Snowbasin

Snowbasin Resort is a ski resort in the western United States, located in Weber County, Utah, northeast of Salt Lake City, on the back (east) side of the Wasatch Range.

Opened in 1939, as part of an effort by the city of Ogden to restore the Wheeler Creek watershed, it is one of the oldest continually operating ski resorts in the United States. One of the owners in the early days was Aaron Ross. Over the next fifty years Snowbasin grew, and after a large investment in lifts and snowmaking by owner Earl Holding, Snowbasin hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic alpine skiing races for downhill, combined, and super-G.
The movie ''Frozen'' was filmed there in 2009.

Snowbasin is located on Mount Ogden at the west end of State Route 226, which is connected to I-84 and SR-39 via SR-167 (New Trappers Loop Road).

History

Snowbasin is one of the oldest continuously operating ski areas in the United States. Following the end of World War I and the Great Depression numerous small ski resorts were developed in Utah's snow-packed mountains, and Weber County wanted one of their own. They decided to redevelop the area in and around Wheeler Basin, a deteriorated watershed area that had been overgrazed and subjected to aggressive timber-harvesting.

Lands were restored and turned over to the U.S. Forest Service, and by 1938 the USFS and Alf Engen had committed to turning the area into a recreational site. The first ski tow was built in 1939 and in service at the new ''Snow Basin ski park''. In 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) crew built the first access road to the new resort, allowing easy access for the general public.

In the 1950s, Sam Huntington of Berthoud Pass, Colorado, purchased Snow Basin from the City of Ogden and proceeded to expand the uphill capacity beyond the Wildcat single-seat wooden tower lift and the old rope tow. Overall, he installed a twin chair in place of the rope tow, and a platter-pull tow, later replaced by a twin chair, was installed at Porcupine, to the left of the steep rocky face of Mount Ogden.

The fourth NCAA Skiing Championships, the first in Utah, were held at Snow Basin in 1957. The downhill race course was set on the right side of the steep face of Mt. Ogden, on the slope called "John Paul Jones", named after an early Snow Basin skier. The John Paul Jones' run was only accessible with a 45-minute hike from the top of the Porcupine lift.

Anderl Molterer, of the Austrian national ski team competing there that weekend, approached Huntington and told him if a lift was built directly to the top of the John Paul Jones run, he would bring his world famous Austrian team to Snow Basin to train on it. Molterer said John Paul was the best downhill run in the world.

Huntington said no he had other things to do. A lift to the top of John Paul was not to be built until Snowbasin received the rights to hold the alpine speed events for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Huntington was killed five years later in 1962, as he was performing post-season maintenance, replacing an electrical fuse at the Porcupine lift. Several Ogden businessmen purchased Snow Basin from the Huntington family.

One other major personality to come out of Snow Basin was M. Earl Miller, who ran the ski school from the mid-1950s until 1987. Miller played a key role in drafting the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) American Ski Technique in 1961.

Pete Seibert, founder of Vail, led a partnership which bought Snow Basin in 1978, but ran into financial difficulty in 1984. The area was sold that October to Earl Holding, owner of Sun Valley in Idaho, and it became "Snowbasin".

2002 Winter Olympics & Paralympics

Because it was to serve as an Olympic venue site, the U.S. Congress passed the Snowbasin Land Exchange Act in 1996 as part of the Omnibus Lands Bill. The act transferred of National Forest System lands near the resort to the private ownership of Snowbasin, and identified a set of projects that were necessary for the resort to host the Olympic events.

During the 2002 Olympics, Snowbasin hosted the downhill, combined (downhill and slalom), and super-G events. The spectator viewing areas consisted of a stadium at the foot of the run, with two sections of snow terraces for standing along both sides of the run. The spectator capacity was 22,500 per event; 99.1 percent of tickets were sold, and 124,373 spectators were able to view events at the Snowbasin Olympic venue. During the 2002 Winter Paralympics, Snowbasin hosted the Alpine Skiing events, including downhill, super-G, slalom, and giant slalom.

Statistics

Mountain information

*Top elevation:
*Base elevation:
*Vertical rise:
*Average yearly snowfall:
*Skiable area:
*Snowmaking area:

Death

*35 year old man on Friday February 11, 2022
**Skier had a collision with a tree or a weather station, or both. The two persons who were behind the skier could not specify how the accident really happened. They gave a ridiculously short statement to the police, reinforcing the belief that they did not care about their deceased colleague. The local press has reported various information. https://www.standard.net/news/local/2022/feb/15/skier-dies-after-weekend-crash-at-snowbasin-resort/#:~:text=HUNTSVILLE%20%E2%80%94%20A%2035%2Dyear%2D,weather%20station%20and%20a%20tree. Readers can question how the press got their mixed information. The press when mentioning the party called them “friends”. However, it has to be clarified that these people were merely colleagues in their poorly ran engineering team.
Nonetheless, the two surviving colleagues enjoyed their day-off work and allegedly went back to the resort during the season to take full advantage of their expensive pass, regardless of the tragic recent death of their colleague.
*Ski patrol tried life saving measures but did not get a response from skier. Although a supposedly traumatic experience, first persons on the scene could not remember the skier's last words.

Trails

*Total runs: 104
**Run ratings: 7 easier, 30 more difficult, 35 most difficult, 32 expert only
*Total Nordic trails: 5, approximately
**Nordic trail ratings: 3 easier, 1 more difficult, 1 most difficult
*Terrain parks: 3
**Terrain park ratings: The Crazy Kat (easier), Coyote (Intermediate), and Apex (Advanced) parks.
*Superpipe: none

Lifts

*Total lifts: 11
** Chairlifts: 9
***1 15-Person Tram
****Mt. Allen Tram (Doppelmayr, 1998)
***2 Gondolas
****Strawberry Express (Doppelmayr, 1998)
****Needles Express (Doppelmayr, 1998)
***2 high speed six packs
****Wildcat Express (Doppelmayr, 2017)
****Middle Bowl Express (Leitner-Poma, 2021)
***2 high speed quads
****John Paul Express (Doppelmayr, 1998)
****Little Cat Express (Doppelmayr-CTEC, 2008)
***2 triple chairlifts
**** Becker (Albertsson-Stadeli, 1985)
**** Porcupine (Albertsson-Stadeli, 1985)
** Surface lifts: 3
***2 Magic carpet
***1 Hand rope surface tow ''(tubing hill)''

Winter season

*Ski season dates: late-November to mid-April (conditions permitting)
*Operating hours: Gondola: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily (some lifts close at 3:30 p.m. daily)
Grizzly Center retail and rentals: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Summer season

*Summer season dates: Father's Day Weekend in June to First Weekend in October (conditions permitting)
*Operating hours: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and holidays
*Total trails: 17, approximately
*Trail ratings: 4.5 easy, 6.5 moderate, 3 difficult, 3 hike only

References

External links

*

Ski Utah
- Resort Profile

First Tracks online magazine
- Article on Snowbasin's 2002 improvements

Future Plans as of 2014
- 2014 Article about expansion and upgrades to Snowbasin

{{Ski areas and resorts in Utah

Venues of the 2002 Winter Olympics
Olympic alpine skiing venues
Ski areas and resorts in Utah
Sports venues in Weber County, Utah
Event venues established in 1939
1939 establishments in Utah