Here we go again. The Wasatch is under a massive ridge of high pressure and temperatures were in the 50’s in the Salt Lake Valley on December 7th. Backcountry skiing outside Brighton was an effort in snow seeking, as the avalanche danger had calmed down, but the powder was nowhere to be found. Mason Diedrich…
Tag: backcountry skiing
Summer skiing in the Uinta Mountains
Summer is a sad time of year for skiers. But what we lose in snow, powder turns and cold air, we gain in having a brief window to ski a place we can’t otherwise access. The Uinta Mountains is one such place. The Mirror Lake Highway, the main artery through the Unitas that goes from…
Trip Report: backcountry skiing the Wellsville Mountains
There is so much backcountry ski terrain along the Wasatch Front, it’s super easy to explore world-class terrain right in our own backyards. But somehow, certain areas, despite their ease-of-access, get overlooked. The Wellsville Mountains above the Logan Valley are one such place, but there’s no reason for it. These mountains are steep (supposedly the…
Backcountry skiing Lewiston Peak in the Oquirrh Mountains
The road ahead is rocky, rutted, steep, muddy, snowy and treacherous. Taking a deep breath, I put my older-model Nissan Pathfinder into 4×4 low, and slowly crawl up the mountainside. I’m nervous, but Adam’s enthusiasm about the Pathfinder’s off-road capability convinces me to drive a mile beyond the trailhead parking lot on a route that…
Boards and Bikes: Backcountry skiing Haystack Mountain in Moab
Moab is the world’s mountain biking mecca, so it’s no surprise that we draw stares from people when rolling down Main Street with skis on the rack. Well, spring is the season to both mountain bike and ski in red rock country, so the full suspensions are on the rack as well. On this trip,…
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…
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…
July 4th in Alta: America and coreshots
The 4th is glorious, and it is great. But it’s also sweaty and crowded. Sometimes jamming into a public arena with half the valley to swap “oohs and aahs” over exploding ordinances as the temps just drop below 90 is less than attractive. Whiny me. So this year on the 4th, as they often do,…
On skiing’s end in the Uinta Mountains
I have a love/hate relationship with spring. Scratch that. I hate spring. I love mountains, but only with snow on them. Spring takes the snow away. I hate that. As such, I try to eek out as much skiing as possible as the snow melts to prolong the season. But there comes a time when…
Summer skiing on Deseret Peak
Okay, so it wasn’t summer, officially, but it sure felt like it as we headed up to Deseret Peak. It felt strange to be driving across the desert of the Tooele Valley at 2 in the morning with skis in the back and bikes on the rack. The forecast high temperature for the day was…