I absolutely love how the mountains change in their personality and beauty. A white blanket covers the slope in winter and what was once an obvious trail on solid ground becomes a slower passage with more intentional navigation through avalanche terrain.

Mike, my husband, and I began skiing together in 2016, with the end of river season in West Virginia. I told him he needed to get into whitewater if he was going to spend more time with me and when winter came around he asked me to do the same with skiing; so I learned to ski. Our first yurt trip, and my first winter tour, was to the Tushar Mountains near Beaver, Utah. Being new to skiing, let alone backcountry trails, it’s a high learning curve to climb to 10,400ft above sea level (1,823 ft gain) over 5 miles, with 5 days worth of gear on your back.

The Tushars are the highest Mountain range in Central Utah and a hard zone to line up with snow coverage. During this time, I had not yet been diagnosed with my EIB (exercise induced bronchoconstriction, e.g. asthma), making it harder to acclimate to the elevation. The climb was hard, so we took time to rest and eat snacks while my feet ached from the haul. One of the things I didn’t expect was the rawness I would feel on my heels as I put one foot in front of the other. I couldn’t wait to take those boots off. 

The next day we got out skiing. At this point, I’d been exposed to the  basics of uphill travel, such as efficiently using heel risers, performing kick turns, and navigating icy terrain by leaning into the uphill edge of the ski. I was able to grasp these concepts, but still considered myself relatively new to them. We hiked up to 11,000 ft to get a couple laps, while I limped behind thinking that this was just my body not used to hiking with extra weight on my feet (cue asthma).

Despite this, I was able to get a couple laps in. It was tiring and I couldn’t ski powder well but it was an amazing experience that made all the work feel worth it! I had never been this high in elevation before. As much as I felt slow in my pace and couldn’t wait to be heading back to the fire in the yurt, it did not escape me how different and incredible it is to be so far away from civilization. To stand atop the mountain, gazing out for miles, witnessing the untamed beauty of the wilderness.

We were hooked. Mike and I yearned for more trips, so much that we booked a yurt trip in early December the following year. We found out later why there are so many openings: the snowpack really isn’t there yet. In spite of reports from the Forest Service and Snotel, we figured we would give it a try anyway- how bad could it be if there wasn’t enough snow? We would just walk with our skis on our backs.

Mike made our own pulk, a sled that you pull behind you to carry the majority of your weight, i.e. food and drinks. In spite of a shorter distance and elevation gain, a new challenge presented itself. We had to both navigate more independently and break our own trail, a difficult task when you are towing a sled. With it being early season, a mix of snow, melt and dirt obscured the trail, forcing us to follow ribbon tags through the overgrown trees.We struggled getting our homemade pulk to glide the way we had hoped, instead we found it added more resistance. We started late that day and took time to find our way through, so I was so happy to see that yurt in the setting sun. We made it to the yurt just in time to watch the sun set, and enjoy a little apres on the porch after a well spent day. Needless to say it was a great experience and we were happy to have the yurt to ourselves even if it was a little muddy and long to get to it.

The years Mike and I couldn’t lock in a yurt trip, we decided to still plan overnight trips in some of our favorite areas in the Wasatch. We have a simple, packable tent that was perfect to protect us from the elements, covering a pit we dug. Snow has insulative properties that is surprisingly good at retaining heat once you seal off the walls by burying it in the snow to prevent wind and fresh snowfall coming in. Once we dug out the center of our set up for shelter we then cut out benches that we would sleep and cook on. First time I did this, I made the mistake of making mine too narrow and had a very tight sleep that night. It is snug inside but we have successfully fit three people on these trips. The trick to these is making sure you seal the weather out, have a stash spot for your packs and at the end of the day making sure to pull out your boot liners and sleep with them in your sleeping bag, otherwise you risk having a very cold toes the next day; almost impossible to warm up as the sweat from the day before will freeze inside.

We’ve had our challenges with winter camping. Strong winds, dropping temps, not enough snowpack to get deep in the snow pit, and just the learning curve, but I have to say, it’s one of my favorite ways to experience winter. There’s nothing like waking up with the mountains to yourself and being able to get an early start before the valley wakes up. There's also a bit of fun being able to see more wildlife or see new tracks (the cougar tracks in the photo above). After a day of skiing,the return back to the trailhead is always a fun challenge with the additional weight on your back. I like to think it keeps you honest with your skiing technique. The extra weight will let you know when you are not in proper form by knocking you over, especially when you have been skiing all day and your legs are exhausted.

Whether it be yurt, cabin, or snow pits, winter camping sure brings a lot of unique and challenging experiences. That makes winter a bit more fun each year! I am looking forward to next year to be able to see more huts (Idaho has a lot) and explore more of the nearby mountain ranges.