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Powder Mountain, UT: Feb. 19-26, 2013 (from the old Epicski forum)
- Thread starter jamesdeluxe
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jnelly
Member
Indeed. Post/ move to where you will. Note: It is not my TR
Powder Mountain - February 19-26
POWDER MOUNTAIN – NOT JUST A TRIP – AN EXPERIENCE (Caution: Wicked long and ...
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That is quite a report. I confess to being surprised that someone who has lived his whole life in Maine, skiing since he was a kid, was that much of a virgin (his words) at tree skiing and powder at age 56. Home hill is Sugarloaf, which has enough of a reputation that it's high on my priority list if I ever ski the Northeast again.
But there are a few intersections between his ski career and mine. President's Weekend of 1991 four of us road tripped from SoCal for 4 days of skiing in Utah. George and Buffy Tang were powderhounds. Dave Fairhall had less ski experience than I did but his prior job was in Vancouver (skied Whistler with locals) and he has raw athletic talent. Friday and Saturday we skied Alta and Park City.
Then it started dumping. Sunday we went to Powder Mt., 13 inches new and snowing all day. But this opening part of the storm had 12% water content, and in those days before fat skis I was really burning my legs keeping up. Monday President's Day was at Snowbird with storm total 31 inches, typical Utah right side up 4% water second half of the storm. Between the expected holiday crowd and my exhaustion at Powder Mt., I thought it prudent to take a Mountain Experience clinic at Snowbird. The instruction was helpful in making powder skiing more efficient.
The timing of that Utah trip was fortuitous because this is what happened a month later.
So like that TR I had a low competition day at Powder Mt. which gave me some powder mileage. However I had occasional powder successes before that, not like it was a 100% new experience.
Like that TR I then took a lesson to clean up my technique. He saw immediate results the next few days. I had to wait a month, but that Baldy day is still a lift served benchmark.
The final intersection is that he rented the DPS Wailer 112 and tore up the mountain on his final day. I bought the DPS Wailer 112 as my third and current powder ski in 2015.
But there are a few intersections between his ski career and mine. President's Weekend of 1991 four of us road tripped from SoCal for 4 days of skiing in Utah. George and Buffy Tang were powderhounds. Dave Fairhall had less ski experience than I did but his prior job was in Vancouver (skied Whistler with locals) and he has raw athletic talent. Friday and Saturday we skied Alta and Park City.
Then it started dumping. Sunday we went to Powder Mt., 13 inches new and snowing all day. But this opening part of the storm had 12% water content, and in those days before fat skis I was really burning my legs keeping up. Monday President's Day was at Snowbird with storm total 31 inches, typical Utah right side up 4% water second half of the storm. Between the expected holiday crowd and my exhaustion at Powder Mt., I thought it prudent to take a Mountain Experience clinic at Snowbird. The instruction was helpful in making powder skiing more efficient.
The timing of that Utah trip was fortuitous because this is what happened a month later.
So like that TR I had a low competition day at Powder Mt. which gave me some powder mileage. However I had occasional powder successes before that, not like it was a 100% new experience.
Like that TR I then took a lesson to clean up my technique. He saw immediate results the next few days. I had to wait a month, but that Baldy day is still a lift served benchmark.
The final intersection is that he rented the DPS Wailer 112 and tore up the mountain on his final day. I bought the DPS Wailer 112 as my third and current powder ski in 2015.
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jimk
Well-known member
I skied with the author of that trip report at least once, maybe twice. Good guy and fine trip report writer. Named David and was a lawyer by trade. He doesn't seem to be active on ski forums anymore. Hope he is well.
He's in green jacket with red helmet in this photo from Sugarloaf, ME in March 2014:
I have only one day ever at Powder Mtn. It was with my son in January 2011. I had a good day there and tried the cat skiing twice, which was fun. But I found the lift served terrain to be a bit underwhelming and not very steep and/or memorable. I'm sure if I had a few days to go back and explore I'd find more fun. Still, the day I visited was not crowded and featured good conditions. I had a nice time and unlike many visitors I have no memory of the access road being challenging. I guess I drove it on a clear day and I was more focused on the ski terrain?
I'm holding a pair of Volant Chubbs here. It was the only "fat" ski (~95mm under foot) that we had on that ski trip. They had rental bindings and my son and I switched back and forth with them during our day at Powder Mtn because they were still much better in the off-piste than our skinny East Coast skis.
He's in green jacket with red helmet in this photo from Sugarloaf, ME in March 2014:
I have only one day ever at Powder Mtn. It was with my son in January 2011. I had a good day there and tried the cat skiing twice, which was fun. But I found the lift served terrain to be a bit underwhelming and not very steep and/or memorable. I'm sure if I had a few days to go back and explore I'd find more fun. Still, the day I visited was not crowded and featured good conditions. I had a nice time and unlike many visitors I have no memory of the access road being challenging. I guess I drove it on a clear day and I was more focused on the ski terrain?
I'm holding a pair of Volant Chubbs here. It was the only "fat" ski (~95mm under foot) that we had on that ski trip. They had rental bindings and my son and I switched back and forth with them during our day at Powder Mtn because they were still much better in the off-piste than our skinny East Coast skis.
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That must be the longest trip report I've ever come across. I copy/pasted it into a doc to get a word count: 6,064! I'll have to set aside a half hour later today.
So many people mention how challenging the access road to PM is. Having driven legitimately dangerous access roads and mountain passes in Europe (many without guardrails), does it compare?
I have a pair of those in my basement, the 2004 Genesis V2 Chubb. It was the final version of the Chubb at 95mm (earlier ones were 88-ish), manufactured by Atomic in Austria. I used them for maybe eight seasons. Visually beautiful IMO and great for crud-busting, so so for powder.
jnelly
Member
Oh and that was just part 1. 'There is part 2' I'll find later....better make that an hour of set-aside.
The Powder Mountain road has sections as scary as some roads in the Alps. But the scary sections don't last as long and the road is probably wider than some in Italy. Doesn't have a sequence of hairpin turns. First time I drove up to PM was in 2014 for a solo ski day when staying in Eden.
I have very clear memories riding in the backseat back in 1967 when my family spent the summer in Europe with a leased car. I was an older tween. My brother was just old enough to get an International driver's license. He found that he enjoyed mountain driving and looked for squiggly lines on the map when planning out our route when we left southern France (uncle lived there). We crossed the Italian-Swiss border five times on the way to Yugoslavia. I stopped counting cumulative hairpin turns at 300.
EMSC
Well-known member
The road is also nearly entirely in the bottom of a 'canyon'/creek drainage so almost no exposure to drop offs, cliffs, etc... So more narrower valley but more LCC or BCC-ish with risk being slipping into other traffic at 30-40 mph. Or maybe I'm just used to Eldora Shelf Road, Loveland and Berthoud passes, etc... with big drop offs and cliffs on one side of the road which feels way riskier than Powmow's road.
Most would agree with that assessment.
You really need to cherry pick for conditions; otherwise you'll walk away with that underwhelming impression. I'd guess you still get powder 2-3 days after a storm, but under new management that's due to price rationing.
Jim's rentals like James' are the final Atomic versions. The original (110 - 90 - 100mm) was my first powder ski from 1997 - 2008.
Part 1 covered the entire week at Powder Mt. Didn't David go home after that?
I agree with the road comments. It is steeper than most but not much in the way of hairpins and dropoffs. New Zealand is the land of sketchy access roads, almost all of them gravel. The first one I experienced was Mt. Hutt on a shuttle bus. Seated high off the ground on a knife edge gravel road with dropoffs on both sides, not comfortable! NZ comes to mind as Patrick is there now and e-mailing me every day about the weather challenges.
As far as the hairpins are concerned Baldy is as bad as anywhere in the US but that section is only 3 miles with 1,500 foot climb.
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jnelly
Member
My bad: Sequel sorry
Powder Mountain - 2014 Sequel
As I sit in a small town in Utah appropriately named Eden, just beyond the cusp of a long-awaited...
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One of our Mammoth acquaintances, Elissa, used to spend this same week in late February in Eden skiing mostly Powder Mt., also having remarkably good luck with snow. Before 2024 she got dirt cheap advance purchase lift tickets. For 2024 those tickets were $120 for a senior. They are more now so she is no longer doing that trip.