A Day in the Wasatch Backcountry-Utah, USA

[rvrscum]

During the winter months I reside in Park City, Utah. This is a major US ski town, and home of the famous Sundance Film Festival. There are three ski resorts right in Park City, and I work as an instructor at one of them, Deer Valley. On days off, I will head out of the resort boundaries and hike around in search of fresh tracks. The following trip report is from the best overall day I had this past winter season.

Looking E from the summit of 9990', the highest point of The Canyons Resort. I used lifts to get most of my vertical at the beginning of my trip, but had to hike the last few hundred feet to the top:



Looking W from 9990' into Big Cottonwood Canyon and Salt Lake City. The Oquirrh Mountains are in the far distance. Kessler's Peak is the left summit at about 10,400', and Mt. Raymond (10,200')is hidden behind the fir tree:



Off the backside of 9990' into Beartrap Fork:



Back up for more via skin track:



This is why you sweat it out to earn your turns, untracked goodness!!!:



My favorite photo that I took all winter:



Making laps:



Looking over the head of Big Cottonwood Canyon, and the ski resorts of Solitude and Brighton. They get over 500 inches of snow in an average winter:



Another favorite photo from this day. Blue skies, somewhat stable snow conditions, and fresh snow from the previous night. Enjoy!!!:

[PauloUK77]

Some fantastic pics there,it looked a great adventure I'd better get booking a flight to the U.S.

[rvrscum]

Some fantastic pics there,it looked a great adventure I'd better get booking a flight to the U.S.

If you're ever in the US during the winter, Salt Lake City is a major air hub, and easily reached from the big eastern airports. Leave NY, DC, etc early enough and you can spend part of your travel day on the slopes, since 7 of the Utah resorts are 45 min or less from the SLC airport. The snow quality is unbelievable too, since Utah is very dry and arid, which makes for a light powder that is second to none.