Utah Mountain Adventures

Longer days, stable snowpacks, and alpine objectives — spring is one of the best times of year to get into the mountains. The Wasatch is displaying prime Mountaineering conditions.

📷 - UMA Guide

This Tuesday, with Tyson…

The heritage of most Wasatch place names can be traced to the mining and pioneer eras. Hundreds of miners and wannabes came seeking mineral fortunes after the California Gold Rush Emma mine, in Little Cottonwood Canyon, produced $2 million between 1869 and 1872. Mount Superior, Michigan City (the old mining area in Grizzly Gulch currently known for Pyramid Gap) and Toledo Peak indicate the preponderance of Midwesterners in the crowd.

These sourdoughs were mostly Irish Catholics. Patsy Marley was apparently the madam at the Alta Brothel, located near the base of the point / ridge that bears her name. This location is now Alta Ski Lifts’ Snowcat Shop, aka the “Cathouse.”

The Mormon pioneers, who preceded them into the Salt Lake Valley, generally disdained the sinful gold-diggers seeking quick riches in favor of a pious, industrious life of agriculture and industry. Nonetheless, a few did establish mountain outposts among them. William Stewart Brighton arrived from Scotland with a wave of hand-cart pushing Mormons in 1857. Seeking initially to make a buck off the miner, he built the Brighton Hotel in 1874, to cater to the prospectors traveling between Park City and Alta.

Tuesday, March 10, 2026 with Tyson…

Northwest Flow in the Wasatch gets locals giddy. It refers to a phenomenon where storms begin on a warm Southwest flow, then finish with colder temperatures on a NW flow. The moisture tracks SE across the Salt Lake Valley, sometimes augmented by lake effect, before
funneling up the canyons. Orographics mean the clouds dump their load on the windward side of the range, i.e. lower Big and most of Little Cottonwood often get heaps of light-density fluff.

Last Friday, 3/6, UMA guide Billy Haas aptly described trail-breaking in 3’ of fresh: “trench warfare.” The second piece of this storm system was forecast to be colder than the damp, dense Tuesday part. Thursday morning it had only snowed 3”, and the “splitting” storm was mostly missing the Salt Lake mountains. But…there was NW flow!?

When any part of the jet stream is south of us, we tend to get windless fluff, often more than expected. Huge stellar-conglomerate flakes added up to 20 inches at Snowbird, and I was glad to be there, ski-compacting steep runs all over the mountain with no lift-lines. By Friday up to 36” had fallen, with only 1.85” of snow water equivalent (SWE). Woo hoo! It bonded well to a damp, dense underlying snow, and light winds minimized slab formation.

Savvy tourers loved classic backcountry lines immediately after the storm, and before March
temperatures soared. Good things come to those who wait… In the meager winter of 2026, the greatest snow on earth finally blessed the Utah faithful!

This Tuesday, with Tyson…

I used an “Avalanche Cord” on the first avalanche path I knowingly crossed, en route to the Jackson Ski Cabin in the Gros Ventre Range, circa 1976. I was an 11-yo on cross-country skis traveling with my family and the Idaho Alpine Club, based in Idaho Falls, where I grew up. Barbara Brown was the leader, being the most experienced and knowledgeable mountain traveler in the party.

As a precautionary measure, in case someone were buried in an avalanche, she instructed us to use avalanche cords, the standard procedure at that time. To this end, my mom got 500’ of para cord and dyed it red. My parents, 2 brothers and I each tied one end of our 100-foot piece of cord around our waist, and let the remainder of it drag behind us as we crossed the slide
path one at at time.

Fortunately, we had stable conditions and everyone crossed safely, both coming and going. I gained my first avalanche awareness and risk mitigation experience. A few years later, avalanche beacons became the new “high-tech” tool for locating buried avalanche victims…

Tuesday, February 17, 2026 with Tyson…

2021 saw our beloved sport, backcountry skiing, take another quantum leap in popularity. Trailheads were busy. Parking became a nightmare. The low-hanging fruit, and the gnarly lines alike saw more tracks, sooner. So… when it is crazy busy out there (just like when it isn’t) let’s be cool to one another. The Golden Rule applies. Let’s be nice off-pisters rather than act piste-off when we meet other parties.

There is etiquette. Give the right of way to the party climbing uphill, whether biking, hiking or skinning…even if you’re in a hurry. Wouldn’t you want others to do that for you? Is it not easier to resume momentum on the way down than on the way up?

If the party coming up asks you, or if you’ve seen notable avalanche activity, share that. It could help save a life. Ask politely to pass, if a party is in your way. Just be cool to those you meet in the mountains. Remember, the people you’d rather not see in the backcountry (because you want all the powder to yourself) will likely be the first responders if you have an accident. You reap what you sow!

Nice to be back in the flow!

📷 - UMA Guide, Colby Stetson

This Tuesday, with Tyson…

“Telellel turns” are what most Utah backcountry skiers did in the 1990s and before. We used Telemark boots with 3 holes under the toe, to match up with the standard tele binding toe piece. Now almost everyone has switched from 3-pinning to 2-pinning (tech bindings, with fixed heels.)

In those days, Alpine Touring bindings were not trusted, and not sold in local shops. If you wanted to go beyond the resort, you “freed the heel and the mind,”using Telemark bindings. We didn’t need “training heels.” Steep, “extreme” lines were ripped on telemark skis, yet few of us were “dropping the knee” and skiing the “gnar.” Parallel turns on freeheel gear was the
standard procedure: aka Telellel.

As we progressed from the Powder Parks to Stairs Gulch and the Coalpit Headwall, wider (~60mm,) shorter and stiffer alpine skis worked better in the challenging terrain and snow. We dubbed the use of tele (nordic) bindings on alpine skis “Norpine.” It became the hip way to rip
at Alta, Snowbird and the backcountry. We “teled” in-bounds, but paralleled when it got serious. In 1994, John Montecucco and I made the first descent of the Wickersham Wall on Denali. I skied this 14,000’ face on Evolution Alpine skis, 193cm, with Voile Cable Tele bindings. John rocked 200s, the standard length. This was the cutting edge of off-piste gear in that era.

This Tuesday with Tyson!

In Latin and mining, Argenta means “silver / we’ve stuck it rich!” In the winter of 1947, a
powerful natural avalanche broke on Kessler Peak’s NW face; accelerated over a 200-foot cliff;
barreled down the 3300’ Argenta Path; and deposited hundreds of trees on the recently
opened Big Cottonwood Road. It took 2 years before they could be cleared, and the road could
re-open.

The next time Argenta (named by miners in the 1860s) ran that big was 50 years later, when
lead guide, Tom Carruthers directed the Powderbird helicopter, on a mission for UDOT, to toss
bombs above the same cliff, triggering a destructive slide that closed the road for 2 days.

When I first skied the line in ’92, there were small, tightly-spaced Subalpine Fir and Aspen
growing so thick it was simply not a fun ski line. But when I guided my first day for WPG in ’97,
with Carruthers, it was wide-open ripping.

In the years that followed, I skied up and down Argenta often, and decided it was the most
efficient 3,000-foot climb in the Wasatch. As an Econ major, this appealed to me. I started
bringing my guests there to maximize vertical. This culminated in a 7-run, 20,200’ personal
uphill best, with Andrew Chandler in February of 2009. That’s a record I never expect to break.
Argenta!

Tyson Bradley is the Director of Guiding for Utah Mountain Adventures. He has been skiing the Wasatch backcountry since the ‘84/‘85 winter and is the author of the guidebook “Backcountry Skiing Utah”. Each Tuesday Tyson will share an anecdote related to the rich history of backcountry skiing in the Wasatch!

Introducing Tuesdays with Tyson!

Tyson Bradley is the Director of Guiding for Utah Mountain Adventures. He has been skiing the Wasatch backcountry since the ‘84/‘85 winter and is the author of the guidebook “Backcountry Skiing Utah”. Each Tuesday Tyson will share an anecdote related to the rich history of backcountry skiing in the Wasatch!

On a full-moon night, mid-winter, 1988, I rallied my younger brother and his two buddies, all of whom were dishwashers at Snowbird and living in the basement of my rental apartment. We booted up the Mt. Superior “Apron” and skied laps in untracked, moonlit powder, right across the highway from Snowbird. Out of the night, Jimmy Collinson skied up to us as he finished his solo run off the summit.

Jimmy is probably known more for the extreme skiing film stardom of his daughter, Angel and son, Johnny Collinson. But he was ahead of his time in the ‘80s. He pioneered first ski descents in Little Cottonwood, including Lisa Falls and the Northwest Couloir of the Pfeifferhorn, while patrolling at Snowbird. 38 years ago, I was awestruck that anyone would ski the South Face in powder, alone, at night.

In 1988 it was mostly skied in spring in corn, when it was considered less avalanchey. Today the South Face of Superior is America’s favorite backcountry “big line.” Despite its rugged approach and intimidating steepness, especially when looking across from Snowbird or Alta, it now gets skied almost daily. It seems to receive 100 tracks after each storm. It’s like a magnet for steep skiers. Those who have ridden it know why.

High pressure and cold clear nights have been building our Utah ice flows. The ice forecast continues to be promising!
📷-

High Pressure + Low Hazard = Prime Ski Mountaineering Conditions

Now is a great time to explore the Wasatch and tick off high alpine classics!

📷- + Calvin Jiricko