Spring in Southern Utah is the best time of year for outdoor adventure. Sure, winter is better for skiing, fall is arguably best for mountain biking and climbing, but spring is the only time you can do it all at once. We had one such trip of variety when we went backcountry skiing, mountain biking, camping and even speed flying in the Henry Mountains. Oh, and of course the third “B” – beer rounded out the boards and bikes trifecta.
The Henry Mountains are the last range in the U.S. to be mapped and surveyed, which speaks to how remote they are, even to this day. Access is made difficult by dirt roads that are unmaintained in winter, meaning the window of opportunity to ski them (enough snow to ski on relative to snow melted off the roads) is really short. We figured the first weekend in April was a safe bet so myself, Adam and Jon loaded up the adventure train cobbled together by the “Yurt on Wheels” camper, with a Jeep hitched to the back. Skis, bikes, and all the attendant gear was loaded in, and we rallied south to Hanksville.
It was surreal to be driving through desolate desert to ski. But as we approached, the Henry Mountains appeared to float above the vastness – white peaks in a sea of brown and red. There was still snow up in them hills, and we were excited at the prospect of skiing it. After fueling up in Hanksville, we drove 22 miles south on dirt roads and found them to be totally dry save for a few patches of snow. It seemed that we timed our trip perfectly, but upon parking the Jeep above the Lonesome Beaver campground, we realized we were almost too late. The snow line was very high, and it would take some hiking to get there.
So with a late start of 2-in-the-afternoon, we kept our shoes on, strapped skis to our packs, and hiked up through forests of ghostly burned trees toward Mount Ellen – the highest point in the range. Luckily, it only took a mile of walking to reach a place where we could put skins on skis.
From there, we switchbacked up a subridge to gain Mount Ellen’s top. But the late hour and approaching dark weather put us on deadline. After around three hours of hiking, we stopped above a slidepath below the summit ridge and decided to ski.
The lateness of the day also meant the sun had its way with the snowpack. Despite the north-facing aspect, we trenched almost to the ground with every turn. I had little problem surfing the slop with wide skis, but Adam’s skinny boys just sank. Jon, however, had the best idea of the day as he put together his splitboard, then pulled out a speed wing before literally flying down the mountain. While the skiing could have been better, we still had a long run in the Henry Mountains and can now say we skied a range that has been on the life list for a long time.
The next day, we drove around the other side of the mountains to ski the South Summit. It was a long drive down the highway toward Capitol Reef National Park, then down Notom Road and finally on rough dirt back east to the foot of the Henrys. Once again we were able to drive to the foot of the upper peaks. Several slidepaths still held enough snow to ride on, and all we had to do was pick one. So we hiked up a ridge right above the jeep to the top of the divide, and skied a long patch of snow that fell all the way back to the road below.
Our timing was better this time out as the snow was perfect corn. Turn by turn we carved above the red rock desert, ripping peak on an island in the sky. Once again, Jon chose to fly and unleashed his wing from the ridgetop. The winds were so good that we was able to stay aloft for a long time. We stopped skiing every few hundred feet to watch his barrel roll and float from one end of the South Summit to the next as he caught the rush of air lifting up the mountainside.
But our day was far from over as a tradition of Spring in Southern Utah had to be performed – skiing and biking in the same day. So we drove back down to camp, pulled out the bikes, and put rubber to slickrock. Of course hanging out the rest of the evening in camp with beers by a fire rounded out the trip.
Great article! Looks like you gents had fun!