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By Sam Collentine, Meteorologist Posted 4 years ago January 6, 2020

TRIP REPORT: Park City Powder Cats - January 2020

The following trip report was written by Utah Forecaster Evan Thayer. Follow the Utah Daily Snow for the latest Utah snow forecast.


On Saturday, January 4th, I was lucky enough to visit Park City Powder Cats. Cat skiing is something you have to experience to believe, especially at PC Powder Cats. I have always heard great things about PC Powder Cats, so my expectations were high, but even so, I was blown away. Here are some photos from my day. 

You start by driving to their ranch, 35 minutes east of Park City, in the western Uintas. You are greeted with breakfast and coffee in their beautiful cabin while you gear up and listen to your safety briefing from your guides. 

You then head out on one of their cats. It's usually about 30-45 minutes to get to the top of your first line. Typically, there are no more than 10 people in a cat with you with at least 2 guides and your cat driver, so your journey is a nice way to get acquainted with everyone in your group.

Here is one of our guides, Johnny, at the top of one of our early day lines: 

PC Cats had received 8" of new snow Wednesday night and Thursday morning, which means it had 48 hours to settle by the time we skied it. It was so smooth.

Here I am dropping down Giant Steps Bowl just before lunch:

And the whole group celebrating 1,500 feet of untracked vert...

Literally, the only tracks in this huge bowl are ours. If that's not enough, they have 2 other bowls of similar size right next to this, not to mention other bowls on different aspects and a seemingly endless array of pine and aspen glades to ski. I honestly think it could go a month without fresh snow, and you'd still have untracked snow. Luckily, we never go anywhere near that long without snow. 

We did 4 laps in the bowls before lunch while it was bluebird conditions. Then we ate a delicious meal. A weak disturbance brought some clouds in the afternoon so we opted to ski in the trees where visibility is better. Here is me again in the trees enjoying some sugary powder: 

Finally, we made our way back to the cabin after a full day of skiing powder and were treated to a spectacular sunset: 

Should you do cat skiing? I can't answer that question for you. Obviously it's going to cost more than a typical day at a resort, but it's also 100x more memorable than most resort days. If you are already spending the money to travel to Utah, and you want to make sure you have an unforgettable experience of riding untracked snow and epic terrain. Then yes, I'd absolutely do it. Even if you're a local, it's a completely different experience to what most of us are used to. 

What I can say definitively is that this is the best cat skiing experience I've ever had. Their terrain is unmatched. Due to their high elevation between 8500 and 10500 feet, the snow quality is extremely high and the cold temperatures help to maintain that snow quality days after a storm.


Visit PCCats.com to learn more and book your trip today.


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About The Author

Sam Collentine

Meteorologist

Sam Collentine is the Chief Operating Officer of OpenSnow and lives in Basalt, Colorado. Before joining OpenSnow, he studied Atmospheric Science at the University of Colorado, spent time at Channel 7 News in Denver, and at the National Weather Service in Boulder.

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