Utah has dozens of mountain yurts, and I’ve stayed at many of them. From the Snorkeling Elk Yurt in the Tushar Mountains, to the Steam Mill Yurt in the Bear Rivers, I’ve sampled both the good and bad in terrain and yurt amenities. But my favorite yurt of all, by far, is the Castle Peak…
Category: Skiing
First Annual Vertfest Backcountry Celebration at Brighton
The Wasatch Powderkeg has been happening at Brighton for years now, but the whole shebang got a lot bigger with the addition of the 1st annual Vertfest Backcountry Celebration. According to the Utah Avalanche Center, the Vertfest has been a yearly shindig in the Northwest for 10 years, but will be coming to Utah for…
Freeride World Tour comes to Snowbird
The Swatch Freeride World Tour is coming to Utah. Due to a lack of snow at Kirkwood in California, organizers were forced to move the event to Snowbird. Lucky us! Snowbird’s first possible day of competition is scheduled for March 1, 2014 with an open weather window through March 5, 2014. So if you’re a…
Ski touring from the Steam Mill Yurt in Logan’s Bear River Range
It’s our third day in the Bear Rivers, and the sun finally comes out. I’m standing on top of an east-facing headwall near Steam Mill Peak at the head of Hell’s Kitchen Canyon, about to make what are the best turns of the trip. After watching Lexi Dowdall and Adam Symonds drop in, I let…
Romantic Alta: 5 reasons to go skiing on Valentines Day
Valentines Day is a winter holiday. That’s lucky for us skiers, because it leaves little question about where to take our loved ones on Valentines Day. But no ski resort is alike, and there’s a reason why people say Alta is for lovers – because it’s the most romantic mountain in all of Utah. Here’s…
Thoughts on the Freeride Avalanche Workshop at Snowbasin
The Snowbasin Freeride Avalanche Workshop happened over the last few days, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend Tuesday’s session while on assignment for KSL Outdoors. When I wasn’t busy shooting video for a TV story, I soaked in all the good avalanche and safety information I could, which was invaluable. The…
New Backcountry Enthusiast Magazine Announced
Backcountry skiing and snowboarding has exploded in popularity in recent years, both in user numbers and sales of backcountry-specific gear. In response, a new backcountry skiing and splitboarding-centric magazine will hit newsstands later this year. Ascent – Backcountry Snow Journal will be distributed all across the west, for free, starting fall of 2014. Our good…
First Look: 2015 Atomic Bent Chetler
Atomic athlete Chris Benchetler’s pro model ski, the Bent Chetler has become a favorite among powder skiers of the last five years. I got to ski the 2014 model this season at Alta (you can read my thoughts here) and enjoyed these big, burly sticks as they busted through crud and broken-up powder pillows with ease….
Out of Boundary: Backcountry Yurt Skiing in the Uinta Mountains
The smell of gasoline fills my nostrils, a high-pitched whine fills my ears, and a bumpy vibration fills the space between my legs. I’m riding on the back of a snowmobile down the Mirror Lake Highway toward the Ridge Yurt in the Uinta Mountains, thanking God that we don’t have to haul our gear and…
Alta trip report: snow finally returns to Utah
Boy has it been a slow start to the ski season. What began as a promising winter in October with a few big storms quickly led to a high-and-dry December where what little snowpack we had rotted away under immovable high-pressure systems. Well, that all changed in the first week of January as a series…