Snowbird, located in Little Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch mountains of Utah, is a steep skiers paradise. You get more bang for buck in terms of steeps out of the one lift that we stage our test out of than just about anywhere on the continent. This is why we test skis at Snowbird. But what is it that actually makes these mountains so steep and the terrain so rad? The answer is the Wasatch Fault.

The Salt Lake valley is literally dropping away from the high peaks of the Wasatch along the Wasatch Fault. There is one spot in the photo above at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon that you can see the fault and get a feel for just how fast this thing is moving. See the next slide for the explanation.