Destination resorts these days have to have snowmaking, said Stauffer, and resorts essentially have to be open by Thanksgiving in order to draw the crowds in for Christmas. Last summer, he said, the resort plumbed the mountain for what he called the nation's most extensive and sophisticated snowmaking system. When it is time to make snow, pumps pull the water up and mix it with air from one of three compressors that can put out 20,000 cubic feet of air per minute. At Snowbasin, that doesn't happen. The business end of the system is what everyone sees when they ski at Snowbasin - 540 snowmaking guns.
Most ski areas place their snowmaking guns off to the side of a trail.
At Snowbasin, the guns are mounted on tall poles placed in the middle of the trail. While I'll have to admit I found perfect snow on all the runs, I'm less impressed with the guns in the middle of the runs. Stauffer and R.C., however, said they don't even notice them anymore. There is more new here, though. The resort finished a mildly-controversial new access road, the Trappers Loop Connector Road, which shortens the trip from Salt Lake City from 53 to 40 miles by taking the driver up Interstate 84 through Weber Canyon then over a low pass to the resort.