January is off the charts with powder dropping weekly at rates not measured in decades. The 136 inches recorded in December is the highest total in 40 years for Little Cottonwood. Today the canyon was closed again with Highway 210 blocked by avalanche debris in multiple slide zones. And the howitzers of Alta and Snowbird serve as siren calls to every powder skier within earshot in the pre-dawn hours. But the avalanche artillery is a story for another day… No, faithful readers of Canyon Blog, this month’s installment is all about the pristine powder that lies tantalizingly just beyond the ski area boundary ropes and on the slopes that beckon as you ride Alta’s Supreme Chair or the Mineral Basin lifts. Once again your correspondent has risked life and limb to bring you firsthand reporting of the full Little Cottonwood skiing experience. Though today’s post incorporates Big Cottonwood Canyon for the first time in this space. It all started last Monday when Alta avalanche forecaster/program director Dave “Grom” Richards called Canyon Blog and said, “Let’s go.” “Where?” “Not sure, but you’ll know when you get here,” said the backcountry guide ominously. Canyon Blog’s skied with Grom many times before and one never knows with this guy. So, properly outfitted with avi pack, probe, shovel, beacon and skins we met at Alta and caught the Supreme lift to the top. From there it was a short, but fun, low angle slope ski into Dry Fork which leads to Heber City should one choose to follow it down. Arriving back at the Alta boundary ropes we joined the trekkers hiking the Supreme summit hill to ski Katherine’s, which had just opened. But for us it was a transit toward the pass Sunnyside peak and Mount Wolverine where Grom’s plan was revealed in full. “Let’s drop into Big Cottonwood and we can finish at Brighton,” grinned Grom. Not one to miss out on one upmanship your correspondent added, “Okay, but then we have to hitchhike our way back to Alta.” Agreed, it was off into the white. It should be mentioned here that the terrain, conditions and backcountry experience needed to assess our route and the morning all came into play. Backcountry skiing isn’t something to be taken lightly, and Grom knows all about that having spent his entire career studying snow. But it is something to be experienced. For those readers of this column who enjoy the best lodging in Little Cottonwood, try Snowbird’s backcountry guides https://www.snowbird.com/guiding-tours/backcountry-skiing/ for the experience of a lifetime. That’s because you’ll do it as a ski-in ski-out adventure. As for Grom and your correspondent’s excursion, enjoy this month’s photos that include Canyon Blog’s favorite backcountry critter encounter, the humble porcupine. As for getting back, he’s happy to report that it took a mere two thumbs to arrive in Alta. You have to love skiers, they’ll take pity on anyone, even scruffy middle aged guys.

Little Cottonwood Canyon Archives - Page 3 of 5

Operation Atwood Winze Mine
Operation Atwood Winze Mine

Operation Atwood Winze Mine

Canyon Blog spent the first half of August 2023 finalizing a plan three years in the making. Buried 2,000 feet deep within the Bay City Mine tunnel across from the Snowpine Lodge and 200 feet up a 1200 foot winze (non vertical mine shaft) lay an 1880 vintage wooden sided mine car left by the last miners to work that section of the mine. This particular portion of the mine was last actively worked in 1908. The car itself, an extremely rare wooden sided ore and waste rock transport, has the ability to swivel and dump its load in any [...]

CanyonBlog2023-08-27T16:32:41+00:00Local Flavor, News|

Snowbird Guides – They’re not just for winter
Snowbird Guides – They’re not just for winter

Snowbird Guides – They’re not just for winter

You’re probably unaware that Snowbird Guides exist. It’s an easy mistake since they’re relatively unknown. And yet, and yet, they hide in plain sight. If you’ve skied the Bird in the past decade you’ve no doubt walked right past their office, which would best be described as located in the most central real estate at Snowbird Center. To correct this oversight, Canyon Blog sat down with Eliza Allen, Snowbird’s Mountain Guides Director, to figure out just why it is that no one knows about the great services they provide. Turns out, it’s a bit mysterious for the ten-year veteran of [...]

CanyonBlog2023-07-13T03:00:54+00:00Local Events, Local Flavor, Outdoors, Summer|

Snowbird Fires up Their Convertibles
Snowbird Fires up Their Convertibles

Snowbird Fires up Their Convertibles

Well, they’re finally here. After much waiting, some minor disasters, a record snowfall year, and a long spring runoff, the balconies for “new blue” and “new, new red” are in place and ready for you. Typical of your correspondent, he used his faux investigative journalist credentials to gain a sneak peek to see if riding on top of the tram cars was worth all the hype on the morning before their grand opening. The answer in a word: yes. Thankfully, the installation went without hitch on June 5th during scheduled tram maintenance. No crane required, merely a cable system to [...]

CanyonBlog2023-06-17T02:39:01+00:00Announcements, News, Summer|

An “Outside” Perspective on Alta’s Record Storm
An “Outside” Perspective on Alta’s Record Storm

An “Outside” Perspective on Alta’s Record Storm

For followers of Canyon Blog and Little Cottonwood Canyon, you can find a summary of our wild two weeks of storms and avalanches penned by your correspondent in Outside Magazine's online site: https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/snow-sports/alta-snowbird-interloge-little-cottonwood-canyon-snowfall/ It was a season full of superlatives and if you can't make it out here before Snowbird shuts down daily operations on May 14th (weekend trams and some lifts will continue beyond that date) your blogger wishes you a wonderful spring and summer.

CanyonBlog2023-04-16T00:31:43+00:00Local Events, Outdoors, Winter|

A Dispatch from the Trenches
A Dispatch from the Trenches

A Dispatch from the Trenches

Well, much as your correspondent hates cliches, this is one for the record books. Snowbird passed its all-time season snowfall record yesterday which was 782”. As of this morning, where Canyon Blog remains trapped in Alta, they’re standing at 805”. And it hasn’t stopped. Alta is sitting on, or rather under, 874”. It was only one week ago today that this space was reporting 764 Alta inches. If public math serves that’s 110” of new in a week. In April. The day before yesterday’s interlodge was one of the top three ski days of this powder hound’s career, someone who [...]

CanyonBlog2023-04-05T17:57:46+00:00Outdoors, Winter|

Drop What You’re Doing (an emergency announcement)
Drop What You’re Doing (an emergency announcement)

Drop What You’re Doing (an emergency announcement)

Rarely does Canyon Blog issue public service announcements, but such are the dire circumstances that it’s demanded of your correspondent in the interests of your health and mental state of mind. With that out of the way, here’s the deal. Whatever you’re doing, and regardless of where, you simply need to stop, book a flight, toss on a few layers of gear, and slap some fiberglass or carbon to the bottom of your feet. As your correspondent writes this (March 29th) Alta is reporting 764” for the season, but that’s simply not going to be true by the time you [...]

CanyonBlog2023-03-31T01:29:04+00:00Outdoors, Winter|

Rush Out Here and Then Slow Down
Rush Out Here and Then Slow Down

Rush Out Here and Then Slow Down

The snow continues to drop in Little Cottonwood Canyon and the skiing is beyond compare. And by that, your correspondent does mean anywhere. Readers of this space are only too familiar with the superiority of Wasatch powder and the fact that leasing one of our properties puts you into a skin-in ski-out experience not available anywhere else. To prove that point your faithful investigative journalist is winging his way to Austria and Norway to compare this season’s snow with other world class destinations. Such is his dedication to his profession, but he digresses and will report back on that when [...]

CanyonBlog2023-03-03T21:35:18+00:00Outdoors, Winter|

Heli-skiing with Powderbird’s 50th Year
Heli-skiing with Powderbird’s 50th Year

Heli-skiing with Powderbird’s 50th Year

Followers of Canyon Blog will undoubtedly be aware of the helicopters that often nest just off the bypass road between Snowbird and Alta. And that they support Little Cottonwood Canyon’s heli-skiing. What you will not likely understand though is how heli-skiing works or even how to go about dipping a ski into the aviation facilitated snow pond. Despite 30 years of helicopter work in his military career your correspondent has to sheepishly admit that they’d never considered heli-skiing and assumed (incorrectly) that it was somehow out of his reach. To rectify this terrible oversight, he sat down with VP of [...]

CanyonBlog2023-02-17T18:57:05+00:00Interviews, Local Flavor, Outdoors, Winter|

Outa Bounds
Outa Bounds

Outa Bounds

January is off the charts with powder dropping weekly at rates not measured in decades. The 136 inches recorded in December is the highest total in 40 years for Little Cottonwood. Today the canyon was closed again with Highway 210 blocked by avalanche debris in multiple slide zones. And the howitzers of Alta and Snowbird serve as siren calls to every powder skier within earshot in the pre-dawn hours. But the avalanche artillery is a story for another day… No, faithful readers of Canyon Blog, this month’s installment is all about the pristine powder that lies tantalizingly just beyond the [...]

CanyonBlog2023-01-12T05:01:53+00:00Local Flavor, Outdoors, Winter|

Snowbird & Wasatch Adaptive Sports Honor Veterans
Snowbird & Wasatch Adaptive Sports Honor Veterans

Snowbird & Wasatch Adaptive Sports Honor Veterans

Saturday December 10th was blustery at the Bird but it didn’t faze local veterans and their families who turned out to receive the appreciation of the resort and Wasatch Adaptive Sports (WAS), along with free passes for a day’s turns. The Honor Guard This was the 10th annual festive lighting of the three trees adjacent to the tram building on the plaza deck, and the crowd of 100 enjoyed hot chocolate along with a healthy blend of gratitude from a nation to its most deserving citizens. Dave Fields, Nancy Searle and Elizabeth Kimball Nancy Searle, long [...]

CanyonBlog2022-12-16T02:48:47+00:00Local Events|