It’s November, which means we will be skinning and skiing in just a few weeks (hopefully). Start making backcountry plans with your friends right now with my new guide book, Backcountry Ski and Snowboard Routes: Utah. Inside you’ll find 99 backcountry touring routes all over Utah from the Abajos and La Sals, to the Tushars, Oquirrhs, Wasatch, Uinta,…
Category: Skiing
Utah ski resort upgrades for 2015/16 season
Utah’s ski industry is about to have it’s biggest year ever, at least in terms of infrastructure upgrades. What does this mean for everyday skiers? More of everything – more lifts, more terrain, and more lodges. According to SkiUtah, over $100 million in on-mountain capital improvements will debut at Utah’s 14 resorts. Of course the…
Video: The Forecaster
Black Diamond TV released its second webisode this week, titled, The Forecaster: A Message from the Backcountry. This time around it features Utah’s own Drew Hardesty, an forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center. While we get to know the guy who’s voice we hear on the daily avalanche report phone message, the real thrust of…
It’s October, time to get ready for winter
October 26th, 2010. It looked more like February than early fall. That year, in the waning days of October, a three-day storm dropped 45 inches of snow in the Devil’s Castle and Sugarloaf area at Alta. Although it was weeks before the resort’s scheduled opening, a mad rush of backcountry skiers descended on Little Cottonwood…
Prep for the backcountry at 2015 Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop
When you ski the backcountry, preparation and education is key. One annual way to get prepared for the upcoming ski season is to attend the Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop. The public session is full of networking, educational seminars, informational presentations, and lots of interaction with professionals through Q&A sessions. It may sound a bit…
2015/16 Backcountry Skiing Gear Guide
Snow has fallen in the Wasatch and crisp autumn smells are in the air. Now is the time to start thinking about your backcountry skiing setup. Whether you are new to the sport, or an expert who needs an upgrade, you’ll find there’s too much new gear to choose from. Well, I’ve talked to the…
Black Diamond introduces BDTV
There is a serious trend of ski companies producing quality video content to promote their products, and Utah’s own Black Diamond is the latest to enter the fray with BDTV. The first company to do so was Salomon, with their very successful Salomon Freeski TV series. Mike Douglas paved the way with online shorts that…
Video: Patagonia Ski Tours 2015
Ski season is almost here in Utah, but down in South America, they’ve been skiing powder for the last few months. And Utah-based Patagonia Ski Tours was there guiding clients all over the Patagonian Andes of Argentina. As friend of UtahOutside.com, lead guide Justin Lozier along with guide, Sean Zimmerman-Wall, took us on a “friends…
Salomon drops Freeski TV Season 9 trailer
Salomon Freeski TV is back for a 9th season this year, with more digital short ski-films that are doled out to us over the course of winter. These segments of stoke have gotten better and better over the years as the “Godfather of Freeskiing,” Mike Douglas, has upped the production quality on every new series….
Ski movies and last year’s terrible winter
The western United States had a horrible, terrible, no-good winter. Ask any skier, especially from California, Oregon, and Washington, and they’ll likely just shake their heads and cry. One problem with having a lack of snow (aside from ski resorts shutting down early and our ski bases looking more pock-marked than Manuel Noriega’s face) is…