Our second day in Utah fell on a Saturday, and without any new snow, we thought we would check out the red-headed step child of the Mountain Collective Pass resorts in Utah: Snowbasin. In Utah, it is overshadowed by several other internationally known mountains, but we had heard only good things about it: Great terrain, where you can 'ski anything you see,' the most opulent lodges in the ski world, great lodge food and nice people. During our first day at Snowbasin, we found three out of those four.
Let's get the stunning lodges out of the way. This is John Paul lodge, at the top of the John Paul Jones lift. It has the best view of the lodges, and sits right below the tram, which takes you to the highest point of the mountain where you can see And experience) the start of the olympic downhills from the Salt Lake City games of 2002.
The food was, indeed impressive for a ski lodge, and not terribly overpriced. $30 for this spread.
The bathrooms lived up to their reputation and would fit in at any high-end hotel or resort. I made sure no one was in here before whipping out my phone to snap a picture. All of the bathrooms in every lodge looked like this.
So finally, on to the skiing. Conditions were...less than stellar. A low snow pack, combined with some thawing and freezing turned this into a groomer day. Off-piste skiing on south-facing slopes involved lots of rocks, brush, and even some bare ground. This is toward the bottom of the Strawberry area from the Strawberry gondola.
Even the groomers had thin spots that needed to be marked.
The top of the mountain was in better condition, but the snow was still very hard; trying to duck off the corduroy left our skis chattering in a way any mid-atlantic skier would recognize.
The poor off trail conditions meant the trails were a little more crowded than we expected, but there was plenty of room to enjoy the views all day. From the deck of John Paul Lodge:
Later in the day, crowds thinned out:
Scratching down the cat track from the top of John Paul Jones lift:
We had a fun day, if not a great day our first time at Snowbasin. The scenery was spectacular, and everyone we talked to was extremely friendly and helpful. I can see the potential; I just wish we caught it in better conditions.