SNOWBIRD
Ski & Snowboard Resort Review
The skiing and snowboarding at Snowbird Utah is set amongst spectacular scenery only made better by the light and dry legendary Utah powder snow.
Snowbird Skiing and Snowboarding Terrain
The terrain at Snowbird consists of long wide groomed trails, steep fast chutes, cliff drops, heavily treed terrain and open wide powder bowls.
Advanced Skiing and Snowboarding
Snowbird is known as an advanced skiers and snowboarders mountain with exceptionally steep terrain, the double black diamond trails under the Aerial Tram the perfect example of this.
From the top of the Aerial Tram you can ski or snowboard all the way back to the bottom without having to traverse or hit any flat terrain; The return tram trip is a welcomed breather.
The mogul covered Primrose Path challenges the very best mogul skiers while the Great Scott chutes are some of the steepest in North America.
The double black diamond terrain of The Bookends at Mineral Basin is extremely steep and after a fresh powder dump second to none! All the steep terrain to the left of the Mineral Basin Express Chairlift is left ungroomed, apart from the intermediate trail, Path to Paradise. With very few trees it offers endless powder turns.
Thunder Bowl is the place to go for fantastic tight tree skiing and snowboarding.
Intermediate Skiing and Snowboarding
Intermediates have seemingly endless long wide groomed trails at Snowbird; Chip’s Run leading down from the Aerial Tram is a particular highlight. The run is 2.5 miles long and winds its way down through the Peruvian Gulch terrain. The Peruvian Gulch area received extensive upgrades to snowmaking facilities in 2007 enabling skiing and snowboarding to continue into late spring.
Head to the fast winding terrain around the Gad-Zoom Chairlift for more speedy turns.
With all the off piste and steep terrain available at Snowbird it would be hard for intermediates not to improve their skiing and snowboarding abilities.
Beginner Skiing and Snowboarding
The Big Emma trail serviced by the Big-Gad Chairlift is the main gentle beginner trail located on the lower front side of the resort. First time lessons are available from the Snowbird Mountain School which meets at Plaza Deck.
The new 600 foot tunnel magic carpet from the top of the Peruvian Gulch quad Chairlift transports beginner skiers and snowboarders to Mineral Basin where they can enjoy the terrain to the right of the Mineral Basin Express Chairlift. The long Lupine Loop trail is gentle sloping.
Snowbird Mountain Tours
Every morning at 10.30am the mountain hosts conduct free mountain tours of Snowbird. The tours meet at the Snowbird Plaza deck by the Little Matterhorn Rock; they usually go for 2 to 2 ½ hours.
Snowbird Terrain Park and Halfpipe
There are two terrain parks and one superpipe at Snowbird. The intermediate terrain park on the Big Emma trail has low rails, small jumps and tire and barrel jibs. The 18 foot high superpipe is also located on the Big Emma Trail.
The expert terrain park serviced by the Baby Thunder Chairlift has a 55 gallon drum pyramid jib, huge boxes, rails and jumps.
The Snowbird Mountain School has skiing and snowboarding lessons specially designed for the terrain parks and super pipe. Other Activities at Snowbird
Other activities to enjoy at Snowbird include; snow shoeing, snowmobile tours, ice climbing, ice skating and tubing. The Cliff Spa has treatments and massages available as well as daily yoga classes.
Shopping at Snowbird
Due to Snowbird’s close proximity to Salt Lake City there are not a lot of shops at Snowbird. Cliff Sports and Christy Sports are available for all ski and snowboard equipment and hire and sales, they both stock the latest mountain clothing and have in house repair and tuning services.
There is also an art gallery, gift and souvenir shop, jewellers and pharmacy.
Snowbird Restaurants
In total there are 15 restaurants at Snowbird. The fine dining Aerie Restaurant, in the Cliff Lodge, has spectacular mountain views and utilizes only the best local ingredients. It has won numerous awards including Utah’s most Romantic Restaurant.
The family friendly Steak Pit, in the Snowbird Center is the local’s favourite restaurant serving huge 20 ounce rib eye steaks and bottomless salads.
The casual Forklift Restaurant, in the Snowbird Center, is open for hearty breakfasts and tasty lunches. Be sure to try the burgers.
Snowbird Nightlife
By law full service bars in Utah must be called private clubs, this means to enter membership is required. At Snowbird all overnight guests are issued a temporary ‘visitor card’ which enables automatic membership to the private clubs; the Aerie Lounge, Lodge Bistro Lounge, Wildflower Lounge and El Chanate Cantina. The visitor cards can also be purchased by those not staying overnight.
Located in the Cliff Lodge El Chanate Cantina claims to have Utah’s largest selection of tequila, it has a friendly atmosphere and live music most nights.
The Tram Club is a busy sports bar with billiard tables, video games and 13 big screen TVs to watch every sporting event in the country! It is located on Level 1 in the Snowbird Center.
To unwind and have a quiet drink head to the Lodge Bistro Lounge.
More About Snowbird
Your Snowbird Ski & Snowboard Resort Reviews
Sam B, Sydney Australia. Feb 2006 We stayed at Salt Lake City for 5 nights before heading to Colorado. What a hole Salt Lake is there seems to be no nightlife or entertainment, I won't go back.
Anyway the snow - that's what we went for - SNOWBIRD - awesome resort, not too crowded, really steep areas and heaps of tree riding as well as long long runs. The bowls were amazing, we made virgin tracks for half the day before the crowds came. Mineral basin was awesome, it is a pretty much advanced area only; Lone Star and High Stakes were my personal favourites. On the front side of the mountain the top of the Arial Tram opens onto double black trails, some steeper than others, in the mornings, if the queue wasn't too big we would catch the tram straight up and fly down on the groomed runs. If I ever go back I would stay at Snowbird, that way the only time I have to spend in Salt Lake is at the airport coming and going.
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Statistics |
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Elevation |
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Average
Snowfall |
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500
inches |
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Lifts |
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11 |
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Trails
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map |
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Terrain
% |
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Halfpipe |
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1
super pipe |
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Terrain
Park |
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3 |
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Resort
Website |
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