Utah's white gold

'I'm peering over the edge of a 9,289-foot peak in Utah's Wasatch Mountains on a brisk winter day, watching expert skiers drop as naturally as snow over a ridge that stretches starkly downward. As they hop over the slope, their citrus-colored jackets are eclipsed by swirling clouds.

It's a 74 percent slope, says my guide, Justin Rowland, pointing to the 2002 Olympics men's downhill ski run at Snowbasin resort. "This is going to be one of the most challenging downhill courses," he says. "It's a lot steeper, it's a lot harder. There's no time to relax."

I imagine Olympic skiers dropping over the side with gusto. Then I try to picture myself doing the same, zipping past the finish line into a tidal wave of cheers. But reality intervenes: I'm a novice skier trained on man-made Midwestern molehills on a mission to tackle Western runs - and I'm grateful my feet are firmly planted.

That breathtaking view marked the beginning of my winter Olympics preview tour with eight other writers, caravaning from resort to resort within an hour's drive of Salt Lake City to check out the "powdaahh," as the ski regulars say.

We planned to survey resorts hosting Olympic events, as well as nearby slopes not directly tied to the Games but emblematic of Utah's ski scene.

With the Olympics, which run Feb. 8 to 24, less than 40 days away, Utah has taken center stage in the skiing world. But with the two-week flurry of lights, athletes, and medals comes the perception of massive crowds and roped-off ski runs that's predicted to keep some tourists at bay. In fact, resorts are seeing a 25 to 40 percent drop in traffic.

While it's true the Games will attract hundreds of thousands of visitors, only 2 percent of Utah's ski terrain will be used for events, and just three of Utah's 14 mountain resorts - Snowbasin, Park City Mountain Resort, and Deer Valley - are actually involved.

So it turns out that it may be a good winter to visit Utah, because ski lodges are offering deals of up to 40 percent off lift tickets and hotel rooms.

The downhill run at Snowbasin is just one Olympic adventure travelers can try firsthand. Visitors are allowed to hop over the Olympic moguls at Deer Valley, ride the snowboard half-pipe or ski the giant slalom course at Park City Mountain Resort, and zip around the Olympic track on a luge at 60 miles per hour - before or after the Games.

After watching the expert skiers - some as young as 10 - negotiate the men's downhill run at Snowbasin, I took the gondola back to the base lodge. The ride felt like an airplane descent, and as we dipped below the clouds, rugged ivory peaks snapped into view. (Tourists who don't want to ski the men's or women's Olympic runs can take the gondola up to see them.)

At the base, I met my ski instructor, Jack Lowery, for a lesson in parallel technique. It was a beautiful day, so we ditched our jackets and headed for the bunny slopes - which, by Utah standards, appeared practically equivalent to the blue runs I remembered in the Midwest.

Jack laughed at my goal of learning the parallel "in just one lesson." But after a few hours of twists, turns, falls, and hops, balance prevailed over gawkiness. "What makes this mountain unique," he says, "is that we [offer] everything from the beginning to the extreme [runs]."

The resort, at 6,400 feet, is known for its long slopes for a range of skiers and has the international ski federation's only approved downhill course in Utah. Snowbasin is also hosting slalom competitions. It recently built three new lodges and will spend $30 million on snowmaking alone to keep terrain groomed for Olympians. Of 3,300 skiable acres, 2,500 will be accessible during the Games.

The slides and hops I learned were put to good practice the next day at Deer Valley in Park City, 45 minutes from Salt Lake. The resort will host the men's and women's slalom races, the freestyle aerial events, and the mogul competitions.

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