The Abajo Mountains are the red-headed step child of southeastern Utah’s ranges. Everyone gives their love to the La Sal Mountains, and for good reason; they’re beautiful, rugged, offer world-class backcountry skiing, and are darlings of nature photographers as they provide a snow capped backdrop to red rock scenery shots. Meanwhile, the Abajo Mountains (also…
Category: Skiing
Spandex up for the Wasatch Citizen Skimo Series
Skimo is on the rise in Utah, due in large part to the Wasatch Citizen Skimo Series at Brighton Resort. If you’re a longtime skimo racer, or just skimo-curious, then the Citizen Series is the perfect, low-key venue to check it out. So, what is skimo? Well, “skimo” is short for ski mountaineering. Also-known-as randonee…
First turns of the 2013/14 season at Alta
Alta’s opening weekend for the 2013/14 ski season was better than anyone could have expected! A few major fall storms blanketed the Wasatch, which was quickly consumed by backcountry skiers skinning and hiking up Alta’s runs. But a week before opening day, Alta closed the mountain to uphill traffic. A few smaller storms blew through…
Backcountry.com offers Women’s Avalanche Safety Workshop
Avalanche safety instruction is vital when backcountry skiing, and more options for learning pop up every year. Now online gear retailer, backcountry.com, is jumping into the fray by offering more than just gear with their S.A.F.E. A.S. Women’s Intro to Avalanche Safety clinics. Held 4 times in December, these clinics will be led by pro…
Avoiding the backcountry horde at Catherine Pass
Utah backcountry skiers are chomping at the bit. Before ski resorts open, most skin up Alta and Snowbird to get pre-season turns. But with Alta shutting off all uphill traffic on Sunday for opening-day preparations, the bounty of in-bounds skiing and riding was shut off. With a big storm that dropped over a foot of…
Video: 2012-2013 Utah Backcountry Review
Ah, those guys over at the Utah Avalanche Center sure know how to take a serious thing like avalanches and make them lighthearted and fun. Well, more avalanche forecaster Craig Gordon than anyone else. Of course he doesn’t really take slides lightly, but for the past few years, he and his cohort, Trent Meisenheimer, compiled…
2013/14 Ski Season Begins In Utah!
The slopes are crusty, and the open lifts are few, but make no mistake about it: the 2013/14 Utah ski season is underway! Brighton Resort got things started a day earlier than originally announced when they had a two hour opening party on November 7th (and it was all free!). However, both Brighton and Solitude…
Wasatch Backcountry Alliance gives voice to human-powered recreation
When I attended a screening of the new Powderwhore’s movie, “Elevation” at Brewvies, I sauntered by a table covered in stickers that said Wasatch Backcountry Alliance. Intrigued, and always a sucker for free stickers, I ended up talking to the folks and immediately signed up to become a member. So what is it? The Wasatch…
Eric Ghanem skis Gunsight at Alta in September
It’s crazy. A very, very early winter storm dumped 6 inches of snow on Alta, and insane skiers thought that was enough to drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon and make some turns. One of those skiers, our good friend Eric Ghanem, even went so far as to ski Gunsight. A bunch of that new snow…
Video: Snowbird Ski Patrol
It’s not often that you can see a commercial for a ski resort featuring nothing but the ski patrol, but in this week’s video, the Snowbird Ski Patrol takes center stage. Of course the terrain, snow, and yes, explosions are all present as well, but it’s the sweet footage of the patrollers at work and…