Over the past couple of years, one of the ski resorts that has been on the rise is Nordic Valley in Utah. Located near the city of Ogden, it added a huge terrain expansion during the 2020-21 season. However, the ski resort has been dealt a bad hand for this ski season.

Last week, Nordic Valley announced that the Apollo chairlift, which accesses the majority of the terrain at the ski resort, will be closed for “an undetermined period of time.” The Apollo chairlift suffered a mechanical breakdown back in March and has been closed since then. While dealing with the repairs, Nordic Valley’s maintenance team discovered further issues with the chairlift. With this being an older chairlift, finding the parts took an extended period of time due to the required customer engineering and manufacturing.

In response, Nordic Valley has acquired two Alpina Sleds to carry guests up to the Nordic Express and potentially to the top of the Apollo terrain pod. Each one of the Superclass 1.2L twin-tracked utility snowmobiles will be able to carry eighteen passengers. These people movers will be able to move 200 people per hour. I’m not gonna lie, those things look pretty sick.

It’s not all bad news for Nordic Valley though. They added two hundred parking spots, and two new trails to the Nordic Express terrain pod. Currently, Nordic Valley is open for the season with two trails and two lifts.

The ski resorts around Ogden are in a precarious situation. Snowbasin is an awesome ski resort, but it’s too expensive to visit unless you are a season/Ikon passholder. Powder Mountain just announced its plan to become a semi-private ski resort and has become more expensive this year (outside of night skiing tickets). Wasatch Peak Ranch’s future is in question after a judge ordered that the private ski resort stop construction and halt real estate sales.

Then there’s Nordic Valley. It’s an affordable ski resort with impressively cheap lift ticket deals and a brand-new terrain pod. What currently holds it back is the Apollo chairlift, which is the only way to reach the Nordic Express pod under normal circumstances. I’m a big fan of the place, and the Ogden skiing community needs this place to succeed.

My ultimate viewpoint is Nordic Valley’s future success depends on replacing Apollo. It doesn’t matter if it’s a fixed-grip or high-speed detachable chairlift, Apollo needs to be replaced within the next few years.

Image Credits: Nordic Valley, Alpina Snowmobiles

It was a historic 2022-23 season for Utah. Record snowfall fell at most of its resorts, and these mountains saw record visitation. In response, Utah ski resorts are spending lots of dinero to keep up with the record demand.

Back in October, Ski Utah detailed the investments coming to ski resorts across the state. These projects include new chairlifts, trails, lodges, snowmaking, remote avalanche control towers, and more. Here are the best improvements coming to Utah ski resorts this winter. First, here are some honorable mentions:

• Alta completed their final phase of converting to remote avalanche control towers. This offseason, they added five new Wyssen Towers, which will allow them to retire the use of military artillery. In addition, after 60 years of service, the Albion chairlift was removed this past summer.
• Beaver Mountain expanded its parking lot and added a vault toilet near the base of the Marge’s Triple chairlift. Work has begun on a new 25,000-square-foot lodge, which is expected to be finished in the fall of 2024.
• Brian Head has added new gladed terrain for this winter. The trees under the Wildflower chairlift and the Shotgun run. More efficient snowmaking equipment has been added to the Lower Aught trail, which will help them with their early-season operations.
• Cherry Peak has undergone snowmaking improvements and is adding a new downhill tubing run.
• Deer Valley is planning to spend $6 million in the next year, which includes “upgrades to snowmaking, grooming, rental equipment, employee housing, food and beverage, lift infrastructure and building maintenance.”  They also announced that they will be operating the Mayflower ski resort that is being built right next to them.
• Eagle Point made $200,000 in upgrades to the Skyline and Monarch Chairlifts. They also made repairs to Highway UT-153 and Upper Meadows Drive.
• Park City Mountain Resort, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this season, replaced the Red Pine gondola cabins. The new ones are so fresh, so clean (until some idiot scratches the glass with his/her poles).

• Snowbird Resort has added a new mountain center, which is situated on the Plaza level of the Snowbird Center. A new food spot, Tram Sundries, will also be opening at the Plaza. The Woodward Mountain Park will be returning next Spring after a successful first season. Eight Wyssen towers have been added, increasing their total to seventeen.
• Sundance Resort has improved the road circulation around the Jake’s base area. They did a road realignment and added eighty parking spots to Jake’s base area. A new beginner trail has also been added from the top of Jake’s to the base area’s parking lots. For overnight guests, they are adding a pool, hot tub, and sauna area for guests to chillax.

• Woodward Park City’s improvements include the return of the Big Air feature, additions to the High-Performance Terrain Zone, more lights in the snow tubing area, and the purchase of a PistenBully Park Pro Snow Cat.

5. Nordic Valley: The trajectory of Nordic Valley changed during the 2020-21 season when it opened up the Nordic Express chairlift. Over the past couple of years, they’ve continued to add trails to this new terrain pod. Nordic Valley has added two trails for this winter, with them likely being of intermediate and advanced difficulty. The other major projects involved parking improvements. Two hundred spots were added to Lot 4, and Lot 1 was resurfaced.

4. Powder Mountain: This September, Netflix’s co-founder Reed Hastings became the majority owner of Powder Mountain. His $100 million investment at the Utah ski resort began this offseason, with snowmaking being added for the first time ever, the replacement of Tiger Tow with a magic carpet, the introduction of cross-country trails, a new temporary structure will house their ski school, rentals, and retail. For expert skiers, they will have a new guided experience in the backcountry that features 500 acres of steep terrain.

3. Solitude Mountain Resort: The oldest detachable chairlift in Utah was removed this offseason. The Eagle Express is being replaced by a high-speed six-pack chairlift. Three new Wyssen tower remote avalanche control systems (RACS) will be installed across Fantasy Ridge. Additional off-season improvements include modest renovations to The Inn at Solitude and their signature restaurants: Honeycomb Grill and St. Bernard’s.

2. Brighton Resort: Two major investments will mark the beginning of a new era for Brighton. The first is the replacement of the Crest Express with a Doppelmayr D-line high-speed six-pack chairlift. The second major improvement is the addition of a mid-mountain lodge. Located near the Snake Creek Express chairlift, the Sidewinder Grill will include “brews, burgers, and bathrooms.”

1. Snowbasin Resort: The biggest investment at the ski resort since 1999 will see a new chairlift, additional trails, an expanded lodge patio, more bathrooms, and the expansion of one of their parking lots.

The Demoisy Express will be adding a needed capacity increase to the Staweberry terrain pod. The high-speed six-pack will have a ride time of 10 minutes and an uphill capacity of 2,400 riders per hour. The location of the top terminal of the lift allows for the creation of two new trails around it.

Over at the Strawberry base area, a large heated outdoor patio is being added to the Strawberry Lodge. For parking, 124 spots have been added to the Canyon Rim lot. More of Snowbasin’s majestic bathrooms will be added to the Grizzly Center. If you’ve been inside one of Snowbasin’s bathrooms, you know that addition alone is worth the number pick on this list.

Image/Video Credits: Ski Utah/James Niehues (Featured Image), Snowbasin Resort (Header Image), Park City Mountain Resort, Sundance Resort, Nordic Valley, Powder Mountain, Solitude Mountain Resort, Brighton Resort

The ski resorts closest to Ogden are going through some changes this offseason. Snowbasin is making its biggest offseason investment since 1999, while Powder Mountain’s new majority owner will be spending $100 million in improvements over the next couple of years.

Nordic Valley, which is the closest ski resort to the city of Ogden, announced today that they’re continuing to add to its terrain expansion that opened back in 2021 and is growing one of its parking lots.

After adding five new trails last season, Nordic Valley has added two more runs to the Nordic Express terrain pod. They haven’t officially classified the difficulty of the two runs, but they will be either intermediate or advanced routes. This terrain pod already features beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert runs and glades.

In addition, Nordic Valley has expanded one of its parking lots. They have added 200 more spaces to Parking Lot 4, helping them fit more people in on the busiest days. In addition, unlike other Utah ski resorts, parking at Nordic Valley is still free.

Lift tickets are on sale now, with the cheapest ones being $9. More offseason improvements are on tap for Nordic Valley and will be announced in the not-too-distant future.

Image Credits: Nordic Valley Ski Resort

The statistics from Utah’s 2022-23 ski season were incredible. Thirteen of the fifteen ski resorts in the state broke their all-time snowfall records, two-thirds of them had their longest seasons ever, and there were 44 powder days (snowfall of a foot or more). The biggest winner of the season was Alta, which received 903″ of snowfall. A recent snow measurement of Devil’s Castle from the Utah Avalanche Center found that the upper reaches of Alta still have a snow depth of over eight feet.

Yesterday, Ski Utah released a breathtaking season recap. The video from Ski Utah features a variety of statistics, a meteorological summary from Craig Gordon of the Utah Avalanche Center, and lots of powder skiing. The footage from Ski Utah is below.

Image/Video Credits: Ski Utah

This year, Nate Luebbe from The Journal Of Lost Time has started a documentary series about Utah’s last independent ski resorts. Called Higher Ground: The Last Independent Ski Resorts In Utah, they’ve previously covered Nordic Valley and Eagle Point. On Sunday, they posted their most recent episode, which explores Sundance Mountain Resort.

The first part of the video covers the lodging and dining options at the ski resort. During his ski day there, Nate checked out the Outlaw Express, Flathead triple chairlift, and new Wildwood terrain pod with Olympian Steven Nyman.

The video covers the many strengths of Sundance: the luxury food and lodging, the varied terrain, and the mind-boggling views. At the end of the video, Nate says that Sundance is his favorite ski resort in Utah, and it’s easy to understand why.

The video from The Journal Of Lost Time is below.

Image/Video Credits: The Journal of Lost Time, Sundance Mountain Resort

There are only a few independent ski resorts remaining in Utah, as many of the major players in the state have gone to corporate owners. A new video series called Higher Ground: The Last Independent Ski Resorts in Utah, is documenting the last remaining holdouts to this corporate consolidation.

His first episode focused on Nordic Valley (technically not an independent resort, but it definitely has an independent feel to it), while his second episode, which was just released, is centered around Eagle Point Resort.

The only ski resort in Central Utah has extensive ski-in/out lodging, a Friday-Monday operating schedule (meaning that the powder lasts longer), and varying terrain for all ability levels.

In the video, Nate Luebbe explores the ski resort with former Freeride World Tour competitor Dillon Green and discovers what makes this mountain so unique. The video from The Journal Of Lost Time is below.

Image/Video Credits: Eagle Point Resort, The Journal Of Lost Time

The headache of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons is one of the most talked about issues in all of skiing and snowboarding.

Those resorts obviously have the best snow, but there’s still a handful of independently-owned ski resorts across the state of Utah where you can simply focus on what’s most important- skiing.

Watch as YouTube channel The Journal of Lost Time explores Nordic Valley, the first stop on his quest to visit the remaining independently-owned ski resorts left in the Beehive State.

The Journal of Lost Time: “Skiing is one of the most basic human traditions; slide down a snowy hill with some friends and enjoy time outside in the winter.

So how did we stray so far from our roots, with massive conglomerate resorts that cost an arm and a leg to enjoy, and consume hours of our lives waiting in line?

Join Nate Luebbe as he explores the last few remaining independent ski resorts in Utah to discover what skiing used to be, and still is, if you know where to look.”

Director: @nateinthewild

DP: @simoneisenbach

Cam Op: @mountainsforbreakfastt

Animator: @autpops

Athlete: @ryleylandis

Nordic Valley Stats/Info:

Vertical: 1,700 ft.

Trails: 40

Lifts: 5

Skiable Acres: 450+

Average Snowfall: 300″

Distance From SLC Airport: 59 miles, 65 minute drive

A new Utah ski village is inching closer to beginning construction. The Standard-Examiner reports that a rezone of what could become part of the Nordic Village at Nordic Valley Ski Resort was approved by the Weber County commissioners last week. This is one of the first steps in the tedious process though, as water, roads, and sewer lines will also need to be debated and approved by the county.

The developers, Skyline Mountain Base, LLC, said that they were satisfied with getting past this hurdle, but noted that it’s only one of the first steps in the long process. They also said that they want to hear from the public in order to address concerns and modify the plans if needed.

The Nordic Village would be 510 acres, but would still leave 88% of the land undeveloped. There would be multiple residential development areas: One part would be next to the current base area, and a single-family chalet development would be constructed near the Nordic Express terrain pod and next to the Crockett lift and The Glades trail.

There would be 550 residential units and over 38,000 square feet of commercial space. Some of the additions would include multi-family residential units, townhomes, single-family chalets, commercial spaces, a pond with a boat house, and an outdoor amphitheater. The timeline to complete the project would take fifteen to twenty years.

The push for a village and housing around Nordic Valley has faced opposition from locals for a variety of reasons. The construction of a village would bring rising noise levels to the area and would change the aesthetic of the relatively small ski resort. Water shortages are also a rising concern in the Western United States, which makes locals reluctant about large developments. The water for the project would come from a variety of sources, which include the streams around Nordic Valley.

On the other hand, Nordic Valley is a growing ski resort, and infrastructure improvements are needed to help them keep up with the rapidly modernizing competitors in the state.

Nordic Valley has gone through a lot of change in recent years. During the 2020-21 season, they expanded onto a new peak, which is serviced by a high-speed six-pack chairlift. Today, the terrain pod features a variety of easy, intermediate, advanced, and expert runs and glades.

Over this past offseason, Nordic Valley continued to make rapid improvements. They sculpted out five new glade runs around the Nordic Express, converted their old ski patrol room into a beer bar, and increased their snowmaking capacity. Utah is seeing a rapidly evolving ski industry, but I believe that Nordic Valley will continue to be one of the most interesting ski resorts to follow in the years to come.

Image Credits: Nordic Village, Nordic Valley

It was an extremely busy offseason for ski resorts across North America, as terrain expansions happened throughout the United States and Canada.

I decided to compile a list of the expansions that are opening across the continent this winter and rank the five most significant ones. But first, here are some honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions: 

Bogus Basin is adding two new trails to its front side, as pictured in the circle located on the trail map above. Independence is a roomy intermediate trail, while Blackbird is a spacious and open advanced run. 

Cape Smokey in Nova Scotia is adding seven trails to its trail network for this winter. These runs appear to be a part of prior trail maps but disappeared from recent ones when the mountain was community ran, likely meaning that they weren’t maintained during this time period. In my opinion, this still counts as an expansion.

Gore Mountain is opening a new run that makes accessing the North Creek Ski Bowl much easier. The Backwoods will be a groomed run with snowmaking capabilities that starts just below the top terminal of the Burnt Ridge Quad, runs alongside the Barkeater Glades, and ends above the Roaring Brook Bridge at the bottom of The Pipeline Traverse run.

The Montana Snowbowl is adding a Skytrac triple chairlift from its base area to the Top of TV Mountain. This gives skiers more access to this once-secluded peak, and they are opening new terrain around the lift.

According to an interview that the Snowbowl had with ABC 4, the new terrain will open this winter, and the new runs are very steep. There hasn’t been a new trail map released yet, but their master development plan map gives you an idea of what they’ll be like (pictured around the middle of the photo below, to the left of the purple/green rectangle).

Mount Bohemia is adding five glades to the gnarliest trail network in the Midwest. These new glades, which are all double-black diamonds, are circled below.

Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe added a new high-speed quad this offseason, with a new Lakeside beginner run servicing the top of the lift. The Around the World trail has also been rerouted.

After expanding onto a new peak for the 2020-21 season, Nordic Valley will be adding five new runs to the Nordic Express area. These are mostly glades, with them being of advanced and expert difficulty.

Utah Olympic Park is expanding its facilities onto a new peak with a high-speed quad and a few steep trails for training purposes, but this will be a private mountain that’s only accessible to athletes.

5. Sundance Mountain Resort:

Sundance Mountain Resort continues to rapidly improve its mountain, adding two new chairlifts last year, and expanding onto a new terrain pod this offseason. The forty-acre expansion will feature ten trails and a new lift. The new Wildwood chairlift is a fixed-grip quad with a ride time of seven minutes, while the runs consist of mostly beginner and intermediate terrain.

This week, Sundance Resort announced that they’re opening the Wildwood lift on December 16th, and will be serving hot bread and honey butter to the first one hundred people that arrive at the lift.

4. Mt. Shasta Ski Park:

Over the summer, Mt. Shasta Ski Park grew its vertical drop by expanding onto Gray Butte. Six new trails have been added to Mt. Shasta’s network, ranging from intermediate to the ski resort’s first double black diamond. The new lift gives them 211 more acres of skiable terrain and 250 acres of backcountry access.

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The new terrain pod is serviced by a fixed-grip quad chairlift, which has a vertical rise of 1,144 feet, and a ride time of ten minutes. Last week, they opened up Gray Butte thanks to the five feet of snow that they’ve gotten to start their season off.

3. Lookout Pass:

For many years, Lookout Pass has been working on expanding onto Eagle Peak. This project came to a head this offseason when they installed the new Eagle Peak Quad chairlift. This is a Garaventa CTEC Fixed Grip Quad chairlift, which was updated by Skytrac.

The terrain consists of fourteen easy, intermediate, and advanced runs and glades, with another lift planned in the future. The 500-acre expansion grows Lookout Pass to 1023 acres and increases its vertical drop by five hundred feet. Today, they just announced that the new peak will be opening tomorrow (December 16th).

2. Grand Targhee:

For years, the terrain off Peaked Mountain served as Grand Targhee’s spot for cat-skiing. Over the offseason, they added a Doppelmayr high-speed six-pack chairlift, which climbs 1815 feet up Peaked Mountain, and carries nearly 2000 skiers/riders an hour.

The 600-acre Peaked Mountain expansion has a mix of wide-open groomers, steep chutes, and expansive glades. When conditions permit, it also gives skiers and riders access to some of Wyoming’s most challenging terrain.

1. Palisades Tahoe:

This is the only expansion on this list that won’t add new trails, but it’s clearly the most significant connection to two ski resorts in the United States since the Park City-Canyons gondola.

Before this lift, you could only get from Alpine to Palisades or the other way around by hitting the road by car/shuttle or heading into the backcountry. The Base to Base Gondola doesn’t add new terrain to their trail network, but connecting two of the most popular ski resorts in Lake Tahoe seems like an expansion to me, as it’s finally feasible to get KT-22 and Alpine Bowl laps within a short timeframe.

The sixteen-minute ride from base to base features four terminals and ninety-six cabins, which can fit eight people into each one. The length of the gondola ride from base to base is 2.4 miles long, with it being a one-mile trip to get from the Palisades Village to KT-22 stations, and 1.4 miles from KT-22 to the Alpine Meadows base area terminal. The new lift will officially make Palisades Tahoe the largest ski resort in the Golden State.

The soft opening for the new gondola is December 17th. Matt Lorelli from Unofficial Networks will be there for its grand opening, so we’ll have more coverage coming your way on this impressive new gondola.

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Image Credits: Grand Targhee/Olim Wimberg(Featured Image), Lookout Pass, Bogus Basin, Cape Smokey, Gore Mountain, Montana Snowbowl, Mount Bohemia, Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe, Nordic Valley, Ian Wood Sundance Resort,  Mt. Shasta Ski Park, Palisades Tahoe

The rapidly growing Nordic Valley Ski Resort opened today at 10:00 a.m. MST. They have the Goldrush trail open, and the Apollo chairlift is currently spinning. It should be noted that skiers and riders will need to unload at the Apollo lifts mid-station. The first fifty guests got free donuts, which sounds like a good motivating factor to get the first chair to me.

Nordic Valley will remain open through November 27th and then be closed from November 28 through December 1st to focus on further snowmaking efforts. The new offseason additions, like their five new trails/glades and a beer bar in the old Ski Patrol aid room, will be opening in the relatively near future. Congratulations to Nordic Valley for your record-breaking opening!

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Image/Video Credits: Nordic Valley Ski Resort