Utah Adventure Journal

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Clouds had been building for a few hours, but we kept climbing. Rain and sun alternated for 24 hours, but the last six were bluebird. We’d finally begun belayed climbing, on the beautiful “Dog Ear Pitch.” I led steeply out of the Gunsight Notch between The Grandstand and Mt. Owen’s sawtoothed South Ridge. Protection was […]

There’s a spring in my step as I bound on and off of quartzite boulders, rising as I do above the north tip of Stansbury Island in the Great Salt Lake. Windy conditions have rendered fishing for brine shrimp eggs unproductive, so we fishermen have the afternoon off. Since I was fishing nearby in Carrington […]

  “Its a great exposed ledge. Unfortunately, it ends here, and you still have to make a few tricky moves above the fifty-foot drop-off. Don’t look down! Just focus on the hand and foot holds. No, don’t go up. That won’t help. It’ll just make it harder to climb back down. Stretch your right foot […]

For the past few decades, the responsibility of keeping Utahns safe from the threat of avalanches has largely fallen upon the shoulders of two professional snow rangers. Liam Fitgerald was the first Director of Snow Safety at Snowbird, eventually becoming the lead avalanche forecaster for the Utah Department of Transportation. Bruce Tremper has had decades […]

A rugged jumble of quartzite peaks and points stretching from Mt. Olympus east toward Mt. Raymond is collectively known as the Wildcat Ridge. To traverse it in spring or fall can be a delightful escape from humanity, heat, and hectic life in the city. Your focus narrows to a single spine of rock as you […]

Little Cottonwood Canyon harbors the finest collection of granite rock climbing in Utah, and many of the routes are user-friendly, with short approaches and quality moves. The rock is almost as good as Yosemite, and was developed during a similar era, the late 1950s through the ‘80s. Spring and fall, or early mornings are the […]

  Have you ever wondered why they call the steep headwall left of Baldy Chutes at Alta, “Perla’s?”  According to a story from Bengt Sandahl’s first day of avalanche control at Alta, then Forest Service snow ranger, Ron Perla, took a rather exciting ride there.  Ray Lindquist and Perla were on belay setting explosives on […]

The Foothilling Frenzy of January, 2013   Unlucky (year) # 13 may have begun with slim pickins’ for Utah backcountry skiers, but there was a sliver lining for adaptable Wasatch front-country skiers. Mired in a weather slump featuring cold, but moisture-starved, storms and persistent inversion, in the wake of the horrendous January of 2012, local […]

“Nice work, Man!” I exalt as Paul joins me on ledge 1 of Castleton Tower’s North Chimney. The strenuous, 140 foot, 5.8 pitch he’s just conquered is one of the best and hardest of its grade anywhere. And it happens to be on the quintessential desert tower, aka Castle Rock. This 400-foot icon is irresistible […]

Nadim Abu Haidar pilots his Cessna 206 with the confidence born from decades at the helm of airplanes. He’s been shot at over Iraq, and landed on decks of aircraft carriers. Once while on the flanks of Mt. Timpanogos, he overflew us, and demonstrated a perfect loop-de-loop overhead, as we gaped in awe. If you […]

The Lisa Cottonwood Traverse Ten minutes after leaving the trailhead we start climbing. Water-polished granite in a steep-sided gorge requires our full attention. Scanning for hand and footholds with headlamps, our bodies and minds must wake up, although its only 4 am! Most big mountain scrambles require a long, boring slog up a trail before […]

  Everest, Denali, Rainier, the Grand Teton…Utah has none of these. The Wasatch is not known for alpine climbing. The Alps have Mt. Blanc, the Matterhorn and dozens of others. Even Colorado, Californiaʼs Sierras and Washingtonʼs Cascades boast better alpine routes. But there are two user-friendly classics here, and they are actually pretty awesome in […]

  More backcountry skiers per acre than any other national forest…tracks everywhere…the Wasangeles Front is a (justifiably) popular ski touring haven.  Yet just a few trailheads and a tiny, user-friendly fraction of the available terrain sees the vast majority of the ski tourer visits. Easy access and moderate slopes attract most tourers to the multi-use […]

Rolling back into civilization (Hanksville, Utah) I called home to let my wife know we’d survived the kids’ first slot canyon descent. “How was it?” she asked Roman. “It was awesome,” he said. “We had an amazing adventure. There were rappels, downclimbs, narrow slots, a few harmless spiders, and even a dark passageway into a […]

  I glance up at the darkening sky and feel the first raindrop of the day. I jam my hands and feet into a short, but slightly overhanging crack. I have a solid # 2 Camalot stuffed in for protection, just in case I slip, and I know all I must do is pull this […]