We like snow

September 10, 2009 7:12 AM

Have you been to Powder Mountain, Utah? Where should we stay?

We are trying to plan a trip to Powder Mountain for Feb. 2010. It is a mixed group of couples and singles, and since we have never been to the area before we are trying to decide where to stay. There are a bunch of nice condo's on the mountain, which some would like, and some great looking VRBO's in Eden. We would be up for a "small town" experience if that is what staying closer to town would offer. Some of the places though seem to be in between the mountain and downtown, on one of the golf courses.

Can anyone give us a feel for what the town itself is like? Is there a walk around main street type area? Is there no point to staying in town? Does everything close at 5pm?

All anecdotal info is welcome. Thanks.

posted by kenbennedy to travel & transportation around Utah (5 answers total)

I've been. its aweome. one of the best days ever happened there.
posted by alkupe at 7:21 AM on September 10, 2009

alkupe - is there any point to staying somewhere besides as close to the mountain as possible?
posted by kenbennedy at 9:10 AM on September 10, 2009

It's an awesome place to ski/board. I have been there many times. It's a giant pain to get to the mountain. The road is awful. Stay as close as possible.

Anecdote: On one trip, since the road is very narrow and steep (I don't think it's actually a public road, so it's not maintained well, and its grade is not standard - nor is its width, nor the radius of the curves), we almost didn't make it up to the resort because our car's engine could barely breathe enough to power the car. This became worse when the van in front of us (also driven by one of our friends) lost traction and started sliding backwards down the mountain toward us. We both ended up almost stuck in the ditch, and it took forever to get up the hill.

Driving up that road every day for a multi-day trip would suck. If you're planning on going for more than one day, then stay on the mountain. If you're just going for one day, it probably doesn't matter that much, but get up early so you don't get stuck in traffic behind two idiots in cars that can't make it up the mountain.
posted by The World Famous at 10:29 AM on September 10, 2009

The World Famous: Thanks, exactly the type of advice we are looking for.

Keep it coming....
posted by kenbennedy at 11:50 AM on September 10, 2009

Also, to put my commentary on the crappiness of that road in context, I drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon to Brighton, Snowbird, etc. several days a week for a couple years in an old Mustang, with no chains, without any trouble. The Powder Mountain road is not bad because it's a snowy canyon road. It's extra bad, even for someone who grew up driving on ice and had no problem driving a rear-wheel drive, over-powered car with no traction control up snowy canyons on a regular basis. It's bad because it is steeper than it should be, narrower than it should be, not maintained as well as it should be, and not plowed and salted the way that it should be. (That is, unless they changed it in the last year or so.)

That said, the quality of powder and terrain at Powder Mountain is more than good enough to justify braving the road. Just don't do the road more times than you have to.
posted by The World Famous at 12:05 PM on September 10, 2009