- Distance: 9.9 Miles (15.93 km)
- Rating: 4-D, Gloriously technical, and built on unstable soil so the road moves every winter, making for less-than-perfect asphalt Ratings Explained »
- Travel: Either direction for best results
- Start: Junction UT-167 and UT-226
- End: Junction UT-226 and UT-39
- Fuel: Available in Mountain Green or Huntsville
- Along the Way: The road passes Snowbasin Ski resort, home of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
- Highlights: Its a long forgotten section of road so its rarely used, receives little maintenance, but little attention - so just like the Count of Monte Cristo, neglect becomes your ally.
- Advisories: On the northern slope there is a fair bit of home building, so expect gravel
View Old Snowbasin Road in a larger map
Summary
Long ago, there was only way way to access Snowbasin. It used to be called "Snowbasin Road". In order to qualify for an Olympic venue, there needed to be two roads accessing the location. So a new road was constructed. As you leave UT-167, Trappers Loop Road, and head west onto UT-267 you'll find yourself on the brand New Snowbasin road, sweeping asphalt that snakes it's way towards the ski resort. Passing a couple access points to the ski resort, you'll be at a large parking area with an ominous orange sign that appears to claim that the road ahead is closed. It's not. This is where the New Snowbasin Road transitions to the Old Snowbasin Road.
Immediately the road will drop down as short steep hill, narrow dramatically and the asphalt will be in much worse condition. Tremendous amounts of water flow off the ski resort every spring, and every spring the road sloughs and moves with all the water flowing beneath it. This is part of what gives the road it's character. Huge swells are sprinkled unexpectedly among a myriad of challenging corners. The road will eventually open up to reveal a glorious series of sweeping corners that climb up and through a saddle before dropping back towards Huntsville.Once over the top expect there to be a fair bit of home building, so be wary while navigating the plethora of complex, downhill switchbacks, most of which will have gravel strewn into the riding path, so expect it to be there.
While not the most glamorous road in our list, we still extract a great deal of joy from riding it. Like most technical routes it rewards smooth, deliberate, planned riding but punishes over-zealous throttle hands and inattention. That said, even we avoid this road during the early season and visit only during late summer and autumn months because that is when the road is most clear.
Do you have a better photograph of this Road?
If you do, email us your photograph and if we use it, you could win the Ultimate Collectors Edition of Faster, Faster and Faster and The Doctor, the Tornado and The Kentucky Kid a $40 value that has the Directors Cut of all three movies, remastered in 5.1 digital surround sound! More than seven hours of content!
Email photos to contest at canyonchasers.net with the name of the road in the subject line. (Or just click on that link and we'll fill in the subject line for you.)
Rate This Road
Have you ridden this road? How would you rate it? With one star meaning you thought this was a super-lame road with very little value, to five stars meaning that you felt like this was the mother of all roads - a road by which other roads should be judged.
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Ratings Explained
The CanyonChasers road rating is two parts. The first part, numbers 1 through 5, describe how technical the road is, with number 1 being a gently sweeping road and number five being very technical with challenging corners. The second part of the rating is a letter, A, B, C, D and F. The letter describes the quality of the road surface with A being perfect, pristine smooth and F being degraded, bumpy and crumbly. Rolling joints, tar-stips or "gummy worms" will drop the road one letter grade.
This road information is for planning and recreational purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic, or other events may cause road conditions to differ from the CanyonChasers ratings. Ratings may not be applicable to all riders, all bikes and all skill levels.