Xplore Utah

Last week’s Winter Dew Tour Championships at Snowbasin were a smashing success, with record attendance and valuable international media exposure for the state and its plethora of top-notch outdoor recreation options.
The Winter Dew Tour just wrapped up its third season, and is already considered the third-biggest winter sports competition anywhere, trailing on the Winter Olympics and Winter X Games in terms of prestige and prize money.
There are three stops on the tour each season, meaning there have been a total of nine stops so far. Of those nine, the top two in terms of attendance were both at Snowbasin, this year and last.
There may be several reasons for the popularity of the Winter Dew Tour in Utah. Aside from the fact that Utah has a long-standing reputation as one of the world’s top destinations for skiing and snowboarding, Wasatch Front ski resorts are uniquely positioned as being conveniently close to the state’s major population centers.
For example, the Snowbasin parking lot sits a mere 20 miles from downtown Ogden. The resorts in Big and Little Cottonwood canyons share a similar promixity to Salt Lake City. That makes it much easier for the casual spectator to head up and take in an afternoon’s worth of competition.
You can fly into to Salt Lake City International Airport from anywhere in the world and be on the slopes within an hour. By comparison, the lag time from Denver International is at least two hours, and that’s still relatively quick compared with many other states.
This fact isn’t lost on the Utah Sports Commission, which successfully lobbied to bring the Winter Dew Tour to Utah.
Based on the success of the first two stops here, organizers of the Winter Dew Tour would do well to make Utah a permanent stop on the circuit. It wouldn’t have to be held at Snowbasin every time, even though the resort has clearly shown it has everything necessary to pull off a wildly successful event.