Snowbird sidecountry: Scotties Bowl
Skinning up Scotties Bowl on the Snowbird sidecountry.
Scotties Bowl is a classic descent in Little Cottonwood Canyon, just on the west side of Snowbird’s resort boundary. Access to Scotties is very easy from the ‘Bird when backcountry gates along the Tiger Tail run are open. On those days, Scotties is best avoided if you’re looking for solitude as it gets tracked out really fast from skiers hungry for a quick, sidecountry hit.
Mike DeBernardo near the top of Scotties Bowl.
Luckily for those of us who prefer to skin for backcountry turns, Snowbird hardly ever opens Tiger Tail, which means resort skiers can’t reach the access gates. This is the best time to make a run on Scotties and have a 2,200 foot, awesome descent all to yourself. Of course, Snowbird Patrol keeps the gates closed during high avalanche danger, so skiing Scotties on those days is a risk. Weigh your options between crowds and slides and try to time it right.
Scotties Bowl is such a good tour because it’s like a 5-star rock climb. The best routes are climbs with variety, like a hand crack that leads to a face climb that leads to laybacks, stemming then friction moves. Scotties is like that on skis as it starts with a really steep, treed slope, funnels into low-angle, fast terrain, and features lots of gullies and shoulders to play on. Scotties isn’t just about a good, long powder run… it’s also like a natural terrain park.
Mason Diedrich in the fluffy, midway down Scotties.
Getting to Scotties Bowl is easy, even if you’re not riding the Gad 2 chair to get there. Simply park at the White Pine parking lot, just down-canyon from Snowbird. Start up the jeep road and look for a skin track on the left that goes directly up the obvious Scotties slide path. Huff and puff until you reach the top.
Check out the GPS track below for an example of a tour in Scotties Bowl. The lines represent both the up track (lookers left) and down (lookers right.) This track only goes to the top of the first headwall. A longer tour continues to the top of the upper headwall where even more turns can be found.
Scotties Bowl GPS Track
Scotties is a notorious slide path that releases huge, unsurvivable avalanches. As such, it’s only smart to ski Scotties when avalanche conditions are stable. Always check the Utah Avalanche Center’s forecast before heading out.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by klymit, UTAH outsidePo. UTAH outsidePo said: Scotties Bowl, nice "one-and-done" backcountry ski hit, just outside the Snowbird resort boundary: http://www.utahoutside.com/?p=1395 [...]