This was the first time I had been to ski in the USA, so was intrigued.

Charlie Leocha, the US ski guide guru's guidebook got us all excited about the skiing: " A must experienc mountain for experts" and there was a lot of talk of quivering with fear and shaking with exciting as you head up on the main cable car.

Summary:
- Skiing fantastic (even though snow was apparently not nearly as good as last year)
- Setting is terrific and a lot of harder core skiers seem to love it because there is a lot of traversing and even climbing which means you can usually find some fresh tracks
- If you are used to skiing in Europe then the car factor is a bit of a culture shock as there is no village or nightlife
- The combo with Alta (where they only and rather oddly only allows skiers) is grand for a change of scene but here you have to get used to chair lifts without bars which, ahem, is obviously not scary at all and takes some getting used to...
- Compared to Europe is cheaper on the slopes (thanks to the mighty pound...or is it the weak dollar) and the emptier slopes with little (or at least civilised) queues is a blessing.
- Whilst we were there the World Championships for Free-skiing was being held. In short all you need to know that even a guy with broken neck in a neck brace still pulled off a full somersault off a ridge and then jumped off some preposterously high cliff... amazing to watch.

We were lucky and had fabulous sunshine and snow dumps...so we were happy as pigs in mud. The only other North American ski resort I have been to is Whistler. Asked which one I would go to again and I would say Whistler because I think it balances awesome skiing and a village feel with after-ski life. That said we did not experience the thing that Snowbird is really really famous for which is nipple high powder that is claimed to be the lightest and fluffiest in the world. The foot or so we got was pretty darn good though and I am not saying I wouldn't go back or that it wasn't a fantasic experience.

Rather lame photo doesn't do it justice I'm afraid.