Mountain Review: Snowbasin, Utah

An in-depth video review of Snowbasin, a ski area located just north of Salt Lake City, Utah. Filmed across two different trips in March 2021 and March 2022.
0:00 Intro
1:01 Mountain Review
9:29 Getting There and Lodging Options
10:01 Verdict
10:32 Score Breakdown and Rank
Overall Mountain Score: 77/100 - #3 of 7 in Utah
---
Snow: 8/10
Resiliency: 8/10
Size: 7/10
Terrain Diversity: 8/10
Challenge: 8/10
Lifts: 7/10
Crowd Flow: 7/10
Facilities: 10/10
Navigation: 6/10
Mountain Aesthetic: 8/10
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Snowbasin here: www.peakrankings.com/content/...
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[@chrisskiingpowpow]

Snowbasin's restrooms facility looks absolutely amazing.

[@kkeelty64]

All of the facilities at SB feel like I just wandered into a members-only ski club. They are amazing with their raw log poles, soaring ceilings, and what looks like the worlds largest persian carpet on the floor. Oh and the staff are up to the challenge of matching the ambiance.

[@anthonydargis4441]

I think they're the best bathrooms of any resort I've been to, Beaver creek and deer valley are the only ones that come close

[@ave4ry]

agreed

[@dirtysnakesnu]

I pooped in there so many times! FYI no cell service in there so it gets zen.

[@AdamGremminger]

I’m taking a dump in it right now

[@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102]

8:30 That is no longer an issue as of 2023. Leitner-Poma constructed a high speed six pack in the basin this past summer. The DeMoisy Express now serves the vast majority of Strawberry Basin's blues and some of its blacks, only not serving a few areas that are still only accessible from the gondola. (It also provides easier egress, since you can drop directly from the lift into Middle Bowl via Dan's Run.)

[@SmaxyMiguel]

this video was recorded in 2023

[@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102]

@@SmaxyMiguel I know that. I'm just saying that that part of the review is very much outdated because of it.

[@dannylorenze6188]

This is a very accurate review in my opinion. Just got back from Utah, skied Alta,Snowbird,Brighton,Snowbasin, Solitude and Deer Valley. We had the best time at Snowbasin, the terrain and views are amazing. I feel that you get so much more for your money at Snowbasin. It's truly a gem of a mountain.

[@jasonunruh9605]

Finally someone who does a great explaination of a ski resort. Thanks for the info

[@juliansecomb3703]

I wouldn't consider lack of onsite lodging to be a minus. It prevents the mountain from being completely overrun in peak season.

[@dirtysnakesnu]

they literally had the material by the strawberry lift to build in a lodge in 2008 - pretty sure some legal decision stopped them since it's a lease of public land. As a former local - I agree. but I'd drive up and see one of THOSE busses, and turn around and go home. if it's a ski tour day - no point being there, it wasn't fun to wait in line for 3 minutes (yeah it was hop on the lift in 30 sec in 2011) and we saw it coming. now that's all it is. locals go somewhere else now, and i lost like 10 bets i'll never pay off

[@lincolnknighton4117]

Agreed it’s quite the advantage I’m my opinion considering it is my home resort I want the least amount of people there possible

[@sivayamsiva9343]

Wonderful snowbasin skiing experience congratulations 👌👌👌

[@mwoods244]

My former hometown resort. Such a special place! The upgrades after the 2002 Olympics really put this place on the map! Great review!

[@Rhyno012345]

Going for the first time in 2 weeks. Thanks for the summary. Gives me a lot better idea of where I can bets spend my time on the mountain

[@noahr2710]

Another banger!

[@jtwoolley]

I love it. The signage here is good.

[@lennymo9088]

Thanks for your excellent videos on ski resorts. I have skied a few that you have reviewed and totally agree with your reviews.

[@mtadams2009]

Nice to see you show the bathrooms, you are right they are beautiful. Their lodges are also beautiful too. I only skied there one day but I had a good time. The snow was not great but snow was generally lousy in Utah that winter 2007. Take care

[@liwang9469]

Snowbasin is my favorite ski resort so far. The instructors there are amazing!

[@dirtysnakesnu]

where i learned to board! I agree! Amazing staff - especially their ski patrol!

[@brianoconnor3407]

Good review. I have skied Snow Basin about 8 times three different years. When we hit the restrooms on the John Paul side, our first thought was... oh, this is some sort of private club..., I think we took a wrong turn. Strawberry area is a blast, as is the whole mountain. Powder Mountain should be on this list. I had one of my best ever powder days at that mountain.

[@kkeelty64]

PoMo is amazing. Every way to get up a mountain can be found there - fixed grip lift, high speed lift, poma, snow cat, a human powered zone and even an old school bus that will pick you up along the road and take you back to the top.

[@SkiDaBird]

My only gripes with the Basin are the brutal chokepoints. Strawberry gondola, Bear Hollow, and Wildcat Bowl are all really rough, and Needles run can also be a problem. But the terrain is super varied and really fun, and the lift system is one of the best.

[@PeakRankings]

Fair enough!

[@annienguyen7883]

What do chokepoints mean?

[@dirtysnakesnu]

By chokepoints do you mean long lines? or everywhere ends up in the same place?

[@connorhansen3226]

Luckily they recently added the Dempsey six pack that should eliminate the choke point at strawberry

[@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102]

@@dirtysnakesnu Strawberry _was_ a chokepoint in the sense that the only lift serving all that terrain for the last 25 years was the gondola. Which itself made the area often prone to closures in bad weather, since Snowbasin wouldn't want to open the gondola if it looked like it might end up on wind hold, since then the only way out then was to transport guests by snowmobile. Fortunately, it's no longer a chokepoint as Leitner-Poma built a high speed six pack this past summer that runs up to just above where Strawberry Traverse enters the basin. The DeMoisy Express now serves the majority of the terrain in Strawberry Basin save for the far upper part of the basin, the summit of DeMoisy Peak, and Sisters Bowl (which you still have to use the gondola to access). (Just in general, the added perk of the DeMoisy Express is that you no longer need to always remove your equipment after every run.)

[@arjunski]

That intro is amazing 😂

[@kingjulian420]

What was the song?

[@purplism4857]

dude thank you so much for rating brighton the lowest hahahaha i was mad at first but the more of these i watch the more i realize how much of a favor you're doing us. please send the jerry tourists to anywhere else 🙏 much love

[@mtadams2009]

You may be surprised that many of us Jerry tourists can actually rip and have no trouble hanging with the locals and often when it comes so bumps and hard pack we blow them off the mountain. Not everyone is from Texas.

[@rach2883]

The Strawberry bowls look incredible!

[@PeakRankings]

They’re quite something!

[@dirtysnakesnu]

@@PeakRankings it's closed 50% of the year due to wind. just an FYI

[@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102]

@@dirtysnakesnu No longer the case now that they added a high speed six pack to that area to take over from the gondola as the basin's primary lift.

[@friend_built]

Can’t wait to see the winter park MJ review. Oh and eldora lol

[@PeakRankings]

You're in luck-Winter Park review will be up in the coming months!

[@dirtysnakesnu]

a year and change late - just found your channel. Grew up in Ogden and this was my home mountain, I board at Big Sky now. For what it's worth they were starting to build 'on site accommodations' in 2010. So 13 years later I doubt it will happen, and i'm sure it's political. Snowbasin's expensive food is largely because they had an initiative to bring chefs from not great countries in and set their families up. Doesn't fully justify it, but each year there is a featured chef from a foreign country they move out to utah and cover all expenses. I went to school with the daughter of the chef from... '05 or '06? maybe? and they refused to publicize what they did but it was awesome. Earl Holding did a lot of great things with this mountain. I love/hate seeing it getting publicity - as it's so far removed from what i grew up on 20 minutes from home. Paused the video at that and will ccontinue - just - there's some reasoning for the food prices. Bringing a family of 7 from venezuela can't be cheap!!! If you plan on heading back for a visit DM me and I can draw you a map to the woods where the locals (at leased used to) hang out and build our own terrain parks. To your score - you went on a bad year. It CAN be insane. Growing up it was every other week with knee deep powder - and runs i recognized had everything FAR more burried. Snowbasin gets amazing snow. but not consistently. Good years? I'd rather be there than YC or Big Sky. I've boarded here probably, uh, 100 different days? (started late) - It was amazing, short lines, quiet, local, we did our shit. It blew up around '07 beyond anything. It didn't effect us much because smarter people than me found the fastest loop with a heavily wooded area. Anyone familiar knows the banana. First time I ever attempted a backflip, and i didn't land it, but damn close. I hope the locals still have that area for themselves. Ski patrol knew of it and we could give em the name and theyd be there while being very far removed from mapped runs. Riding gondolas with old timers telling me about the rope pulls is hitting me hard now.

[@Cleetus1397]

I think if you have the chance you should maybe do a video on lutsen mountains, in Minnesota. It is the best resort in the midwest.

[@deadbrother5355]

I appreciate peak rankings objectivity and criteria to give fair ranks. But sometimes it just doesn't add up. Beaver creek has so much more to offer than snow basin. I get the impression he spends a day or two evaluating resorts and never gets the deep dive experience locals or frequents of the resorts do. Im curious if he uses local guides, and if so how local and how frequent they ski the places he goes.

[@todaysnarrative879]

Glad I got the chance to ski Snowbasin before olympics of 2002. You literally got untracked runs all day in John Paul back then.

[@dirtysnakesnu]

even after the olympics that happened for years. My HS years I saw that go away. 2009 that mountain was largely dead, and locals focused on a few places and build cool shit out of the eye of lift riders

[@keithcallahan3339]

The lodge looks exactly like Sun Valley Idaho!

[@Liamrunsnstuff21]

Are you going to be doing any NH ski area reviews? Would love to see that!

[@PeakRankings]

Goal is to do some this winter, weather dependent!

[@hueysharapova7175]

Best way to ski in NH is to drive to vermont.

[@rabnnif2665]

Please review Mt Shasta California

[@rabnnif2665]

Maybe after the add the gray butte chairlift this winter

[@Edstoest]

Love the mountain but lately the mountain safety people power trip here and it has been roughhhh

[@rabbyrich1751]

The lodges and restrooms remind me of Sun Valley and Dollar mountain in Idaho.

[@PeakRankings]

They are owned by the same company!

[@slck9404]

Would love to see some raw runs of the Steeps they have...

[@PeakRankings]

We will try to get more footage of the extremes off DeMoisy and Needles next time we go!

[@humanbeing2420]

12:17 You should center each column heading and the rating numbers instead of having the headings on the left and the numbers to the right.

[@fandam801]

They are installing a Strawberry to Middle Bowl high speed 6 pack the Summer of 2023, regarding snow totals they can get 30% to 40% less snow here most storms compared to the Cottonwoods but a couple times a season they will get some storm bigger totals, not very common though.

[@dirtysnakesnu]

finally an answer for the tourists that visit when strawberry is closed and ski over there anyway. Damn, i liked that they had to pole/skate back to the main area.

[@mack.attack]

I've been to Snowbasin 3 times and every time, Strawberry has been closed due to storm or maintenance, which nukes like 1/3 of the terrain with no access. I was astonished to see it score so highly in the Resiliency category -- I would've put it near the worst in the US

[@colinjackson993]

They close Strawberry because they are cheap. They just don't want to pay to run it.

[@AntarcticIceCap]

@@colinjackson993 no... its because the gondola goes to the top of the mountain, which makes it extremely susceptible to wind (I've never been there when there wasn't 25+ mph constant winds). It's also southeast facing, meaning it get's a bit less snow (why it opens a little later in the season).

[@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102]

@@AntarcticIceCap Fortunately, now that the DeMoisy Express is open, these wind closures shouldn't be as common. DeMoisy now services the vast majority of Strawberry Basin's terrain save for a few areas that still can only be reached from the gondola.

[@kingjulian420]

intro song name?

[@aca1298]

Personally would take Brighton over snowbasin but both lovely

[@dirtysnakesnu]

As a 'basin local - I'd argue you in 2005-2010, but you're right these days. Earl dying killed sun valley resorts as a local friendly option.

[@rascoon]

So... many... options... Where to???!

[@Weathernerd27]

I disagree that Snowbasin gets less snow professor Steenburg from the university of Utah weather division has dug snowpits at 8,000 feet and found the same snow depth you'd find at 9,000 or 10,000 feet on Alta. If you dug a snowpit on Snowbasin's highest run I suspect you'd find slightly more snow than you find in the Cottonwood Canyon. Snowbasin is alittle lower altitude but it is still high enough to have decent quality snow most of the time.

[@hueysharapova7175]

Snow numbers are basically all made up estimates.

[@Kirbey]

where was that first clip taken?

[@PeakRankings]

Hike just above the Sisters Bowl!

[@deeranfam4500]

ya sisters ridge

[@kingjulian420]

What was the song you used?@@PeakRankings

[@epic1355]

what run is that at 2:00

[@PeakRankings]

That's a chute right above Sisters Bowl.

[@choski76]

I could hardly put snowbasin in a same class as Vail or telluride. The vastness of Vail resort and the beauty of telluride and both of their available amenities make them beyond snowbasin. Yes, snow basin lodges are nice but it is a small place comparatively.

[@dirtysnakesnu]

holy cow not waiting 30 min for a lift wins points, no way?!

[@jasonunruh9605]

How is powder mtn not in your top 10?

[@PeakRankings]

We'll have our full video ranking of the Utah destination resorts up in the coming days.

[@humanbeing2420]

5:11 Looks like you're not pole planting...

[@reddottx]

The bathrooms are probably the last reason I go skiing so I just subtract that number and then it grades out about right. There’s no way this place compares to Vail (for skiing) or Telluride for beauty or challenge. I think size is overrated as well. I’d rather ski Honeycomb Canyon or Headwall any day.

[@Kaitydid74]

Sugarloaf, ME

[@lincolnknighton4117]

Don’t come here we want it to stay low key that’s what makes it good

[@colinjackson993]

I think you need to add to your reviews an assessment on the resort management. Basin seems totally incompetent and anti guest. They often don't open lifts even when there is tons of snow. I have been there when they had 60 inches and Strawberry was closed. It was obvious they were just being cheap and didn't want to pay to run it. Also, their food facilities are awesome, but they are ridiculously slow and always understaffed for the number of guests. Again, just being cheap. They do a lousy job of getting lifts open on time in the morning. Basically poorly managed all around.

[@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102]

_"They often don't open lifts even when there is tons of snow. I have been there when they had 60 inches and Strawberry was closed. It was obvious they were just being cheap and didn't want to pay to run it."_ In Snowbasin's defense, the reason why Strawberry was closed on that occasion was likely NOT because "they were just being cheap and didn't want to pay to run it" but because of logistical reasons. Before the DeMoisy Express was built this year, Snowbasin tended to be very conservative about opening Strawberry. If they felt there was a strong chance that weather (and high winds in particular) might shut down the gondola, they'd proactively close that entire side of the mountain given that if the gondola was down, the only way to get guests out of the area would be for ski patrol to evacuate them by snowmobile, which was a pretty tedious process. Now that the DeMoisy Express is open, the dynamic is different. DeMoisy is now the primary lift in Strawberry Basin; certainly it is if you're someone who wants to do laps on the terrain without removing your skis/snowboard after every run. It serves the vast majority of the terrain save for the upper parts of the basin and Sisters Bowl (which are still only accessible from the gondola), and runs in a somewhat more wind protected alignment. So now Snowbasin can be much more proactive in opening Strawberry Basin since DeMoisy ensures that there's still a way out even if the gondola is on wind hold. (Actually it's a bit easier to use DeMoisy at any rate to leave the basin, given that you can get back to the base area by turning right upon unloading and dropping directly into Middle Bowl via Dan's Run. Before this, the way out was a lengthy traverse from Main Street.)

[@rickden8362]

Ranking Snowbasin over Park City or Big Cottonwood shows how deceptively out of touch these rankings are.

[@WidestYT]

Hi

[@PeakRankings]

👋

[@juiehyoak5049]

Clearly you didn’t ski Snowbasin 2023!!! While the cottonwoods were closed this past week (April 1st -12 , 2023) (yes due to avalanche danger) we were open. Fresh powder and happy guests!!! Thanks for shaming our resort while the rest of us were happily snorkeling the powder!!!! And still are enjoying the moto of Snowbasin “be kind and be safe” yes we are living our best dreams skiing Snowbasin!!!!💯⛷️😁🥰Hope to see you on the JP or Needles run 😁⛷️