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 the…
Category: Skiing
A winter attempt of Ben Lomond Peak
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 make…
2012 goes out with a bang in the Wasatch
Boy, what a way to end a year. After a relatively dry autumn start to the ski season, the latter days of 2012 have been blessed by our god Ullr (or is it Skadi?) Since Christmas Eve, Utah’s mountains have been hammered by snow measured in feet, as in more than one. This has given…
Going deep in Garden City Canyon
Wanderlust can cause a backcountry skier to not only travel in many different places, but also travel farther than what would normally be prudent. The urge to see just over that ridge, or peer around the next corner can turn “wanderlust” into “wanderlost.” Garden City Canyon in far northern Utah’s Bear Lake Mountains was the…
The Patroller Z Chronicles: The Big Push
The jetstream has finally dropped and Utah is squarely in the sights of the storm machine. Nearly a week of snowfall has prompted our team to make a push to open more terrain. “It’s snowing out there and it is time to get in the game,” says our Winter Operations Director. His sentiment is well…
Friday Video: Steelhead and Spines
You got to hand it to Utah’s own Provo Brothers, boy do they know how to shoot purty ski videos. Their latest is this week’s Friday Video, “Steelhead and Spines.” Our local heroes head north to Alaska in search of spines to ride and steelhead to catch. It’s an entertaining romp that will make skier…
Never miss a powder day with Salomon Powfinder
The elusive search for powder – it can be easy depending on where you live, and we here in Utah are lucky enough to live in the Grand Central Station of the powder train (sometimes.) But during those dry spells, one must travel to get the freshie goods. Enter the Salomon Powfinder, a smartphone weather…
The Patroller Z Chronicles: Getting High (Pressure)
The current storm not withstanding, we have been in the doldrums. Lack of snowfall and prolonged high pressure has left us with plenty of time on our hands. Keeping busy skiing the same runs over and over, most of us had tried every line variation possible. Acres of terrain remained closed and it becomes a…
December skiing on Wolf Creek Pass
The start of December welcomed a much needed snowstorm in Utah’s mountains, with high winds and 8 inches of snow falling on the western Uintas. The day before, Adam and I drove to Wolf Creek Pass on State Route 35 to explore a bit of Uinta goodness, and hopefully score some powder shots in the…
Skier foray into the Bear River Range
WANDERLUST – Definition: “a strong desire for, or impulse to wander or travel.” The definition is apt, as I’ve had a strong impulse of wanderlust lately. Backcountry skiing is a nice way to tamp down any feelings of wandering, but limiting myself to the Wasatch Range the last 11 years has made “The Lust” come…