All photos by Andrew Miller on his Elph The more I go to Utah, the more I like it. I mean if MFM, Kurt Wastell, Jeremy Jones, JP Walker, Louie Vito, and Erin Comstock all live there you know it kicks ass. All the resorts down near Salt Lake kick ass for different reasons. You could never leave the vicinity of SLC and happy your whole life (snowboarding wise). So why even talk about other resorts? As good as the SLC are a lot of people favorite places are located up North near Ogden or more specifically Powder Mountain and the subject of this Spot Check - Snowbasin. Overlooking Ogden from the top of the Mt Allen tram Snowbasin is located about 40 miles North of Slat Lake and 17 miles east of Ogden. The freeriding there is perhaps the best and least crowded in all of Utah. Think big steeps like Snowbird combined with all the nooks and crannies of Brighton with almost no crowds. Last March I parked in the front row whenever I walked up the Mt Allen tram they would fire it up and away I went; my own personal tram. This past weekend the Snow Rev Crew went up there over MLK and Sundance weekend and even though the base was crowded, there were no lift lines and the runs were deserted.

where the trees meet the alpine terrain Snowbasin has been around but in the 90’s it was bought by Chet Huntley (Sun Valley) and he added all these crazy lifts for the 2002 Olympics. Well the lifts are there to stay well after the Olympic hub-bub has died down. You can ride all Gondolas or high speed quads there. The terrain has steeps, natural pipes, a superpipe, gullies, ridges, couloirs, cruising runs and long ass runs. There are some parks there but go there for the freeriding.

this view is looking east towards the Strawberry Express and the chutes on Strawberry Peak Stats: Lifts: 12 (including two gondolas, a tram and a hs quad) Acres: 2,650 Vert: 2,959 Parks/pipe: 3/1 Summit elev: 9465 Lifts: 62 day/52 half day Lodging: Ogden, SLC or Huntsville, none at the mountain Nightlife: The first bar in Utah is in Huntsville or riding urban in Ogden, the new SLC www.snowbasin.com

The view from DeMoisy peak ( a short hike from the Strawberry lift) looking at flamingo bowl (foreground), the top of the Needles lift and Mt Ogden, which has the towers on it and No Name peak all ride able Goofballs on DeMoisy Peak, NOT MFM and NOT Erik Leines

The lodge is maybe the nicest lodge anywhere; remember the people that built Sun Valley built this place

getting towards the bottom of No Name peak, a short walk from the Mt Allen tram. This is the best terrain in Utah to be on a powder day, 3000 vert of steep as heck powder Approaching the top of the John Paul lift free ride heaven starting in the foreground  the flank of Mt Ogden, The Needles, De Moisy and Strawberry peaks

getting the safety speech on the Mt Allen tram. Ed says you think they give a speech in Chamonix on the trams?

The Mt Allen tram is pretty sick

danger! off Mt Allen

some clowns on a steep as run called Men's start, NOT Jeremy Jones and NOT JP Walker

Europe or Utah?

looking up No Name peak from the bottom