Your Recommended Utah Resorts

xkcd is pretty funny.

Actually, I have skied powder all day at Killington.  On 200 cm straight skis.
In my experience, almost any ski is good in pristine snow.

Where the wide skis really work wonders is in less than perfect snow -- cut up, heavy, crusty, or whatever.  They smooth out the irregulariites and nearly eliminate that front-back jerkiness you get from density variations.  Which is why I bought a pair over the summer.

Let's just state for the record that I know several phD physicists who ski powder on the old skinny skis and do just fine.  Floating on top with the modern wide skis makes it easier, but it's not the only way to do it.  Anybody can ski on top of the snow, it takes real skill to ski in the snow. I can't do it, but other better skiers can.

 Back to the OP- I'd do Deer Valley, 'cause it's a hoot- and great skiing. PCMR is underrated on this board, but I like it because the back bowls are like a mini- LCC and it has the best groomers, IMHO, in Utah. They're super wide, 50yds or more and not so steep that you need to worry a lot about speed control. If you like to ski fast, just wait for the run to clear and hit it. Except for Christmas or Prez week, it's easy to be alone on a run. Canyons I don't get, wierd double fall lines, short vert, narrow icy groomers... but whatever.
 Snow Basin is pretty great too, but a long hike from LCC. If you do go, take the back way on interstate 84 (not I-15) 'cause it's as georgous as 15 is ugly. Solitude's an easy day trip.

 When it hasn't snowed for awhile, I prefer the PC resorts because they have lots of blues and lots of grooming. The LCC resorts don't really have a lot of groomers and the mountainsides get pretty bumped up. The groomers that they do have get pretty crowded with gapers and, well, pretty much everybody...

To pile on, I had some Lhotsa Pows (PM gear) and they did actually sit pretty much on top of pow, making the powder experience much like skiing first tracks on Deer Valley corduroy. I went back to skinny skis, like 105 or so. Call me a Luddite...

No, not really. Cement ships float on water because of Archimedes' principle. That's not what happens with skis sliding on snow.  The best nautical analogy would be  hydroplaning, but with skis you have to keep moving or you sink.

Walt, thanks.  You don't think there is any buoyancy (Archimedes) effect -- even if it is not the primary factor involved?  Walking with snowshoes spreads your weight and keeps you more or less on top of the snow.  I would have thought that widening the surface area of the skis would have the same effect. 

EDIT:  Or is water skiing a better analogy than walking with snow shoes?  When you're in the water waiting for the boat to start, there's not much more buoyancy provided by the water skis  -- you certainly couldn't float on the water standing on water skis.  But when the boat provides forward movement you're on the surface.

Edited by Jimski - 11/4/09 at 3:37pm

I'm hoping LTCold & company did a certain amount of due diligence before booking 5 days on-mountain at Snowbird.   Since they have skied there before, presumably they are comfortable with enough of the terrain.  I would not try to commute to other areas;  if you want to do that you should be staying in Salt Lake for much less $$$.  Or in Park City if most of Alta/Snowbird is beyond your ability.

That said it's perfectly reasonable that they might live somewhere they have not yet had the opportunity to get comfortable with powder.   If their skills are very high they should adapt quickly.  BUT, I would strongly recommend renting some fat skis and taking a powder clinic if you get new snow.  If you can afford to stay at Snowbird, you can afford a powder lesson from some of the best instructors anywhere.  I would also perhaps recommend that the powder lesson be at Alta, which has a greater proportion of less intimidating terrain.

I'll bet after that instruction you'll see why people here were amused by the
comment.

Amen to that.  That's why it's more important for new/aspiring powder skiers to be on the fat boards than the hotshots who can ski on anything anywhere.