Send us a text When most Wasatch skiers were starting to put their skis away for the Season, local crusher Mali Noyes set out on one of the most challenging efforts I've seen in the Wasatch in recent memory: skiing all Chuting Gallery lines as fast as possible. Accomplishing her goal of all 93 lines in just 47 days, Mali not only pushed herself, but also pushed the limits of what's capable in our beloved local mountains. I'll catch up with Mali in this episode to talk about the project and he...
Send us a text The Salt Lake Snowcast is back this weekend with an interview with Sam Kapacinksas. Sam will be sharing a story with us from an avalanche in 2016 that he was caught and carried in, and then walked away from mostly unscathed. We'll talk about how that day has influenced his trajectory as a backcountry skier. It’s honestly been one of my favorite interviews I’ve done on the Salt Lake Snowcast. Before we jump into that, I’ll give a quick update on backcountry conditions and avalan...
Send us a text After short break last week, the Snowcast is back today to talk about current conditions. I'm joined on the show by my friend, local guide, and avalanche forecaster Cody Hughes. Talking with Cody last week, we both had the same gut feeling about our snowpack: it's dangerous, complex, and makes us both uncomfortable. Our goal with this weekend's episode is to share some knowledge and do our part to help the community understand what's going on in the snow. Tune in for a passiona...
Send us a text On today's episode, I'm joined by Utah Avalanche Center Forecaster Craig Gordon. As one of the more recognizable people in Utah's backcountry scene, I've been looking forward to chatting with Craig ever since I started the podcast. We'll talk about Craig's backstory and how he came to be an avy forecaster before a discussion on our current snowpack. You can stop by Ecker Middle School next Tuesday, February 11th at 6:30pm for a more in depth State of the Snowpack conversation w...
Send us a text Another week, another Salt Lake Snowcast. With some noteworthy conditions in the backcountry I’ll take a few minutes today to talk about weather and avalanches before an interview with local snow professional Tarah O’Connor. Tarah and I will talk about her two decade career working in the snow and get some opinions and hot takes from her on avalanche education and the state of the ski industry. I appreciate that Tarah doesn’t hold back and so willing to share her time and her o...
Send us a text The Snowcast is back this week for an important conversation about uphill travel. Joining me on the show is local guide and avalanche professional Colby Stetson. We'll chat about everything from the etiquette of skin tracks, backcountry travel dos and don'ts, and some common uptracks for accessing Wasatch Classics. Colby and I certainly aren’t the authority on this topic, in fact nobody is, but what we tried to do in this episode is discuss some standards, expectations, and lik...
Send us a text On today's show, I'll start with a brief summary of our backcountry conditions. Our snowpack setup in the Central Wasatch requires vigilance and patience. We’ve seen large avalanches in the past week that are well-connected, running full track, and crossing popular skin tracks. With four fatalities in the past few weeks across the intermountain West, it’s time to give the terrain a break and respect the power of the mountains. Also in this episode, Jack Stauss and I tackl...
Send us a text This was a tough week in the Wasatch. I had something planned for the Snowcast, but it just didn’t seem appropriate to publish it given the current events. We’ve had two fatalities in the backcountry this week. And that’s heart wrenching. At a minimum, we need to acknowledge these events and talk about them. It doesn’t feel like enough to me to just take a business as usual approach to the podcast or my personal backcountry skiing. "The show must go on" doesn't really apply her...
Send us a text In today's episode, I'll be chatting with Dani Poirier from the Wasatch Backcountry Alliance. We'll get to know Dani a little bit before diving into some hot topics in the Wasatch. Dani will also provide some updates for us about current access issues, the WBA shuttle, and the organization's trail counting program. For snow, weather, and avalanche updates, all eyes are on an active period of weather between Christmas and New Years. It's still a ways out, but we have a good hist...
Send us a text The Wasatch is starting to come back to life and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. After a long period of high pressure, our snow globe has returned, at least for now. In today's episode, I'll recap our snow, weather, and avalanches before jumping into an interview with Emmet Murray. Emmet is the unit Vice President out of the Canyons village for the Park City Ski Patrol Association where he works as a Hill Captain. We'll talk all things ski patrol before learning about ski ...
Send us a text Welcome back to Season 2 of the Salt Lake Snowcast! On today’s episode, we’ll start by looking at historical data for the Wasatch to see how nervous we really need to be about our low tide conditions. After that, Zack Little is back on the show to talk about first aid, communication, and preparedness for backcountry skiing. We've spent some time covering what happens when things go wrong, so I wanted to make sure we also did an episode about how to prevent things from going wr...
Send us a text It's been a long hot Summer and as temps are finally beginning to drop, I was feeling inspired to share a few thoughts about last Winter. I'll start with some appreciations and shoutouts and then reflect on our previous season. It was an amazing Winter to be a Wasatch skier and it's hard to imagine things getting better! I also have a few announcements from Utah Avy, Wasatch Backcountry Alliance, and Save Our Canyons. I can't wait for a new season of the Salt Lake Snowcast...
Send us a text I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a little seasonally confused these days. We had vicious East winds followed by high pressure and now, Old Man Winter has returned. We could see another few feet of snow before the end of the month so get out there and ski it while you can! On today's episode, I had the chance to chat with my friend Chris Dickson from the San Juan Snowcast. Along with taking a behind the scenes look at both podcasts, we'll talk about our motivation ...
Send us a text After taking last week off, we are back this weekend to talk with Jack Stauss about our current conditions as we head into another active period of weather. March is usually my favorite ski month with longer days and a more stable snowpack. We’ve made it over the hump of what we call Deep Winter, but we can still pretty much see any type of weather imaginable moving forward through the season. Buckle up, because March is coming in like a lion with lots of wind and moisture. Tha...
Send us a text Thanks for tuning in to Episode 9 of the Salt Lake Snowcast. I wanted to get this one out as soon as possible as I think it is an incredibly important episode going into this weekend. After the usual backcountry update, I have an honest and vulnerable conversation with local pro skier Sam Cohen and our friend, ski guide, and avalanche forecaster Cody Hughes. Sam was caught, carried, and partially buried in an avalanche this past week and wanted to come on the show to tell...
Send us a text Welcome to Episode 8! Things are trending positively right now for our persistent weak layer, but we aren’t out of the woods yet. It’s going to be one of those tempting weekends where you’ll likely see some bold tracks in big avalanche paths. Heading into this weekend, remember our discussion from last week about getting lucky vs. making good decisions. With our current snowpack, tracks aren’t necessarily indicating stability. In Part 2, local backcountry skier, former Na...
Send us a text It's been a busy, active week in the backcountry and episodes like this are quickly becoming my favorite to record and produce. There's a lot to talk about. We'll start today's show like usual by discussing the snow, weather, and avalanche conditions. Our house of cards is crumbling more and more everyday and this weekend has natural avalanche cycle written all over it. There have already been 40 backcountry avalanches reported to the UAC and I'm sure more and more observ...
Send us a text Following the update on current backcountry conditions, we review the forecasted storm coming in this weekend. It’s been changing every few hours and I’m still not really sure what to expect. Either way, we need the moisture and every little bit helps! With our mountains hovering around 80% of average snow water equivalent, we have room for opportunity! In part two this week, Jack and I chat with Carl Fisher from local non-profit Save Our Canyons. Carl is the outgoing Executi...
Send us a text In Episode 3, we have an update from last week’s conversation about parking before recapping the amazing storm last Friday that produced the best conditions so far this season. After that, Billy Haas joins me for a discussion about what low and moderate avalanche hazard really means when we are dealing with persistent slab avalanche problems. We’ll discuss strategies for entering terrain when conditions are trending in a positive direction. Billy is one of the most well spoken ...
Send us a text In this week's episode, we start by diving into some of the numbers from our previous storm cycle. We'll review the avalanche activity and talk about current conditions in the backcountry. Next, Jack and I did the work for you and have the low down on updates to parking in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. Things are changing and long gone are the days where you could wake up at 8am, get to Willow Fork at 9am, and park for free. We'll talk about transportation solutions,...