Powder Mountain Resort is just a few weeks away from leapfrogging over Park City to become the largest ski resort in the country. When two new SkyTrac lifts, “Village Lift” and “Mary’s Lift,” turn this December, the sleepy area in Ogden, Utah, will have 8464 total skiable acres including their epic side country terrain.

Of course, with all that mountain you need a village to support the “Largest Ski Resort”. The area’s owners, aka Summit, have plans for a new town in the saddle that intersects the top of three bowls at 8600 feet. Already, there are 6 miles of new roads that will lead to a version of the Swiss town of Wengen where visitors are surrounded by surreal mountain, meadow and Great Salt Lake views.

It’ll be like a Spiritual Alpine Disneyland with a main street of pop-up stores, micro-apartments, farm-to-table restaurants, yoga boot-camps, public art, media labs and educational outlets offering training in everything from transcendental meditation, software development and athletic performance. The environment will embody Summit’s vision of staving off overcrowding and over development while creating a hub for millennial entrepreneurship where ideas spark “positive global change”.

Largest Ski Resort With Small Numbers

As part of the mission of freedom, the owners swear they’ll cap lift ticket sales. This allows for the lowest skier density of any major resort in North America. In other words, you’ll have one skier per acre rather than the average 15-20 skiers/acre.  “We strive to maintain the uncrowded, wide open, adventurous experience Pow Mow is known for,” said Mark Schroetel, General Manager of Powder Mountain Resort. “By…capping ticket sales at 2,000 per day and establishing a limit of 1,000 adult season pass holders annually, we aim to keep our skier density of 1 acre per skier.”

Powder Mountain’s New Lift Locations

The new lifts in Lefty’s Canyon and Mary’s Bowl will access terrain previously accessible only by all-day guided cat skiing adventures. The resort has always been a funky place with little grooming; a throwback to the days when skiing and skiers were rugged and real. There is now efficient grooming for novices and intermediates in strategic spots but it’s still a place wild with powder stashes and side country adventure. The Lightning Ridge, Rain Tree and the newly added Lefty’s snow cats will still escort you to out of bounds style action and you can even opt for a full day snowcat expedition to Davenport, an area known for steep canyon descents and deep, untracked powder.

Powder Season Passholders Get Copper Mountain Privileges

Colorado’s Copper Mountain Resort and Powder Mountain have partnered for 2016/17 to give season passholders three free days at each area.

Copper Mountain offers 2,490 acres of terrain and averages 304 inches of snowfall during the winter season, and is also known for their award-winning terrain parks while Powder is at 8,464 total skiable acres.

“We are thrilled to welcome Powder Mountain to the Copper Season Pass,” said Jesse True, Senior Vice President at Copper Mountain Resort.

Put Powder on your 2017 Do-To List!