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So far CanyonBlog has created 48 blog entries.

Block Party

The season isn’t officially over just yet, but one season finale tradition has come and gone. Every year on the last day of April a group of friends from The View, one of Alta’s few community buildings, throw a party. April 30th, a usually predictable good weather window, looked to be stormy this year with snow blowing in the morning and winds whistling around the mountain. But the festival gods smiled down and by lunchtime it began to subside and the sun arrived in time for setup. Heidi and Mark, two View residents, are at the center of each year’s [...]

Spring with Snowbird’s Snow Safety Director

Your correspondent spent a brilliant powder day this week with Snowbird’s snow safety director Kami to get the latest on spring safety on another 500+ inch year. As spring takes over the slopes of Little Cottonwood, just where do the avalanche dangers lie? Well, outside the bomb throwing and route running they do in the mornings in addition to the RACs (remote avalanche control towers) there are a number of factors to pay attention to. “Mostly we’re looking at pinwheel rollers that you find on sun facing slopes,” said Kami with years of avalanche study and mitigation behind him. “Cliff [...]

The Last Miner

It’s once again time for your correspondent to come out from behind his nom de plume as Canyon Blog and become his secret identity as author Dan Schilling. In the spirit of my other profession as book author I’m happy to share that I have coauthored the memoir of the last living miner to have worked in Alta’s silver mines. Very different from my other books. It’s appropriately titled The Last Miner and is available in bookstores or online on March 31st. It’s the story of Dick Fluehe’s adventures as a young man working in Alta’s mines in the 1950s [...]

All dogs may get into heaven, but only a select few get into Snowbird

Canyon Blog spent a cold afternoon with Snowbird’s most recent addition to the ranks of certified avalanche dogs, Tony. Okay, and his handler, Paul S. Tony turns two in April and has already attained his Level B certification, the first step for any avi dog, and soon to be Level A, fully qualified to respond anywhere in the state of Utah. A black lab, he’s the heir apparent to Frankie, Snowbird’s long-standing champion black lab and soon to retire to the good life. Paul has served on ski patrol for eight years, having survived the world of finance and ditching [...]

2025-02-10T00:33:13+00:00Outdoors, Winter|

Silence and Snow

One of the great experiences of being in Little Cottonwood Canyon is the opportunity to stop. Not for a bite or beer between runs. And not après ski, per say. What your correspondent is referring to is the opportunity to merely be in the canyon and feel its presence. That only really happens once you aren’t focusing on some task at hand like loading a chair or gearing up. In the evenings and mornings there’s a silence in the canyon. Sure, there may be four thousand skiers split between Alta and Snowbird between 10 and 2, but outside that window [...]

2025-01-18T02:08:34+00:00Outdoors, Winter|

May the light shine through (with a sprinkling of flakes)

Well, your correspondent’s investigative journalistic responsibilities include unpolished headlines. So, here’s this month’s: The snow is thin. There’s no denying it. All is not lost, however. Where one opportunity evaporates, another appears. This holiday season’s snowpack means the mountains are empty. Both Alta and Snowbird are spinning most of their lifts so the terrain is there. Alta finally opened Supreme, leaving Mineral Basin as the only closed chair fed slopes in the canyon. What that means is no waiting. Parking reservations are in effect at Alta daily (till 1pm) but Snowbird has spaces every day. Fear not, the Shuttle system [...]

2024-12-22T00:39:31+00:00Outdoors, Winter|

Aaaahh

November 22nd has landed and departed and it’s great to see the season is underway with Alta’s Collins and Wildcat lifts running before Thanksgiving. Even Alf’s is open for that much needed early season ski leg break for a beer or burger, though you’ll need to rope tow back to the lifts. A first this year was the pre-season upslope availability at Snowbird. Peruvian Gulch was open for skinning and touring followed by that always well-deserved run down. Due to slope prep Gad Valley stayed off limits. Were there shark fins lurking here and there at both resorts? Of course. [...]

2024-11-24T00:16:31+00:00Outdoors, Winter|

Fall

Fall is here. The thing about this time of year in Little Cottonwood is the magical sensations it delivers to one’s soul. These can take shape in almost overwhelming moments such as when you’re standing among a grove of 100-foot aspens, their leaves a uniform shade of explosive yellow, all of them shimmering in an eye captivating fashion no matter how slight the breeze. To your blogger that single sound, aspens, is the harbinger of the season’s arrival. Still, other encounters take on a sense of diminishment. The mountain creeks have all run their course for the summer, reduced to [...]

2024-10-01T18:50:32+00:00Fall, Local Flavor, Outdoors|

Snowbird Update

Cool air is finally finding its way up the canyon and across the mountaintops here in Little Cottonwood. September is nearly here and fall is on our doorstep and with that your correspondent has his last summer ski run locked on the last patch of snow below Twin Peaks. With skis already on his back, the temperatures led Canyon Blog to Snowbird mountain operations director Jake Treadwell’s door one sunny morning to get the latest on the resort’s big projects for the summer. A very busy man, he graciously agreed to run this skier around the mountain for a closer [...]

Fun with Junior Bounous Part II (The Pika Perspective)

If you followed last month’s blog you’re now familiar with Junior. If you didn’t, you should read that first because, well, he’s just one of the most interesting ski legends there is and a piece of living history here in Little Cottonwood. Our story picks up where we left off, just below the summit of Hidden Peak and on the mineral side. Standing by the bench dedicated to Junior’s wife Maxine and facing west. There, along the wildflower hiking trail, sits the object of this month’s blog: pikas. If you’re not acquainted with these adorable mammals, be forewarned, they are [...]