Ripping Backcountry In The Wasatch Range

We love the backcountry and Utah has some of the best backcountry around. Why Utah? The snow stays fresh longer, the approaches (flat hike sections) are shorter, and there are huge expanses of (relatively) avalanche safe, skiable terrain. Plus, the weather is great and it’s on the western edge of the MT time zone (giving us an extra hour of daylight vs CO).

If you don’t know what backcountry (or sidecountry) is, check out my post, “What the heck is Backcountry?”

Big Cottonwood Canyon

The best backcountry we’ve found anywhere is in Big Cottonwood Canyon, a short drive from Salt Lake City. This winter we spent about 2 weeks in the SLC area to explore as much as we could. Below is a map of our March tours in Big Cottonwood:

We did our best to explore every area we could access and there was great skiing everywhere we went. Big Cottonwood is a magical place. Our northern tours, to Powder Park I and Beartrap brought us almost all the way to Canyons Resort in Park City, overlooking their 9990 and Peak 5 Lifts. We toured East, almost to Park City Mountain Resort, and South, next to Solitude. Every time we went out, we found awesome ski lines, amazing views, fresh snow, and new areas that we wanted to try next. It feels like an endless playground for an obsessive line-hunter like myself. I can’t wait to come back next year and explore more!

A summary of our tours (and some bonus videos) during the two weeks in Cottonwood (March 9-21) can be found at the bottom of this page.

Park City to USA Bowl, Fat City Condos, Asia Bowl, and back

When we were staying in the Park City side, we were determined to check out the backcountry, but we quickly found that the resorts owned almost all the land in the area. The only way back was through the resort. The resorts don’t allow skiers to exit off the back of their ski areas, but what are they going to do: chase us? We built a plan, rode the lift up early morning, ducked a rope, and skied backcountry access all day.

For our plan to work, we needed to leave early so we could be back on resort before they closed. We rode 3 lifts to get to the top of Jupiter (Scott’s bowl area), hiked to the summit, ducked a rope and skinned away by mid-morning.

Our first stop was USA bowl, an area a couple miles back, typically accessed from the SLC side (near Solitude Resort). We dropped into USA bowl from the East, an area less commonly skied, and scored a killer line.

We were planning on lapping USA bowl, but on the way out there, we noticed Scott’s peak (and Fat City Condos below it) looks amazing. So we put our skins back on and went down into that area, which turned out to be our best run of the day. What a hidden gem!

As the day got late, we needed to make our way back onto resort before they closed, so we skinned back out of Fat City Condos and into Asia Bowl. The S-facing aspect had just warmed up we had spring-like conditions on the way back towards the resort.

One final skin back up to the Jupiter area on Park City Mountain Resort, where we silently transitioned to ski mode and snuck back under the rope into lift-accessed terrain. We basked in the feeling of ‘getting away with it’ as we rode the chairlifts that would bring us back home.

Powder Mountain Resort and Sidecountry

Shout out to Tim & Michelle for the tickets!

Powder Mountain (locally known as ‘Pow Mow’) has more skiable terrain than any other mountain in the US, including a ton of sidecountry terrain that can be accessed via Snow Cat ($40/ride) or skins (free). Needless to say, we opted for the latter option.

Early in the day I met a ski patroller who gave me the beta (intel) on all the best sidecountry areas. He helped me put together a killer tour plan. Later that day, I ran back into him and he guided us part way to a sidecountry gate and gave us more advice. With his help, I’m certain we maximized our day.

We started out day hiking up Lightning Ridge, which took about 20 minutes (plus transition time). We then skied across the map, over a road, and through a warning gate into the Lefty’s Canyon area, where we took a ‘skin-out-only’ run. From the bottom of that canyon, skinned up the far ridge line and skied back down for a final skin-out back to the chairlift. The snow was virtually untouched back there and as the day warmed up the turns softened into springtime ‘corn’.

Next, we did a few laps down every area of of the mountain, riding every lift and trying every lodge, until the day’s end. True to the advertising, Pow Mow had no lines and no crowds. Although we skied all day, there was still so much left to explore!

NOTE: I’m testing different photo gallery options in this post – If you notice that a particular gallery looks better or worse on your device, let us know or leave a comment below!

Bonus videos:

View from Powder Park I
Poorly Labeled View from Reynolds
Powder farming Willow
Gorgeous view from Neil’s (3/14)
JD Skiing – Greens Basin Low Angle Trees
JD Skiing – Short Swing

Summary of our March 9-20, 2024 tours in Big Cottonwood

Date	Route Name	Miles*	v.ft.**	Tour Notes	Background
3/9	Short Swing	3.4	1,900	We were pretty hungover and were short on time, so we took a shorter tour this time. Great weather and soft snow.	The first tour we ever did in Cottonwood (’23). Easy to access and we immediately fell in love with the area
3/10	Tom’s Hill North	5.0	2,400	Fresh powder stashes still to be found (N facing), despite an extended warm weather pattern	Easily accessible and commonly skied area with a N and E face
3/11	Greens Basin	5.0	2,350	Big snow storm came in on the way up, offering extra fresh turns on the way down (free refills!)	Long, N-facing descent offers countless turns of fun
3/13	Main Willow	4.2	1,800	Killer turns on untouched pow from the recent storm	Past several more popular areas, Willow has huge open fields to play in
3/14	Neil’s	4.4	1,750	Cloudy, windy day left something to be desired, but turns were still fresh	The next peak south of Willow, offers a long W-facing run
3/15	Beartrap Glades	5.8	2,400	After a warm day, our late-day turns were a little crusty but we had a blast exploring	Beartrap area has several gladed aspects to ski and great views of the area, including 9990 Chairlift from Canyons Resort (Park City)
3/16	Powder Park I	7.0	2,000	We’ve had our eyes set on this objective for a long time. Very long hike with fresh turns and great views	Further away than most folks are willing to hike, this N-facing route is a little hidden paradise
3/19	Reynold’s Glade	5.2	2,300	Hottest day yet this year, had stacey down to her tank top. Clear skies offered an astounding view from the top	Past several easier access areas, this secluded glade has great views of our favorite lines
3/20	Will’s Hill	4.2	1,900	Hasn’t snowed in a while and it has been really hot but the conditions were still awesome today.	One of the further routes in the Willow area. Takes a little poling to get out, but re-skinning not needed. Long, open, steep run.