Powder Mt Utah Feb 12 and 13 2015

We had been booked to go on the day long cat skiing at Powder Mt unfortunately they did not have enough seats sold to run the cat either day we were there.  This seems to be a recurring problem with them as we had also been shut out with them the previous year and we were trying to use that credit.  Based on the skiing the cat skiing would have been good to great.

Powder Mt may be the most 3d ski area anywhere and you almost have to ski in a circle to access things. It has skiing literally on every aspect at both high and low elevations of each aspect.  We found every snow type from unskiable baked and refrozen to dry powder to perfect corn.  It has a very cool old school vibe and we never waited in a lift line longer than a minute there.

We found nice north facing boot top high powder all along the ridge that comes off the Paradise Chair.  The trees started tight and then it opened up into a lightly gladded bowl.  There also were decent groomers and some nice corn in the afternoon on south facing aspects.  Temps started off in the 20’s and went to the low 40’s with blue bird skies and sun.




During the course of the two days we did pay for 4 runs in the Lightning Ridge Pay per ride Cat.  Our Morning runs were in the North facing trees and it held some fairly deep and dry uncut powder.  Unfortunately those runs were less than 1000 vert long with a really long run out.  To lap that section with the cat it requires 3 lift rides, a bus ride, and the $18 cat ride. It was a lot of work for the turns but the snow was good.  We also got in the afternoons two longer corn runs with a cornice jump built in. To me and my son they were the best runs of the two days and they return almost right back to the lodge so the lap is much less time consuming.




Some of the corn cat skiing terrain above the parking lot



A mountain host showed us some really nice low angle tree runs in the Hidden Lake section off the Poma.  Since we were good skiers he offered to ski the first afternoon with us and show us around.  We used that section as a nice relaxing cool down each afternoon. The open birch trees hid stashes dry creamy powder about 3-4” deep.


The aspens on the left of the shot were nice

Way to make the best of every opportunity Coach.

Thanks Harv

For some reason can't embed from iPad
Went to laptop and it worked fine on edit

This place is sort of the Hickory of Utah.  Old school all about the skiing.  Might change since a dot com moneyed group of hipsters bought the place and they plan to up its profile

Coach Z wrote

Old school all about the skiing.  Might change since a dot com moneyed group of hipsters bought the place and they plan to up its profile

The moneyed hipsters allegedly bought it a while back -- any news about the timeline of their plans?

There was some new very modern new buildings built and in process.  Heard something about a conference / business center.

The Lake Placid model

Love Powder Mountain. I've seen more snow there in April than in some of your pics. That's the most cars I've seen in the lot but I've never been there on a weekend. Like you said, great vibe. I recommend getting there before the planned development takes place. Glad you had a good time. Hope you get that cat skiing in next year.

It was a Thursday and Friday we skied there

I heard that kids in Utah are off that week though from school

It certainly was not crowded on the mt at all.  Oddly the only line was at that Poma and that is because people have trouble loading it.

I don't think I ever found a lift line there.
Good you found nice snow, I have always found untracked there even weeks after a storm.

Last time I was there there was a snowmobile on the Lightning Ridge as a lift. Had a long rope with four knots tied into it every six feet. That was a lot of fun to use.
There was also a few feet of powder. Awesome experience.

I think they like the idea of having the day long cat op more than they like actually running it

The pay per run cat seems to make money

Thanks for the report. The snow looks sparse. Nice clip of your boy.

I think the problem this year is that the conditions in Utah have made people skittish about booking the powder cat adventure...at least that was my situation.  Last year it was heavily booked throughout the season - we went and the cat was full and the b/c snow was fabulous.  Maybe in March...

Met two people on the lifts at Sunapee from Alta - they said the snow was better here - they flew out to see it - cheap flight they said - 250 dollars to BOS and they didn't want to go back. That day was about 8 to 10 of fresh too..

Today I took this at Pico - met up with some other Copper Mountain guys - and they said  - this was incredible snow....

I hope we get snow like this on the East for years to come!