I’m on a hunt to shoot a mountain lion… of course not with a gun, but with my camera. I’m on assignment for KSL Outdoors to get video of these elusive predator cats, when I get the call one morning to head to the Uinta Mountains where local houndsmen spotted fresh tracks in the snow….
Tag: trip report
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…
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…
Soulful Skiers Seek Soft Snow on La Sal’s South Mountain
December 2013 will go down as a bleak month for backcountry skiing in Utah. After a few good storms, the powder faucet shut off, leaving high pressure and rotting, wind-blasted snow in the Wasatch. Southern Utah, however, has been buried in white. Utah is a state divided, and skiers starved for powder have to choose…
Backcountry skiing the Abajo Mountains
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…
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…
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…
A look back at Outerbike 2013
Outerbike 2013 has come and gone, and one of the biggest mountain bike demos in Utah had another awesome run despite some inclement weather. Temperatures were cold, the wind howled, yet people’s enthusiasm to ride bikes in beautiful Moab never wavered. I headed down there on day 3 of Outerbike with Adam Eakle and Tonya…
Superior hiking in Little Cottonwood Canyon
For me, no other roadside attraction in Utah provides the aesthetic allure of Mt. Superior. Its enormous concave face lets the imagination run wild, and even in the fall, with not (just yet) a speck of snow on the ground, it’s easy to mind-rip big turns all over its intricate structure and terrain diversity. The…