Winter 2019

Grizzly Gulch- Keystone of the Wasatch

Grizzly Gulch- Keystone of the Wasatch

As population continues to grow along the Wasatch Front, more and more recreators in both winter and summer will continue to stress the natural resources of the Wasatch Range.  With the growth comes the inevitable consequence of traffic, parking, crowded trails and slopes for those looking for solitude in the Wasatch Range, and particularly the […]

The Art of Core Shot Avoidance

The Art of Core Shot Avoidance

  Utah’s best early-season backcountry ski tours   Story and Photos by Jared Hargrave     Patience is not a virtue of backcountry skiers. Every autumn Utah inevitably gets hammered by an early-season snowstorm that drops a few feet of virgin snow in upper elevations. Those peaks with frosted tips ignite a migration into the […]

Pfirst Time on the Pfeiff

Pfirst Time on the Pfeiff

  After a winter of big storms and deep snow, March was like a faucet that has been cinched shut. We had finally dried up. And, after a couple weeks of high pressure, the mountains were firm but stable. While it wasn’t powder skiing, it meant green light for big lines that would otherwise be […]

Traffic and Avalanche Hazard- The Realities of Getting up the Cottonwood Canyons

Traffic and Avalanche Hazard- The Realities of Getting up the Cottonwood Canyons

  It’s a tale as old as the Avalanche Forecast: “A good old fashioned cold front crashed through the Wasatch last night and snow totals are up to a foot (12″/0.86″SWE) in the Cottonwoods and the northern end of the Park City ridgeline. It’s still snowing”…(UAC Avy Report 12/4/2017)” Knowing it is dumping in the […]

A Trip With the Pros

A Trip With the Pros

  Photos by Chris Brown   There are some who dream of winning the lottery. The surplus of money is enticing, and people imagine buying the life experiences they might have lacked. Last April I won a type of lottery too; it started with a text message invite, and the big win of my winter […]

Powder on the Plateau

Powder on the Plateau

Utah backcountry skiing has it all:  lots of big varied terrain, good access, copious powder snow, no people…..wait a minute. No people?  It’s the Wasangeles, brah!  There are always people crawling over every square inch of the Wasatch, from pre-dawn to post-dark. Ah, but there’s another Wasatch, brah.  The mighty Wasatch Plateau, aka the Skyline. […]