# I Says Utah, Who says Crowded?



## neednsnow (Nov 30, 2007)

Looking to do a group trip to Utah (SLC) over Martin Luther King weekend (3rd weekend in Jan). There is concern that there will be crowds of gapers who disrupt the Chi of a good boarding weekend. Does anyone have input that can support or dispell this concern? Does the SLC area get the crowds that Summit County, CO gets?


----------



## Sick-Pow (May 5, 2008)

its not a big holiday...no worries either place.
Weekends are crowded anywhere...thats why I only ride on weekdays, )


----------



## Guest (Sep 18, 2008)

Depending on where you go, Utah resorts can cover the whole spectrum. During the bulk of the winter, Park City and Snowbird will be crowded EVERY weekend. MLK weekend will be bad at either of these resorts. I can't speak on PC, but if you show up to Snowbird on a Friday or Saturday any later than 10:30 am, you'll have a hard time finding a parking place. 

Brighton and Solitude are nice alternatives. Both are very accessible from downtown SLC, have great terrain (Brighton is more park-oriented of the two) both are cheaper than the bigger resorts, and neither one should be especially crowded. I imagine The Canyons in Park City would also be a good alternative. 

If you really want to escape the crowds, Snow Basin or Powder Mountain are great. Like the other poster said, PM is NEVER crowded. Snow Basin will be a bit busier, but its also got much nicer lifts and lodges.


----------



## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Snobasin has steeper terrain too.


----------



## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

More like 20 minutes to Snobasin and 10 minutes maybe less to Powder Mountain...


----------



## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Yes, we were that close to Powder Mountain. And yes that road was very sketchy. It's steep and gets very icy in that narrow ass canyon. I plan to have better tires next time I am there. 
That hole picture reminded me of Jerrid (?). I was riding just ahead of him and he stopped, fell over backward, disappeared. I got my binders off as quick as possible and ran over as I was afraid his head would be under some of the creek water and he could be having a hard time breathing. Fortunately that wasn't the case, but he was trapped.

Brighton, Snowbird, PC and those other resorts are about an hour south of the Pow Mow, Snobasin area. That is spot on.


----------



## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Meh, I knew that creek led out and that we were heading the right direction to get to the road. The big question was where would it put you out? Just down the road from the resort or say 15 miles away almost in the town of Ogden like someone from our group found out when he went out of bounds at Snobasin...


----------



## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Yeah, that was a memorable run. I had completely untracked until I hit the ravine bottom. Probably about 3K vertical on that run. There was a bit of uphill hiking I did to avoid an obvious avalanche trap. Being alone I would have been screwed. The snow was very blower back there though. It was a bit of a scary snake run once I got down to the snowshoe trail, but it gave me a way out. There were 4 other boarders at the road who did the same thing. I didn't see their tracks so they took a different (probably more dangerous) route and were just as lost as I was. Well at least they knew they were in Ogden Canyon. I figured I was just a mile or two from Snobasin. I will say, that if conditions warrant, I would glady shuttle a car there and do that again. The vert and terrain was fantastic. Somewhere over 4k in vertical on that run overall.


----------



## Guest (Sep 19, 2008)

Powder Mountain and Snow Basin are both right outside the town of Ogden, which is about 40 minutes North of Salt Lake City. Brighton, Solitude & Snowbird are in the Cottonwood canyons right outside of SLC. Park City and The Canyons are outside the town of PC, which is about 25 minutes East of SLC. 

So if you're staying in downtown SLC, which a visitor is likely to do, it'll take about 20 minutes to get to the Cottonwood resorts, 35 minutes or so to the Park City resorts, and 45-60 minutes to get to the Ogden ones.


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2008)

*Day trip*

I was there 3 years ago for a day trip after spending the week at SLC and taking in Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird...Loved Powder Mtn..heading back this year Jan.17/09..staying at Moose Hollow condo's..plan on hitting Snowbasin, but mostly PowMow..bringing my kite to do some snowkiting as well as boarding the area..anybody going to be around that week, drop me a line..have a few beverages together..:thumbsup:


----------

