Utah's 'Secret' Slopes
Ski More, Wait Less at 4 Crowd-Free Resorts

By Grace Lichtenstein
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, January 22, 2006; Page P01

How's this for heresy: going to Utah's Wasatch Mountains for a ski holiday and then skipping Park City, Deer Valley, Alta and Snowbird.

Those ski areas are famous, and deservedly so. But in the search of fresh perspectives, I suggest skiing or riding Solitude and Brighton.

A quick pre-Christmas visit to Solitude, along with earlier trips to Brighton -- as well as to Snowbasin and Powder Mountain, a little farther away -- have convinced me that these alternatives offer the same great Utah snow at lower cost, without the crowds and with similar convenient access to Salt Lake City.

Are they really that worthwhile? Absolutely. Solitude lives up to its name.

Every time I have visited, I wonder, where is everyone?
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Snowbasin

You will need a car to get to Snowbasin, perhaps Utah's most sensational untapped snow resource. This Bunyanesque former Olympic venue near Ogden is an easy hour's ride along roads widened specifically for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games. It's worth the drive (guests at Salt Lake City's Grand America and Little America hotels have the option of a $20 round-trip shuttle), and you won't go hungry.

Rising from an area known originally as Wheeler Basin up the broad shoulders of Mount Ogden up to muscular granite cliffs and broad open bowls, Snowbasin is an unlikely combination of craggy mountain scenery and Lucullan lodges and lifts. Two gondolas, four triple chairs and one high-speed quad help you access the 2,650 acres of skiing here -- more than at Alta or Deer Valley.

At the top of the quad chair is a 20-passenger tram, kind of like a big soup can, which carries brave souls to the start of the 2002 Olympic downhill course, a vertical freeway whose first several hundred yards hurl you downward at a terrifying pitch, then mellows into a broad, still-steep boulevard. You won't want to take intermediates here, but they can play all day von a vast expanse of milder terrain served by the Strawberry and Needles express gondolas.

If you've been to Sun Valley, the soaring wood beams, chandeliers, deluxe restrooms and high-class cuisine at Earl's Lodge at the base will remind you of that gracious Idaho resort. It's the kind of place where you feel almost underdressed walking through in ski clothes. You can have a quick sandwich or wood-fired pizza lunch, or dine in the Huntington Room and spend two hours, European-style, dining on wild mushroom-stuffed chicken breast and other specialties.

The great Snowbasin mystery is this: Why go to the trouble and expense of building such facilities, yet have no base-area accommodations?

Management insists it has plans for an entire village someday. Meanwhile, spokesman Kevin Stauffer bragged that Snowbasin's busiest day last season was the "equivalent to Deer Valley on Monday." I don't understand what's preventing expansion, but go enjoy uncluttered Snowbasin now.

Powder Mountain

For an even more empty experience, head a little bit farther north from Salt Lake City or Park City to Powder Mountain, another underutilized ski hill that claims the most in-bounds terrain in the United States (5,500 acres, bigger than Vail). It is prized by Salt Lake's deep-snow fiends, but navigating it can be tricky. Some newcomers feel there are too many flat areas you must skate across.

Powder's parking, near the top of the mountain, is reached via a two-lane road that can get slick. If you don't have a four-wheel-drive vehicle, you might be happier if you stop and park at Wolf Creek Resort, where you catch a shuttle bus to the resort center.

Best bet for first-timers: a full- or half-day tour from a mountain host. Beyond the view from the lifts is an immense wilderness of ungroomed snow called Powder Country. Ski it and you wind up on the resort's access road. Shuttles run continuously, taking skiers back to the base lodge.

Aside from the fun, how much can you save skiing these resorts? A single-day adult lift ticket at any of the four is cheaper by at least $16 compared with Park City. The only thing you'll miss are the bragging rights. And the crowds.