Travel: Snowbird

HEAVEN alone knows for sure where the best powder snow most often falls, but Utah proclaims at every opportunity (for example, on car licence plates) that it has the Greatest Snow on Earth. What is true is that a great deal of snow falls on the state's Wasatch mountains, particularly in the resorts of Alta and Snowbird, and that much of it is light and fluffy. Heavy falls routinely trigger outbreaks of 'Alta flu' in nearby Salt Lake City. Snowbird offers slicker hotels (or, rather, a slicker hotel) and more vertical drop.

PLUS POINTS: snow; many steep descents from the two main lifts; near Salt Lake City (and airport).

MINUS POINTS: claustrophobic, charmless, with one large hotel and three or four smaller ones; confined ski area; little easy skiing; Salt Lake City hard to get to from the UK as there are no direct flights.

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