The U.S. Forest Service is trying to work through a permit issue with private landowners right next to one of the most popular hiking trails along the Wasatch Front.
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This winter has been a frustrating one for many Alta skiers, and it wasn’t just because of the meager snowfall earlier this season.
On weekends and powder days, the parking lots at the head of Little Cottonwood Canyon often filled up by 10 a.m., forcing hundreds of late-arriving skiers to turn around and go home rather than enjoy a day on slopes that have become more and more popular.
Depending on how you define the problem, there are either too many cars in the canyon or not enough parking.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The stairway to heaven may actually be a bootpack.
Just a 15-minute hike in ski boots up through the snow from the Ninety-Nine 90 lift on The Canyons side of Park City Mountain Resort delivers skiers and snowboarders a view from the clouds, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Cobalt blue peaks blanketed in brilliant white snow and shaded with crystalized conifers huddle around the ridge line. Below, wide open aprons of nearly untouched powder unfurl, ushering riders into their own semi-private Shangri-la.
But those who accept the invitation into the unmaintained backcountry terrain may be making a deal with the devil. A stark black-and-white sign at the resort exit point cautions as much. It is not inappropriately marked with a skull and crossbones and the words “YOU CAN DIE.”
Backcountry ski entry from resorts reconsidered after deaths
JULIE JAG, The Salt Lake Tribune
March 14, 2021
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1of3Park City Mountain Resort ski patrollers hike the boot-pack path toward the ski area exit gate on the ridge above the Ninety-Nine 90 lift, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, in Park City, Utah. Access to the gate has been closed since two men died in January in avalanches in the adjacent unmaintained backcountry areas after leaving the resort through that point. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)Rick Egan/APShow MoreShow Less
2of3The exit gate on the ridge above the Ninety-Nine 90 lift at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah, seen here Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, has been closed since two men died in January in avalanches in the adjacent unmaintained backcountry areas after leaving the resort through that point. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)Rick Egan/APShow MoreShow Less