Escaping Sundance - Backcountry Skiing in the Wasatch

With the arrival of the Sundance Film Festival to Park City, I decided to get away from the chaos and escape to the Wasatch backcountry with my friend Ben. The weather was warm, but it had been a little while since the last snow, making for very stable backcountry avalanche conditions. Just a few weeks earlier the backcountry had been so dangerous no one was venturing out, but time and warm temps do seem to heal the snowpack very well.

Ben digging a pit to see how the snowpack is shaping up underneath

We decided to ski a line called the Hallway Couloir, which is off of Reed and Benson Ridge in Cardiff Fork in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The Hallway is a classic Wasatch chute that runs about 2000 vertical feet, is somewhat narrow in spots, and has large rock walls on both sides that keep the snow cold and pristine for making good turns. It is best accessed from Little Cottonwood Canyon at the lower Alta parking area. From there you skin up about 1600 feet to the top of Flagstaff Mountain and traverse the ridge to the north.

The skin up Flagstaff was especially grueling because of the warm temperatures. It felt like summer up there. A nasty inversion was in place in SLC, making the temps on the mountains much higher than in the valley. It was around 45-50 degrees out, but the route up Flagstaff is completely south-facing and just bakes in the afternoon sun, making it feel like 75 degrees. I would have been perfectly comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt on the way up.

The view from Cardiff Pass looking back towards Alta, just below the peak of Flagstaff

The entrance to the Hallway Couloir hasn't totally filled in yet this year, but we managed to work our way in from the left side. Once inside the couloir, the snow was colder and chalky, making for good turns all the way down.

Ben at the top of the Hallway

Looking down the couloir

The Hallway with Cardiac Ridge in the background

After we exited the couloir the snow got much more firm, with a nice inch-thick layer of ice crust on top. That made for tricky riding conditions on the way out. We then had to skin for another 45 minutes or so, to get back over Cardiff Pass so we could ski back to Alta. The snow on the Alta side of the ridge was warm, slushy, and soft, just like it is on the best spring days...except it's the middle of January. This long, soft descent back to the car was a great end to the day.

Another great day in the Wasatch backcountry away from the crowds and the smog in the valley below.

Mount Superior from Cardiff Pass

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