told me, it's a magical formula known as "flotation," where the sky is besieged by dense clouds, the mountains ambushed by constant light, swirling gusts.
"The lake effect produces consistently soft snow," he said, as we rode one of the many empty chairlifts that day. "It gives us the opportunity to ski the same downhill every day, as if for the first time. And we have a snow cat for our site without lifts."
That snowcat costs $25 per drop and opens up huge pools and easily accessible slides that give it a piste map on a much grander scale than larger operators like Vail and Whistler Blackcomb. For a while we skied on roller coasters and across a snow-covered plateau that was once used as a sheep grazing area.
In the distance were the bright lights of Ogden, where the construction of America's first transcontinental railroad in the late 1860s created a boom town. Today it still has an Old West vibe with brewpub saloons, gold rush themed pawn shops and historic 25th Street, which simplifies après ski with an array of great bars and restaurants.
With more time, I would have visited Ogden's closest resort, Snowbasin, which was once empty and wild and is now being significantly expanded. But I already had another destination in mind.
Sundance mountain resort
In the decades since Robert Redford bought this stretch of wilderness beneath Mount Timpanogos, the Hollywood actor has turned it into a ski-meets-art arcade, and today the new owners are sticking to his original principles. Steep ravines flow into wide basins, wooden lodges host art classes and film festival premieres, and vast tracts of spruce forest remain shielded from development.
What the resort means to those who have watched it grow has also changed in recent years. "Since Redford sold it to the new owners, the ski area has improved," ski patroller Tracy Christensen told me. "They really have their sights set on creating a destination resort."
I spent the afternoon with the Wasatch Backcountry Rescue veteran and his nine-year-old black Labrador Jagger and as we explored Sundance's newest bowl, which has opened 10 new runs, he told me how the 2023 season was the most unforgettable in 30 years. years. At the top of an elevator, he pointed to a snowbank in sparkling cold sunlight. Somewhere deep below that was an invisible measuring post.
After spending the day with Tracy and Jagger, I came to the conclusion that there is an honesty and freedom in these resorts that is hard to find in California or Colorado. Forgetting the new-found snow fame for a moment, perhaps that's what makes Utah the unsung hero of skiing in the United States.
Essentials
Ski Safaris (skisafari.com) offers a 14-night itinerary through Utah Powder Hunter and National Parks, including Snowbird, Alta, Powder Mountain and Snowbasin, from £3,675 pp, on a two-share basis, including flights, accommodation and car hire.
America As You Like It (americaasyoulikeit.com) has an 11-night Dark Skies and Winter Highs fly-drive, including Snowbird, Alta, Powder Mountain and Snowbasin, from £2,740 pp, based on two sharing, including flights, accommodation and car labor power. For more information about Utah, see visitutah.com
Mike MacEacheran was a guest of Visit Utah.
