Snowbasin and Beaver Mountain Questions

[Guest Comrade]

My family is planning on switching resorts in the Utah area next year from Park City to Snowbasin. We are doing this largely because the drive to Snowbasin is about 20 minutes from my driveway.

Anyway, I was just wondering what the carving was like at Snowbasin. I have only skied there once in my life. It was a few years ago when I was on soft-boots and largely ignorant to what carving was. Anyway, I really can't remember the resort in terms of carving. Where is the best area? How does it compare to the King Con area of Park City? How is grooming? I would like to add an emphasis on the last question because I hate to see the ridges that the Park City groomers create in the middle of the run.

Now it seems to me like when I went to Snowbasin last, there were a million snowmakers down the middle of the runs. Am I just delusional or is this commonplace? I don't think that would make for the best carving.

To the second part of my post: Beaver Mountain. This is probably Utah's least known resort (sparing Nordic Valley) and I have never skied there. Is there anybody here who does or has skied there recently? Anyway, I am planning on attending USU in a couple of years (unless I can get into somewhere Ivy, even if I could I still couldn't afford it) and I heard they have killer student pass rates. What's carving like there? It’s too bad I am planning on going into engineering because I don’t think I’ll have much time on my hands to spend on the mountain anyway.

Thanks for the help.

->Eric Gibbons

[Kirk]

Lots of fun stuff at Snowbasin. As the season progresses (in terms of snow pack) they remove some of the equipment, but early season, watch out! That's at least what I've noticed over the past few seasons. This resort has the highest capacity for snowmaking in the nation, at least that's my understanding. The Needles gondola will get you access to a lot of good terrain (Porky and Needles run down to City Hill). For shorter runs, Wildcat bowl is a nice groomer. Unfortunately they will only run Wildcat chair on the weekends. Bear Springs off of Becker chair is also nice when it's groomed. On Strawberry side, Main Street and Coyote bowl are fun too. Just watch out for Strawberry if there's ANY kind of storm system moving through, it can get nasty at the top. I've been litterally blown off my feet coming off of the Elk Ridge traverse to the main trails. Awesome view from there though! I too am about 20 minutes from the resort (live in East Layton). Day pass is $54 for adults (get a pass, discounts, etc. wherever you can!)

Be safe!

Kirk