Powder Mountain Turns Its Attention To The Public Side
After two seasons of developing a homeowners-only section of the resort, Powder Mountain will put millions into the public side to open up new terrain and freshen up facilities for next season.
Ownership of the northern Utah mountain announced that it would install the long-awaited DMI chair to serve the tough stuff in Wolf Canyon to far skier's left. Previously a guided tour-only section, the new terrain will get a fixed-grip triple chair to bring advanced skiers and riders to 900 lift-accessed acres and 2,200 vertical feet of chutes and glades. Officials have said it would be the steepest chairlift of its type ever installed.
In addition, Powder will put money into the Sundown base area, the primary jumping-off point on the mountain. The base lodge there will be completely overhauled with more space for ski school, rentals, food and beverage, and lockers.
The 12-year-old Sundown fixed-grip chair will be replaced with a high-speed quad to give quicker access to some of the mountain's best greens and blues -- plus a way to get to the new DMI lift and the massive powder terrain off Lightning Ridge lift. And, a new beginner fixed-grip quad, call Doodle, will provide a dedicated learning area for beginners and novices that was previously accessed by riding to the top of the Sundown chair.
With one of the largest ski and snowboarding terrains in North America -- with 8,000 acres within the ropes -- lift access to some 2,300 acres were cut off from the ticket-buying public in 2023. A major luxury housing development called Powder Haven is being developed atop the Hidden Lake area, with three chairlifts designated for homeowners only in the Cobabe Canyon section.
The general skiing and riding public can still carve up Cobabe Canyon terrain, but has to hike or traverse out without using the chairlifts.
The other 5,700 acres of Powder Mountain offers up some of the best powder skiing and riding terrain in the West. The amount of off-piste terrain is staggering, partly because of relatively open forests and plenty of broad bowls and alpine slopes to carve up. Aspects range all over the compass making it a good place to "play the mountain."
Crowds rarely gather at Powder Mountain. Locals come up from Ogden -- a half-hour drive away. No Epic or Ikon passes accepted, and daily tickets have an announced 1,500 cap with dynamic pricing varying by the calendar. Thus, parking doesn't require a major hump or shuttle to the slopes.
There are limited number of condos to rent on the public side but no nightlife to speak of -- unless the new base lodge provides some.
