Powder Mountain is one of the hidden gems of Utah. While the Cottonwoods get all the hype and Park City shines with star power, PowMow quietly dazzles skiers and boarders with over 7,000 acres of varied and impressive terrain. It also happens to be a hiker’s playground: some of the best terrain is only accessible by bootpacking or touring…but there is a third option. Powder Mountain offers snowcat rides for $18 a pop ($15 if you have a season pass) to both Cobabe Canyon and Lightning Ridge. During a recent visit to PowMow with two buddies, I had the chance to ride in the cat and shred one of the better lines I’ve ridden at a Utah resort.
As Todd D. and I attached day tickets to our jackets, Tyler flashed three snowcat passes. He had picked them up as a thank you for showing him around Utah’s resorts during his vacation. We were stoked! None of us had ever taken a cat ride before, and the conditions were perfect for such an event. The previous day had been tough: whiteout conditions at Snowbird limited us to riding mostly trees, and we didn’t get a chance to show Tyler some of the best spots on the mountain. But on this day, mother nature had blessed us with bluebird skies and a fresh 10″ of Beehive pow. We warmed up our legs by running tree lines off of the Paradise lift. The snow was living up to our expectations: the glades were deep and fresh with every turn. After a few fun laps, we decided it was time to get the goods. We had been gaping at Lightning Ridge with every lift ride, and made a beeline to the snowcat.
A shuttle bus drove us a short way down the road to the Sundown lift. From the top, we rode down the ridge to the snowcat loading area. Signs mark the waiting zone, and within a few minutes the machine rolled up and the air horn sounded off. There were two other guys waiting for a lift, and the five of us stashed our gear in the baskets and jumped in. Everyone popped off a couple of photos and we started getting hyped up as the cat chugged up Lightning Ridge. Zeppelin was pumping from the speakers, and within a few minutes we arrived at the top of Cobabe Peak. More pics were snapped, and we all turned our gaze just across the ridge to James Peak. We could see tiny bodies making their way to the top; they almost looked like a line of ants heading toward a pile of fresh sugar. The cat operator told us it was less than an hour to top out at the 9,422′ peak, but since we had no avalanche gear or water, we asked what the next best option was. He advised us that the trees on the south ridge would have plenty of deep, wind-loaded powder. He bid us farewell, jumped in his rig and headed off down the track.
We strapped and dropped, and within moments it was obvious that the cat driver steered us right. There wasn’t a single track in our midst, and every turn was deep, soft bliss. We cut freshies through immense pine trees, all the while whooping and laughing. The trees funneled us into the wide open powder field of Big Kash, and though the snow was heavier there, it was still uncut and bottomless. Huge, sweeping turns under clear skies…we were all loving it. It seemed that the terrain just kept going and going; the Lightning Ridge area has 2,100′ of vert and 700 acres, so it’s not surprising I felt that way. This was easily one of the best and longest runs I’ve taken in this fine state, and well worth the $18 snowcat ticket.
I am not a backcountry rider, but I’m starting to see the allure of it. Sure, riding a snowcat up a few hundred vert isn’t the same as working your ass off for a fresh line, but the similarities are there. If you aren’t quite ready to commit to the backcountry, but want to know what all the buzz is about, then a snowcat ride at Powder Mountain may be just the ticket.