THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 5, 1995 TAG: 9502060226
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
LADIEEEEEEEES and gentlemen. Welcome to the Greatest Snow on Earth.
That's right, snow. The phrase is stamped on Utah license plates and is tossed about by state tourism boosters like a similar guarantee once spouted by circus pitchman P.T. Barnum.
I can't speak for the circus, but the folks in Utah have little trouble backing the claim.
More than 500 inches - that's about 40 feet - of powder falls yearly on the Wasatch Mountains just outside of Salt Lake City. That's a lot more than any Colorado resort can boast in a good year.
The abundant snow is one reason the International Olympic Committee has its eye on the mountains around Salt Lake City. The city is a finalist to host the 2002 Winter Games, and the region is gripped with Olympic fever.
In its favor is the location. A dozen ski resorts are within an hour of Salt Lake City International Airport, and most are only a 20-minute drive from downtown.
Ten of us - four skiers and six snowboarders - flew to Salt Lake in late January to check out the majestic Wasatch Mountains and to escape the Florida-like conditions at East Coast resorts.
Because our group was laden with boarders, several resorts in and around the Wasatch Mountains were off limits because of their no-snowboarding policies. We were banned from Alta, Deer Valley and Park City.
It didn't matter. There was plenty to do.
Here's a quick resort roundup of our destinations:
DAY 1: Snowbird.
Few places on the planet will look intimidating after a day at Snowbird. Some of the resort's double-diamond runs drop steeper and faster than a bungee jump.
The main intermediate trails were well-groomed, and the rest was left natural. Moguls larger than Rush Limbaugh added to the treachery of the advanced slopes. Untouched powder was abundant in the trees.
Snowbird's 125-passenger tram ferried us to the top of the 11,000-foot Hidden Peak in about eight minutes.
Hidden Peak - about two-and-a-half times the altitude of Snowshoe in West Virginia, about eight times the height of the Empire State Building, and about 38 times the height of Mount Trashmore - featured breathtaking views, challenging runs and limited oxygen.
The peak branches into intermediate, advanced and expert runs. About one-third of the way down, expect to re-enter the earth's atmosphere.
Although there are a few trails for beginners, most of Snowbird is geared toward the experienced and the daring.
DAY 2: Solitude.
Solitude had the most accessible back-country skiing of any resort we visited in the Wasatch.
The Summit lift spills into the vast Honeycomb Canyon, our favorite single spot.
You can drop into the canyon at the lift, or hike a half mile into deeper back country, but either way the canyon's expanse of powder, glades and chutes shouldn't be missed.
Just getting to Honeycomb Canyon can be a challenge.
The cautious and brittle-boned can take a pleasant intermediate cruise from the Sunrise lift to the Summit lift. The more adventurous depart Powder Horn lift and forge through the diabolical, rock-strewn, jungle-like treachery of double-diamond Middle Slope and Milk Run.
Lower on the mountain, the slopes meander into a mix of beginning and intermediate runs.
This is the first year since glaciers created Solitude that snowboarders have been allowed. As an experiment, the resort is open to riders on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, excluding holidays.
DAY 3: Brighton.
Excluding Snowbird's tram, Brighton had the most advanced lift system of the places we visited, with two high-speed quads and no lines.
The resort is divided in two. On one side is the wide-open and more challenging Millicent-lift area. On the other, the more developed Snake-lift area.
From the Snake lift, a grueling hike out-of-bounds and into avalanche territory - where signs clearly warn you're financially responsible for your rescue - paid off. The powder was so deep that a fall could've trapped a person in his body-shaped crater until spring thaw. It also provided a far-too-close encounter with two bear cubs. I'm not making that up.
Upon spying the bears, we babbled every subliminal shard of useless advice that had soaked into our brains from ``Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.'' We knew, from Jim Fowler, that the protective mother bear was probably close by.
``Stay together so we'll look bigger.''
``Let's get downwind.''
``Roll into a ball, play dead and cover your face.''
``Bears are more scared of you than you are of them.''
``I'm pretty scared.''
The winning advice - ``Let's just get the hell out of here'' - ended our accidental snow safari.
DAY 4: Well-deserved rest and sightseeing in Salt Lake City.
DAY 5: Wolf Mountain.
Wolf Mountain, formerly known as Park West, was largely left in its natural state. The bulletin board detailing the night's grooming was mostly blank.
The resort featured plentiful off-trail tree-skiing, like Solitude, but also had a good mix of trails for beginners.
Wolf Mountain claims to be Utah's snowboarding headquarters, and offers five half-pipes and a snowboard park as proof.
Like most Utah resorts in midweek, there were virtually no lift lines at Wolf. The lift tickets, $25, were probably the best bargain in Utah, along with the $1.98 breakfast special we found at a Salt Lake City restaurant.
DAY 6: Back to Brighton.
With 30 inches of new snow to play in and money running a little low, we went back to Brighton for the $28 lift tickets and to explore a summit we missed on the first day. Fortunately, we missed the bears, too.
DAY 7: American Airlines back to Norfolk. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
UTAH TRAVEL COUNCIL
Runs at some resorts near Salt Lake City drop faster than a bungee
jump.
Graphic
TOP SKI RESORTS
The Top 10 ski resorts in North America, according to the readers
of Snow Country magazine:
1. Whistler/Blackcomb, B.C.
2. Vail, Colo.
3. Steamboat, Colo.
4. Mammoth Mountain, Calif.
5. Park City, Utah
6. Aspen, Colo.
7. Beaver Creek, Colo.
8. Keystone, Colo.
9. Squaw Valley, Calif.
10. Breckenridge, Colo.
by CNB