Which resort in North America to choose?

A snowHead

BGA,

Don't know about the moratorium on development or any legal restrictions on development in the Ogden valley area. I too have thought it has the potential to be the next boom area. Snowbasin really flies under the radar. At present there is no lodging right at Snowbasin though I believe there are plans for a hotel. I've also heard rumors of some kind of gondola or people mover that would run from Ogden to Snowbasin and I've heard rumors that another ski area would be developed in the area. Have no idea if these rumors have any veracity. Outside of Ogden there's not much development in the area. There's a bar that has a bit of a "reputation," so my wife and I decided we'd stop there on our way back to Eden from skiing. It wasn't open. I inquired about it and was told the guy opens when he feels like it, and doesn't open when he doesn't. There's just about nothing in Eden other than one condo development/resort. For those who don't know anything about Snowbasin: It's 1 to 1.5 hours north of the SLC airport and is owned by the same folks who own Sun Valley. The lodges are like 5* hotels with large fireplaces, large leather chairs, plush carpeting, dark wood tables. The bathrooms have marble counter tops with brass colored fixtures, each toilet has heavy locable doors. I was almost afraid to use the bathrooms. The lodges were absolutely amazing! The food was excellent. I ordered an Italian salad one day. The person who prepared the salad cut a variety of meats and cheeses and carefully prepared the salad. My wife had prime rib one day and raved not only about the prime rib but also all of the side dishes. And the food was a remarkably good value. The food at Deer Valley might be higher end but the food at Snowbasin was fantastic. And it didn't have a pretentious feel at all. The staff in the lodges were friendly and helpful. Our first day we rode a gondola with a member of the ski patrol and asked about terrain options. He started telling us where to go and then said he'd just ski over with us and show us around a little. With good snow there would be almost limitless off piste opportunities. The biggest problem with Snowbasin is location combined with the absence of a bed base. And there tends to be a lot of traffic between Ogden and SLC. From Park City Snowbasin is a drive but you can miss the bad traffic.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

brian, don't worry about your steeze. I'm sure it's lovely. That thread is superb, tell me though were they talking about skiing at all?

RISkier, I was told by the real estate guys that in exchange for being allowed to develop Snowbasin for the SLC Olympics Earl Holding was banned from building hotels and condos for five years afterwards. I thought that if it was then developed along the lines of the lodges he'd already built then it would be a fantastic resort, as the customer service experience there was the best I've ever come across in a ski resort, and the terrain was pretty good too. I also saw that land prices around Sun Valley went up tenfold in the five years after Sinclair Oil began to develop it and I fancied a piece of that. The lift between Ogden and Snowbasin was being talked about in 2003 so it doesn't sound like things have much on that front. Land prices have been fairly static as well so perhaps it's not going to happen.

You're also spot on about the toilets. I went in for a pee and ended up taking my ski boots off because I felt bad about damaging the carpet

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Which resort in North America to choose?

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