Transportation congestion in Little Cottonwood Canyon has reached an all-time high. Even on non-powder days, you can expect a line of cars slowly rolling up Highway 210 toward Alta and Snowbird. Even backcountry trailhead parking lots have vehicles spilling out onto the road. But to prove that transportation solutions exist today, the Wasatch Backcountry Alliance will be offering free backcountry ski shuttles on Saturday, March 12.
While the bureaucratic types spend years analyzing and debating transportation solutions in our canyons, Wasatch Backcountry Alliance is taking steps to actually do something, right now. To make Shuttle Day happen, they’ve partnered with Utah Mountain Shuttle to provide multiple 12-passenger Sprinter vans to shuttle backcountry skiers up Little Cottonwood Canyon, to your trailhead of choice, and drive you back down to the valley at the end of the day. The truly amazing part, is that it’s absolutely free.
The shuttle will pick skiers up at the Smiths/ShopKo parking lot at 2039 E. 9400 S. beginning at 7 a.m. until 11 a.m. They will be making stops at the Tanners, White Pine, Our Lady of the Snows and Albion Summer Road (Grizzly Gulch) trailheads. Each stop will see a van every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a final “sweeper shuttle” hitting each stop at the end of the day.
The only catch is that you must RSVP at utahmountainbikeshuttle.com to reserve spots for yourself and your touring party.
This is a great idea that is already seeing a lot of interest, evidenced by the many sponsors who have jumped on board in support. Sponsors include: Black Diamond, DPS Skis, Voile, Salt Cycles Bike Shop, Shopko, Canyon Center Shopping Center, Alta, The Alta Environmental Center, Friends of Alta, Utah Mountain Shuttle, Winter Wildlands Alliance, and Wasatch Touring.
So if you’re planning on backcountry skiing in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Saturday, March 12, there’s no excuse to drive your car. Hop on the shuttle with your friends, and enjoy the mountains knowing that you’ve helped make an environmental difference. It will be an experience that hopefully will encourage real change for the future in how we travel in our overcrowded urban canyons.
For more about Wasatch Backcountry Alliance and their Shuttle Day, go to wasatchbackcountryalliance.org