POWDER MOUNTAIN, Utah - Utah's most famous ski resorts - Alta, Snowbird and the three Park City areas - are skiing household names. They are revered for hundreds of inches of cloud-light powder that fall on their slopes every year. But there are other places in Utah to ski, with more elusive images and lower profiles.

Their appeal is low key, which regulars think is just fine.

Visitors to such secret slopes as Powder Mountain and Sundance feel as if they've made grand discoveries - and they have.

POWDER MOUNTAIN

Powder Mountain, northeast of Ogden, offers more terrain and more snow with less infrastructure than any other area in Utah. It is a ski and snowboard area, pure and simple, and not a resort with lodging, nightlife (other than night skiing) or fine dining. The inbounds terrain measures an astonishing 4,700 acres. Of that, 2,800 acres are accessed by only four chairs and three surface tows.

An additional 1,200 acres require a shuttle bus back to the lifts and 700 are accessed only by snowcat ride. Add to that 2,500 acres of guided snowcat skiing/riding terrain, and you have a formidable 7,200 acres to explore. In North America, only the combination of Whistler and Blackcomb is larger.

There's not a snowgun anywhere, for Powder Mountain receives 500 inches of snow every year - the same as Utah's more famous areas. It grooms some beginner and intermediate runs but leaves most for skiers and snowboarders to track out. With so much terrain and so little traffic, it never happens, and powder lingers in hidden pockets from storm to storm.

The 5 1/2-mile access road ascends from the town of Eden to the heavenly terrain of Powder Mountain. It climbs through the woods, first passing shuttle pick-up points for off-piste skiers and riders, and then the Sundown beginner/intermediate area. Laid out almost like a separate ski hill, Sundown has a parking lot, a simple base lodge, a teaching hill, ski school, one chairlift, one surface lift, rental shop and lights for night skiing.

The road continues to the Timberline base with another parking lot, another simple day lodge, a yurt from which private lessons and powder tours depart and a ski and rental shop.

Not visible from the Timberline base is a ski lift. It is necessary to ski down to the Timberline triple loading area and then on to the Hidden Lake Express. This high-speed lift, a recent replacement for a classic, old double chair, is a stark contrast to Powder Mountain's intrinsic, old-style simplicity.

The Hidden Lake Express accesses the heart of Powder Mountain's lift-served terrain and culminates at the area's highest point. Powder Mountain's topography is a series of ridges and valleys, and long roads between them.

Gentle meanderers lace across the complicated terrain, and groomed cruisers entice intermediate and advanced skiers. Powder Mountain's abundant black-diamond turf includes outstanding tree skiing, rock-rimmed chutes, headwalls and snowy spillways. Especially on non-holiday weekdays, the vast terrain is so sparsely trafficked that it feels like a private powder paradise. However, it is complicated and spread out, so that the two-dimensional trail map is somewhat helpful. Even better is the free, guided mountain tour that takes off from the Timberline base at 10 a.m. daily.

The limited on-mountain lodging is not operated by Powder Mountain. Lodging options include the condos and town homes in the rental program of the Wolf Creek Resort at the bottom of the Powder Mountain access road, additional accommodations in Eden and downtown lodging in Ogden, a very cool little city less than an hour's drive away.

SECLUDED SUNDANCE

Sundance, northeast of Provo, is another hidden gem. While Powder Mountain's skiable terrain spreads across the vast land it occupies, Sundance Resort has lightly developed just 450 of the 6,000 acres purchased by actor/environmentalist Robert Redford.

The remainder is a wilderness preserve at the foot of Mt. Timpanogos, a legendary Western peak. Sound environmental practices have gone into infrastructure and operations of the resort (an anti-resort, really).

Smart building, conservation and recycling efforts have a high profile in the lodging and dining operations - and it's Redford's founding philosophy, not just for show.

Ninety-five luxurious cottages and a handful of places to eat, shop and create art are tucked among the trees at the foot of the mid-size ski area. It has 41 runs, three chairlifts and a respectable 2,150-foot vertical but from the bottom, looks smaller than it skis.

The only visible lift, a quad named Ray's after the pre-Redford owner, ferries riders to a midway unload to access the lower mountain, continues to the first summit and another unloading area, and finally drops into a hollow from which the Arrowhead triple reaches the highest lift-served point.

Skier's right leads to Sundance's most challenging terrain with ridges, gullies and glades. Skier's left features some short, steep shots, some glades and wonderful groomed cruisers.

It is possible to yo-yo on Arrowhead all day long, mixing and matching blue and black runs. On the lower mountain, a short handle tow accesses tame beginner terrain, and beyond that, novices and intermediates can get a lot of mileage on the long green and blue runs measuring to 1,325 vertical feet. After many dark years, most are again lit for night skiing.

Up the road, the Sundance Cross-Country Center has 26 kilometers of daily groomed trails for skating and classic track skiing and also 10 kilometers of dedicated trails. For any skier who wants to overcome a plateau, there's no better place than Sundance, Jerry Warren's home hill. He is director of mountain operations and director of skiing, but his real renown comes in ski instructor circles.

Jerry, one of the country's top ski technique gurus, once coached the Professional Ski Instructors of America elite demo team. He now runs a three-day Ski Performance Lab program, including video analysis and off-slope seminars, to make very average skiers into good skiers and good skiers into much better ones.

In addition to skiing, Sundance's Artisan Center provides both beginner and experienced artists instruction and workshop space for pottery, glassmaking, jewelry making and more. The Spa at Sundance is a retreat within a retreat. Native American-inspired treatments are its specialty.

The Owl Bar, rescued from Thermopolis Wyo., dates to the 1890s. Butch and Sundance are known to have frequented it in its original location, and it remains a wonderful place to hang out at the end of a ski day.

The Tree Room, which might just be Utah's best restaurant, serves refined cuisine surrounded by kachinas, pottery and an enormous Navajo rug, all from Robert Redford's private collection.

TRANSPORTATION

 Salt Lake City is the airport for both resorts. Powder Mountain is 55 miles and Sundance is 45 miles away - around an hour's drive. Amtrak serves both Salt Lake City (a station with waiting room) and Provo stop (but not a station), 15 miles from Sundance.

SPECIALS SKI UTAH WHITE SALE AT SUNDANCE

Promotion rates at Sundance start at $375/night, minimum of three nights, and include room, breakfast per person daily, two all-day lift tickets per day and upgraded amenity bag for post-ski munching. (Taxes, fees and gratuities are not included.) www.skiutah.com/whitesale/index.html#851586977  or call (866) 976-3547.

Photo by: Bryan J. Smith