For years, Moab has been a place for mountain biking, hiking and rock climbing trips taken from spring through the fall. Skiing has never entered into the equation, even though each time I laid eyes on the La Sal Mountains on the horizon beyond town I promised aloud that I would someday backcountry ski those pyramidal peaks. Well, I kept that promise this season, even though it took upwards of a decade to make it happen.
Adam picked me up in his yurt-on-wheels at 5:30 in the morning. An early start to be sure, but we only had two days and wanted to get some quality ski time upon arrival. After a short detour in Lehi to pick up Chris, we rallied down to Moab, arriving in town around 10:30. Yes, the yurt is not fast on the highway, and it wasn’t until 12:30 in the afternoon before we put skins to skis and started touring.
Our first exploratory mission was to the Corkscrew Glades, a cluster of open meadows on a steep, pine-covered slope below Tuk No. The route was easy enough as it followed the Trans-La Sal summer trail down to Brumley Creek, then up and around Noriega’s Peak. We then deviated from the official path and headed south along an aspen tree forest to Dorry Creek at the foot of the Corkscrew Glades.
The day was cloudy, foggy even as we climbed far above the Southern Utah desert. We longed for clear weather simply to have the view, but snow moved in and fell in waves as we ascended the steep switchbacks up the pine-filled, west aspect of the mountain. The unrelenting switchbacks went up for over 1,200 feet with no quarter for tired legs. But finally, we topped out on a flat just below Point 10974, and readied ourselves for a ski down that assuredly was soft powder.
Indeed the snow was soft, also creamy and deep. We dropped in one by one, linking gladed meadows between stands of pine until we found ourselves above the sweetest line – a long hallway of open snow between a cathedral of pines that fell all the way to the creek bottom below. We skied with aplomb, laughing and whooping at the quality of the powder despite the last storm falling over a week before. We slashed turns until our legs begged for mercy and stopped for pole-clink-high-fives at the bottom.
Hungry for more, but needing to return to the yurt-on-wheels due to the late start, we headed back by climbing Noriega’s Peak. The south face was easily ascended despite some sun crust and rocky sections, but we hit the peak in under an hour and switched to ski mode just as the clouds broke and the low sun poked through, bathing the mountains and valleys with pink and amber light. Seeing it as a beacon to light our way, we skied low angle glades down the northwest ridge and bushwhacked through pucker brush to the skin track. A short traverse back to the car among the splendor of the setting sun capped off a successful day skiing the La Sal Mountains… well that and the cold beer waiting in the camper.
The following day broke sunny and warm, which motivated us to get an early start on the Laurel Highway. Without any real objective, we followed the groomed road a short distance until an obvious shortcut through the trees on the right showed us the way. From there we went up to the Gold Basin Road and left it for the trees that guard the ridge known as the Laurel Highway. Judging by the construction of the skin track, the name became obvious – this backcountry ski route is very popular and sees lots of traffic – a highway for touring parties.
The skin up the ridge was long, but views of Tuk No and Mount Tukuhnikivatz lording over Gold Basin under a deep, blue sky made the tedium of skinning disappear. It wasn’t long before we reached the apex of Pre-Laurel Peak. We thought about continuing on to climb Laurel Peak, but the wind-scoured, rocky faces convinced us that getting up would be easy, but skiing back down would be impossible.
Instead, we ate a leisurely lunch, spent way too much time taking photos of the peaks with red rock canyons below, and reveling in our surroundings. Adam even got poetic, announcing that the La Sal Mountains would forever have a piece of his heart. Awwwwwwww.
After serenading the snow, we hiked down over loose scree from the summit to a snow field on the south face. Our line of choice was called The Funnel, as two large bowls “funnel” into a narrow, natural half pipe. It’s 1,600 vertical feet of sweet fall-line skiing, and on this day, the snow was spectacular with creamy turns that only got crusted on the south-facing side of the half pipe. Again, Adam got misty and declared that it was among the best backcountry ski run he’s ever experienced.
Ultimately satisfied, we returned to the camper via Gold Basin Road and ended our La Sal Mountain trip in the traditional way – a visit to the Moab Brewery for beers and burgers.