Spring Skiing

The Pioneers

The whole reason I got into Skiing was to tour in the backcountry. The places that I go and work in the summer I wanted to see in the winter. I also wanted to pick up another hobby in the winter because all I did was fish which was good but sometimes you need a break. 

Wildhorse Lookout

Lost River Peak

So when I got my skis in the fall I started looking for places to go for the winter or places in the spring that would possibly have good snow and that were easily accessible to get to. With that being said I found a few spots. In the winter, on my days off I came home and skinned up to Wildhorse Lookout which offers some amazing views of the Pioneers in the winter. It was only an hour drive from my house however it was a long tour and I wasn't able to ski the line down that I wanted due to unstable snow pack.

Lost River Valley

Waiting on Jack

This spring I tried a number of locations and had great success. After my month long road trip, Jack and I tried skiing Lost River Peak which is a 12,000ft mountain. After hiking for about 4 or 5 hours we called it good since the weather went to crap and we were too exhausted to make it to the top in a reasonable time. But the ski down was really good with some great snow, about three inches of fresh snow.

Mt McCaleb

Mt McCaleb from the Saddle

Justin and I were able to climb Mt McCaleb on one of the hottest days this spring but since we had great weather we just took our time and eventually made it to the top. The snow pack was so great there was no doubt in my mind that avalanches were an issue and we could ski about anything that we looked at but we settled for the long route that we climbed up. The skiing at the top was really great but once you got lower the snow was pretty cooked and wasn't too great to ski.

Mt McCaleb

The Lost Rivers

Top of Mt McCaleb 11,682ft

The Lost Rivers

Big Black Dome 11,353ft

Skiing Big Black Dome was one of my favorites to do because of the easy approach and long steep line. I will definitely do this one again in the future and maybe even find a few lines of the back side dropping into Left Fork of Fall Creek.

I really wanted to ski every month this year but it turned really hot in June unless I skied on some really ugly stuff. The last ride of the year was Redbird Mountain in the White Knob Mountains and it was also my steepest line for sure. I'm not sure if I would do this one again unless I had better access to it. There's an ATV trail leading up to the mountain, however, this year there was too much snow on it and I wasn't able to get very close. There were a few mountains that I wasn't able to get to this year but I really want to hit them next year when I have more experience in Avalanches and more confidence in skiing.

Redbird Mountain 11,273ft