Utah Adventure Journal

Snow and avalanches are an enduring part of the mountain environment that affects the livelihood of many operations throughout the world.  In the western hemisphere, the scientific study and monitoring of these little understood phenomena began in the small town of Alta, Utah.  Situated nine miles up a glacially carved canyon in the heart of the Wasatch […]

  In my second winter season at Snowbird I became a tram operator working under the legendary tram and cable guru Bob Ficker. A year later having moved into lift maintenance, I recall a conversation about an upcoming cable replacement job on one of the lifts, and I asked Bob about the Tram track cables […]

“This is the nicest yurt I have ever seen.” It’s Saturday afternoon in the La Sal Mountains and I am taking off my ski boots at the door of the Geyser Pass Yurt to avoid tracking mud onto the gorgeous wood floor. My friends enter behind me with similar exclamations about our lodgings. The bunks […]

10 Tips to Creating a Location-Independent, Fully Funded Winter After a while, most skiers and snowboarders get tired of service industry jobs and other location-bound positions. You want the freedom to work and the freedom to chase a storm without the consequences of unemployment, bankruptcy, and homelessness. Unless you went to finishing school, you benefit […]

Story and Photos by Brett Carroll  I don’t consider myself to be an especially emotional person. I think that I tend to cry at appropriate times. I cried when my Grandpa died. I cried when my girlfriend and I broke up. I cried when my friend Joe died. And I cried my way up Pig […]

By Tom Diegel  Utah Adventure Journal readers are likely aware of Mountain Accord, the coalition of dozens of formal stakeholders across the Wasatch Front and Back that came together three years ago to attempt to hammer out a resolution that would address the many interests and pressures on the Central Wasatch (see the Winter 14-15 UAJ).  In […]

Is Outdoor Retailer Bad for Utah Public Lands? By Amanda Ashley Twice a year the Outdoor Retailer show descends on Salt Lake City and is the largest gathering of the Outdoor Industry in the United States. The opportunity to meet with suppliers, retailers, manufacturers, athletes, demo products and learn about new materials makes OR a truly unique […]

The smell of gasoline fills my nostrils, a high-pitched whine fills my ears, and a bumpy vibration fills the space between my legs. Though this may sound like a teenage boy’s fever dream, I’m actually riding on the back of a snowmobile down the closed-for-the-winter Mirror Lake Highway to the Ridge Yurt in the Uinta […]

Mount Warren’s north face was as yet unclimbed, winter or summer. We needed an excuse for a nine-day ski tour into the northern Wind Rivers, and a first winter ascent would be a nice coup. On top of packs towering over our heads we added rock and ice gear, easily the heaviest load I have […]

  You have probably seen them:  the skinny guys wearing the neon yellow boots with almost no buckles, carrying poles that are too long and packs that are too small, on kid-sized skis with toy bindings…and going past you remarkably fast up skin tracks.  “Ah” you think, as you step aside to let them swish past.   “Skimo guy.  Dork!  Why don’t […]

  To say I was sucking wind would be an understatement. At one point, I wasn’t even sure I was skiing. Yes, things that looked like skis were attached to my feet though they were only about an inch and a half wide. And there was certainly snow all around with views of mountain peaks, […]

Photos by Mike Schirf The winter mountains are a sanctuary, a world of glittering wonder. Freedom is the quiet serenity found while skinning and skiing untracked winter powder. In the realm of earned turns, notions of controlled slopes and corporate responsibly hold no validity. The mountains offer extreme opposites; mighty destruction and absolute peace. Overwhelming […]