Another article by Scott...

Every year a few of the Wild Rock crew make the pilgrimage to Utah in late January- early February.  This migration has been a tradition for over a decade.  The excuse is a trade show that we attend in Salt Lake City.  The reason is the snow and the mountains.





















I must say I have traveled a reasonable amount in my short little life (37+ years) but have never found an equal to back country snowboarding in Utah.  To give you an idea of the other snowboarding meccas I have endured, here is the list: I have heli-boarded in Alaska, backcountry and cat skied in the Fernie region and Whistler/Blackcomb, ridden all over the North East States, checked out Alpine Meadows and Squaw in the SE States and ridden nearly every molehill within 6 hours of home.  This place rocks!  No wonder their license plate say “The Best Snow on Earth” and ours say “Keep it Beautiful”.

The only drawbacks are the beer is limited to 3.2%, the flight cost more money than we usually have, there are not more excuses to be there and it is located smack in the middle of The Excited States of America.

On with the pilgrimage.  Upon descending from the plane we usually cram 6-7 people in to a really mediocre rental mini-van and then shortly after cram ourselves into 2 hotel rooms designed for far fewer people than we bring.  Come to think of it, it is not so much the quantity of people that get you down after a week but it is more the quantity of wet socks, long underwear and wet boot liners that get you down.  It seems the modern hotel rooms designed for the polished Ralph Lauren wearing business person are not designed to dry 4 pairs of underwear, 8 pairs of socks, 8 boot liners, 8 gloves, 4 hats, 4 jackets and 4 pairs of pants without taking on a certain pong or fragrance over the week.  We desperately feel sorry for the cleaning folk who, I am sure,  upon entering the room, are stunned by the aroma.  Alas the rooms keep acting in their magic ways.  You leave the bed unmade and the place a little disheveled and upon returning that evening you find the mystical hotel fairies have made the room livable once again.

So enough of the hotel stuff, what makes the riding so good.  One of the defining elements is the altitude.  The peaks are approx 14,000 feet high and located in the middle of the desert.  This means the mountains stay cold at all times.  There is no crust from warm days or wet humid snow.  On average it snows approx 160” or over 13 feet a season.  The altitude means the tree line is 3/4 the way up the ski hill, thus when you hike to the top you truly are on top of a mountain.  Nice cliffs, couloirs and wide-open bowls await you.

In addition to the great geography, the laws in Utah are made for fun.  They have absolutely no problem with people wandering off to die in the hills.  As long as you leave through a gate on a ski hill you can wander anywhere.  You must just remember you are on your own.  Cliffs are not marked, ridges are not blasted for avalanches and trees are not wrapped with foam.  Given this, our band of merry folk are armed with transponders that send and receive signals to help find buried friends, avalanche probes for poking around and finding your buddy who is buried and shovels for digging your buddy out before he/she suffocates or freezes to death.  Joking aside, when you venture out like this you have to be conscious of the fact that the chances of dying, although low, are still there.  If you do this enough, eventually you or one of your friends won’t return from a trip like this.  By accepting this fact and embracing it you will be a much safer backcountry traveler.

So what is a typical day?  Get up in the previously described smelly hotel room; choke back a reasonable quantity of the “Continental Breakfast”.  (Please write me back with the history of “The Continental Breakfast" if you know it).  Crushing into the mini-van.  Driving up the switch back roads to our favorite little resort called Brighton.  Sure there are bigger resorts (Snowbird), sure if you wear fur coats while you snowplow there are more expensive resorts (Canyons, Park City and Deer Valley) but there are not any resorts with more easily accessible untracked mountain terrain.  First run we hit the Great Western chair and take it to the top.  Off comes the board and we hike to the summit of Clayton Peak (10,754 ft).  After checking out the views we dig a test pit and check out the snow conditions.  This simple test is a pretty accurate way to gauge the avalanche hazard.  Next we check our transceivers and make sure we are all on “send” and batteries are up to snuff.  Finally we send one of our stronger riders first.  The first few feet are usually quite fun as they usually involve jumping, falling or somehow plummeting of the cornice.  When that rider has reached a safe heaven at the bottom we send off the next rider.  One at a time we go so we don’t have more than one person in an avalanche.  This pitch off the far side is probably 2000 ft of perfect powder.  Soul quenching fun.

After grouping up again we strap the boards to our back and climb back up the col.   Hitting the col after a short 20 minutes of lung searing climbing we turn and head up the ridge away from the mountain we just came down and towards it’s sister peak.  This is a longer slog and can be quite blustery.  Upon reaching this peak we usually have snack and a sip of water and ponder the view.  Next we strap on the boards and rip.  First you are on an open bowl, then you are in a sparsely treed pine forest, descending further you are on a shoulder with more densely growing pine trees.  Finally you rip through a valley of deciduous trees.  This run takes approx. 30 minutes and most times you see no other people.  It drops you out on a road where you take your board off and walk up the 500 feet to the lift again.  Smile, laugh, chuckle, re-tell lies and repeat.  I am not sure it gets much better.  Hint.  The second time you go move 6-8 feet right or left to get more untracked snow.

I am foaming at the mouth writing this.  I can’t wait until January!