Located just an hour north of Salt Lake City, Powder Mountain encompasses 8,464 skiable acres of terrain in the Wasatch Mountain Range. Serviced by five lifts and a fleet of busses that often pick skiers and snowboarders up from the road, the resort is already the largest in the U.S. — but it’s about to get even bigger. Powder Mountain is expanding into a 1,050-acre bowl known as “Don’t Mention It” (DMI) and Wolf Creek.
Currently, the area is out of bounds and requires a guided backcountry tour and a shuttle ride to return to the resort. However, Powder Mountain has plans to add lift service to this pristine bowl terrain within the next two seasons.
“With the Lightning Ridge Lift, which went in this season, and with DMI coming, the through line is expanded lift access to some of the best advanced and technical terrain in Utah,” Ashton Stronks, Powder Communications Director, told GearJunkie.
“DMI and Wolf Creek make for an incredible canvas. There are so many different lines and pockets to explore, from big wide-open steeps to gladed zones that hold snow for weeks to some tighter chutes that require some precision.”
‘The Biggest’ Is About to Get Bigger
Despite its title as the largest ski resort in America in terms of total acreage, Powder Mountain is still a bit of a hidden gem. That’s partly because it is not on the Ikon or Epic passes. Instead, it is funded through a unique part-private, part-public model. It’s an approach that helps keep crowds low, and preserves fresh turns for those who have a pass.
The mountain tops out around 9,400 feet and has a vertical drop of 3,436 feet. So, it isn’t the steepest ski resort by any margin. However, with 8,464 skiable acres, it’s the largest in North America. The closest rival in size is Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, which encompasses 8,171 skiable acres. With this new addition, Powder Mountain will be the largest by a wide margin with over 9,400 acres for skiers and riders to explore.
DMI and Wolf Creek are popular sidecountry areas at the resort and have been for many years. While the locals would likely prefer this area remain a “secret,” it will soon be open to everyone as Powder Mountain develops its plan to install at least one lift (possibly more) to make it accessible for everyone.
However, Powder Mountain still values the backcountry experience that this bowl provides. So, it intends to maintain backcountry access within it, in some fashion, moving forward.
According to the resort, planning will commence in earnest as soon as the snow melts this spring or summer. Once that process begins, Powder Mountain will have a more defined construction timeline for this expansion project.
Powder Mountain Expansion: More Improvements to Come
The upcoming expansion plans for DMI and Wolf Creek are just part of a larger vision that’s become feasible thanks to investments made by Powder Mountain’s CEO, Reed Hastings. In 2023, the co-founder and former CEO of Netflix invested $100 million into the resort, becoming both the CEO and majority owner of Powder Mountain.
To uphold the ethos of Powder Mountain remaining uncrowded yet also profitable, Hastings has instituted a public-private model where a portion of the resort is private skiing, only accessible for Powder Mountain homeowners. That helps drive real estate sales on the private side, which helps build infrastructure on the public side — such as the new lift access in DMI and Wolf Creek.
“Our approach is going to be a blend of public and private skiing, where real estate sales help fund lifts and lodges for everyone, and some of our public guests buy real estate to access private skiing,” Hastings said in a statement. “We are fortunate that we can improve our public resort next year and also offer private skiing to help real estate sales.”
Under Hastings’ leadership, Powder Mountain has already spent $20 million to add three new lifts: a high-speed detachable quad upgrade on Paradise, a new fixed-grip quad from the base of Timberline to the top of Lightning Ridge, and a new fixed-grip quad upgrade on Timberline.
The planned addition of lift service to DMI and Wolf Creek should help make the mountain more attractive to both public and private skiers. It will expand the powder access that the mountain is already famous for while also mitigating the kinds of crowds seen at other, more conventional resorts.
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