Utah Adventure Journal

If you have been skiing the Wasatch much over the last few years you’ve probably seen them:  a couple of tall, lean lads of Asian descent on fairly light gear chattering away as they politely go past you up the skin track…..really, really fast.   Andy and Jason Dorais (pronounced “Doe-ray”) have been skiing for less than a […]

The entire world knows by now that Utah has the greatest snow on earth. But we can all agree that ski resorts are more than just the powder that falls upon them. Utah’s ski and snowboard resorts are unique, and each can toot its own alpenhorn. But besides the snow (which is obviously most important) […]

A Season of Trepidation and Destruction in Utah’s La Sal Mountains By Eric Trenbeath ba×sal (rhymes with basil): forming or belonging to a bottom layer or base.  It happens every hundred years or so. A combination of weather factors over the course of a winter create a prolonged period of dangerous avalanche conditions that challenge […]

Each year for Christmas my girlfriend Anna is given a voucher for a night at the Cliff Lodge at Snowbird. It’s quite a treat. We hit all of the local watering holes; we swim under the stars in the hot tub. For a night we feel like we are part of skiing’s elite vacationers. But […]

I grew in a camping family. Backpacking and car camping; sleeping on the ground and cooking in the open. When thermarests were introduced, we viewed them as a sign of weakness and moral decay. We felt sorry for those who slept in white aluminum or fiberglass kennels.  This made my marriage a little tricky. My wife […]

“What are you looking at?” My wife, Louise asked.  “CFS,” I replied. “Ahhhh. What’s CFS?” She inquired.  â€œCubic feet per second of course” I stated with a smirk.   “Oh, okay but….What?”   Our conversation wasn’t going well.  Louise had no idea what I was doing and/or referencing as she watched me stare at a line […]

Overlanding—the latest buzzword in the outdoor world.  Don’t believe me? Notice all the roof top tents atop vehicles.  Notice the vehicles outfitted with roof racks, extra fuel cans, awnings, and other gear attached to them.  Overlanding is all over social media, as well.  But, what does overlanding mean?  And, how to do it?  Lucky for you and me, Utah presents perfect […]

Park City is undeniably a world-wide mecca of mountain biking. With over 400 miles of singletrack and the honor of being the first IMBA Gold Ride Center on the planet, there’s a trail for every taste and experience level. People travel for miles to ride famed routes like Mid Mountain Trail, Wasatch Crest, Spiro, Flying […]

Around this time last year I wrote an article for the UAJ about a semester-long academic road trip that Westminster College offered in fall, 2017 through its environmental studies program. Since then Westminster has continued to expand its field-based studies programs, most notably through the creation of an outdoor education and leadershipmajor. As a part of […]

  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 […]

  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 […]

  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 […]

  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 […]

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. […]

After exiting Interstate 70, the Land Cruiser immediately touched dirt.  “Where is the entrance to Capitol Reef?”  My wife, Louise asked.  Yep, Utah’s National Parks are stunning and undeniably increasingly popular. However, Capitol Reef is one of the least visited national parks. “We’ll travel south a few miles and then enter the park.”  I replied.   The […]