The Central Wasatch may be overrun by backcountry skiers at just about every trailhead, but not all is tracked out. American Fork Canyon in Utah County is basically the “backside” of Little Cottonwood Canyon, and is blessedly devoid of skier traffic. We decided to explore this little-skied canyon and chose The Three Temptations as...
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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...
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Splitboarders unite! Get your boards waxed, and stretch your swag hands because the 2013 Wasatch Splitfest is happening on February 6th-10th right here in Salt Lake City, which is the birthplace of the splitboard movement. The Wasatch Splitfest is a celebration of the splitboarding community in Utah, and will be full of gear demos,...
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Skiing returned to the Tushar Mountains in Southern Utah when the defunct Elk Meadows ski resort was resurrected as Eagle Point a few years ago. But really, skiing never went away in the 10 years that Elk Meadows was an abandoned museum of unmoving lifts and unoccupied condos. Backcountry skiing has always been there,...
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The rangers were waiting for us. We had just finished a day of ski touring on Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake, and one ranger in particular screamed up in his pickup, and slammed his government-issue long bed to a stop behind our cars, preventing our escape. He jumped out so fast you’d...
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One of the greatest joys of being a backcountry skier is staying at a yurt or hut high in the mountains. While Utah doesn’t have a fancy hut-to-hut system like Colorado’s 10th Mountain Division huts, what we do have are quaint, small, and cozy yurts that are every bit as capable of getting us...
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Lake effect snow is a wonderful thing. We all know storms tracking across the Great Salt Lake soak up all that warm, salty water and puke it over the Cottonwood Canyons. But sometimes, once in a great while, a strange storm makes all that snow fall in the valley, and the foothills above downtown...
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Our traveling backcountry road tour recently brought us to the “other” mountain range of the Salt Lake Valley – the Oquirrh Mountains. After years of looking at these peaks every day and wondering what it would be like to ski them, Adam and I decided to stop the wondering and find out. We started...
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Every year, avalanche workshops around the country show videos to backcountry skiers of avalanches caught on tape. It’s great for education and as a scare-you-straight tactic while witnessing the immense power of snow sliding down a mountain. Usually the footage is captured on a GoPro that the victim is wearing. It’s not often that...
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Winter is often the best time of year to bag a peak, as snow covers rocks and uneven terrain, making a simple walk on skis to the top of a mountain very easy. At the same time, winter can also be the worst time to bag a peak as snow and avalanche conditions can...
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