..The author researching
her story
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The Ski Utah Interconnect Tour is a guided
day of backcountry skiing and resort visiting. It can include
up to five Wasatch Range resorts; Park City, Solitude, Brighton,
Alta and Snow Bird; and prime back country runs in between. Tour
routes make clever use of the resort lifts to access the backcountry,
so that there is plenty of touring and backcountry turning, but
there is little climbing. As a result, the Tour can be done by
skiers with Telemark, Randonee or Alpine ski set ups. Skiers
can check out the resorts, get a taste of back country turns
in untouched snow, and enjoy gorgeous views from the tops of
Wasatch peaks and ridges. As a back country aficionado, I think
one of the most wonderful things about the tour is that it allows
people without experience to go safely into the backcountry to
enjoy the quiet and beauty of the untouched winter wonderland.
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We met our guides, Rodd Keller and John Hughes,
in a parking lot at Park City Resort at 8:30 on a Friday morning.
We registered and received avalanche beacons. Our guides, each
with 15 years experience, chatted with us casually about where
we had skied in the past and our knowledge of the local area.
We thought nothing of it, but in fact they were discretely checking
us out. They wanted to know if we could ski. |
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Later one of the guides told us he once asked
a client how often he skied, and the guy looked down at the lift
tickets on his jacket and started to count them. That was how
many days he had skied! Participants are expected to be “advanced”
skiers, and if they are not they cannot go. Our guides told us
that they check client’s skiing on the first run at Park
City, and if the guides don’t think they should go they
take them back to registration and return their money. Despite
that, some skiers are intimidated by some of the backcountry
runs, and the guides have easier routes for them.
Normally our guides would have given us a
talk on what to do in case of an avalanche, and what they would
do. Since we do a lot of backcountry skiing, are familiar with
the terrain where we were going, and had come equipped with our
own beacons and shovels, we were able to skip the talk. Skiing
out of bounds is not something to be taken lightly. This year,
once again, someone was killed after leaving a local ski area
through a commonly used gate, to ski where many other people
had skied. The victim reportedly had no avalanche knowledge or
equipment and probably assumed that the slope was safe because
other people had skied there. At lunch we talked to our guides
about safe snow travel, and they said that they are out in the
same terrain virtually every day, so they really know the snow
conditions and how the snow pack has developed. They also have
good relationships with the snow safety people from all of the
resorts, and talk to them early in the morning and during the
day by radio while they are touring. In addition they carry safety
gear, dig snow pits when they feel they need to, and have sleds
stashed at various points in the mountains, in case of accidents.
John and I were impressed with their knowledge and with the good
planning of the program. Despite that, John Lee released a point
slough on a steep slope and skied out to the side and John Hughes,
who skied next, also felt the snow move and skied off to the
side. The slough was minor, but because the snow was heavy a
skier could have been hurt if it had swept him off his feet. |
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This was the route we followed: Park City
Resort, up the lifts, one run in Jupiter Bowl, up the lift, a
nice long run off the back, down to Guardsman’s pass, a
short run below the pass, a gravity run ending across the road
from Solitude. Up the lifts, out the back and down a long slope
I had seen but not skied, small trees, some debris but plenty
of untouched places to ski. Around to Brighton, up the lift,
out of bounds to a great powder run on the North face of Millicent
Peak, back into Brighton for a gravity run to Solitude for lunch.
Did I mention that they fed us? It’s amazing how much guys
can eat and still ski. We had a great piece of chocolate cake.
Then it was back up the lift at Solitude and off the back again,
a long run down to Alta. At that point most tours would go up
Alta’s Sugarloaf lift and ski into Mineral Basin at Snowbird,
go up the lift there, ski down the front of Snowbird and finish.
However we preferred to stay backcountry so we went up Alta’s
Supreme lift, out of bounds from Catherine’s Area, had a
long steep powder shot down to Catherine’s Lake (which was
sublime), a short walk and a run down to Dog Lake. That was where
we had the slough, but it was also a great, steep slope with
plenty of choices of lines. Finally we skied back into Brighton
and a van took us back to Park City. It would have been possible
to ski back to Park City in about an hour, but evidently it is
a considerable climb and not a very interesting ski.
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I asked our guides whether they had had
any particularly amusing clients or experiences during their
15 years of Interconnect touring, and they had quite a few. For
instance, there was a guy who got his lunch for the tour day
at lunchtime, and for the next few days, too. I guess he was
going to carry his lunches around in his parka pocket. I hope
he didn’t take a hot dog. A journalist
client wrote an article and described how awesome his skiing
was, even though he was such a poor skier that he couldn’t
do most of the descents. A guy touring with a group of friends
flagged down a bus as the group crossed a road, and simply disappeared.
Two women who had won a tour appeared one day thinking the interconnect
was a bus trip between ski resorts. When they found out what
they had really won they went anyway, and enjoyed the tour. |
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The group for the Interconnect Tour can be
up to 12 people, and there are always two guides. This allows
the group to break up a little bit depending on client’s
abilities and desires. Our guides said that people usually come
on the tour because they want to ski the untracked snow backcountry,
and/or they want to see the views, and/or they want to check
out the different resorts. The exact route of the tour is flexible,
so that it can satisfy the desires and energy levels of different
types of skiers, and can respond to the snow conditions, weather,
and time of year. The day we toured the weather varied from poor
visibility in snow and mist to open clouds to sun. The snow was
also quite various, from sublime powder to creamy wettish snow
to, at lower elevations, heavy snow which makes me whine. Our
guides said that people often tour as soon as they arrive in
Utah in order to check out the resorts. This is not a good idea,
especially if you come from sea level. Remember, lots of the
tour is done between 8000 and 10,000 feet, and people coming
from sea level often suffer from the elevation. It’s better
to wait a couple of days to acclimatize. If people get too tired
the guides can leave them at one of the resorts or send them
to the end of the tour by bus.
We had a great time. It was clear why a number
of people love the Tour and do it over and over. Our guides were
funny and fun, really wanted to ski, and really wanted to find
us the best terrain and snow they could. The day was an excellent
combination of touring and turns. I asked myself how it was different
from the type of day we usually do when we go backcountry, and
I concluded that we skied more different aspects and places than
we usually do. We received the tour as a bonus for giving money
to our local public radio station, so we’d like to thank
Ski Utah for donating the tour.
Contact info: Utah Ski and Snowboard
Association, www.skiutah.com, 801-534-1907
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