Frequently Asked Questions

Avalanche Fundamentals consists of one 3-hour lecture and one 6 to 8-hour field day. Topics covered include beacon rescue, snow pits, and group travel, among others. Avalanche Level 1 consists of two 3.5-hour lectures and two field days and covers the same topics in much greater detail. Also, participants will apply skills learned with supervision and feedback from their guide.

If you have never used an alpine touring ski or splitboard setup but are a confident skier/rider in the resort, we recommend Intro to Backcountry to gain familiarity with backcountry equipment, uphill travel on skins, uphill kick turns, transitions and downhill riding in deeper, variable snow conditions.

If you would like to combine learning how to travel in the backcountry with avalanche awareness, UMA’s 2-Day Backcountry Touring & Avalanche Skills Course is a great option.

If you have some experience using an alpine touring ski or splitboard setup with skins and are a confident skier/rider but are unfamiliar with basic avalanche concepts, we recommend Avalanche Fundamentals.

Avalanche Level 1 is designed for those who are confident skiers/riders, know how to use an alpine touring ski or splitboard setup, are familiar with basic avalanche concepts and have been touring in the backcountry for a season or two.

Avalanche Rescue Skills is recommended for those who are familiar with basic avalanche concepts through courses or personal learning. Typically taken after Avalanche Level 1.

If you have taken Level 1, but are rusty on the material, Avalanche Level 1 Refresher is a great review.

Avalanche Level 2 is for those who have taken Avalanche Level 1, Avalanche Rescue Skills and have substantial (2+ seasons) experience with backcountry travel.

Backcountry skiing and riding in Utah allows access to arguably the finest skiing in the world and offers terrain for beginners backcountry travelers and experts alike. Side-country near resorts is backcountry. Thus, it is avalanche terrain. Indeed, the epic-ness of the backcountry has become increasingly popular and is widely shared on social media, YouTube and in ski and snowboard films.

However, many of these films forget to show the planning, training and skills required to enter backcountry terrain. In turn, each season more and more young skiers and riders want to get a taste of the backcountry. In addition, there has been an increased number of ski and freeride teams who want their competitors and coaches to be informed. Along with kids having access to open gates at resorts, it is crucial that they recognize the hazards and risks that exist once they leave resort boundaries.

UMA guides in the Central Wasatch, from Millcreek Canyon to just north of American Fork Canyon and Deseret Peak, as well as some other locations in northern Utah.

Ski and snowboard tours go out-of-bounds from Alta, Snowbird and Brighton ski resorts and trailheads in Millcreek, Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, including the Mt. Olympus, Twin Peaks, Lone Peak and Deseret Peak Wilderness areas.

Frequent objectives include Mt. Superior, the Pfeifferhorn, Cardiff, Silver, Days and Mineral Forks, Gobbler’s Knob, Coalpit, the Y-Couloir, Red and White Pine, Maybird and Hogum Gulches, Porter Fork, Reynolds Peak, Willow Fork, Kessler, the Gate Buttress, Storm Mountain Island, Hellgate, the Sundial, Peak 10,420, Bear Trap, Grizzly Gulch, Broads Fork, Bells Canyon and Wolverine Cirque.

To ensure the best fit, we recommend that you rent from a local shop. For guests staying and meeting in one of the Cottonwood resorts without a ride, UMA has a limited rental fleet of AT skis with frame bindings compatible with alpine/downhill boots and split-boards. Check out our backcountry gear rental page for more information.

A typical backcountry touring day is 6-8 hours.

The number of runs you take during a course or trip depends on fitness, experience with uphill skinning and downhill ability. Typically, private trips take 2-4 runs during a day. Courses tend to travel at a slower pace, allowing the group more learning opportunities, and take 1-2 runs. Courses with no downhill portion (e.g., Avalanche Rescue Skills) are taught without traveling a great distance and no runs may be taken.

The amount of uphill travel depends on the trip or course and the group’s fitness, experience with uphill skinning and downhill ability.

Typically, private trips can expect a vertical gain of 1500’-4000’. More experienced guests wanting a bigger day could do 6000’ or more. Courses tend to travel at a slower pace, allowing for more learning opportunities, and gain 1500’-2500’ during the day.

In the backcountry, you will be riding soft and deep snow without a supportable base, and you may experience variable snow conditions depending on aspect, elevation and unmarked obstacles. Backcountry touring offers challenges and rewards not found in-bounds at resorts.

Unlike resort runs, backcountry runs are not designed by man to ease downhill travel. You may not know that during the summer, resort employees remove obstacles like downed trees, trim branches to open glades and grade slopes to remove undulating terrain. During the winter, ski patrollers pack the snow, remove rocks from runs, mark obstacles with bamboo, etc. None of these improvements are made to backcountry terrain.

Backcountry skiing/riding requires climbing uphill for several hours of the day, gaining a minimum of 1500’ in elevation. To get the most out of your ski day and feel good on the downhill, it’s important to be fit. We understand not everyone lives at altitude; therefore, our guides are continuously checking in with guests, monitoring exertion levels and adjusting their decision-making and tour plans accordingly.

Our courses move through the mountains at a “learning pace” with breaks to discuss skills and concepts, eat snacks and take photos, but still require sustained moderate exertion with periods of vigorous exertion.

We recommend a combination of strength training and aerobic activity to maximize your enjoyment of backcountry touring.

We highly recommend Uphill Athlete’s training options as well as Mind & Mountain training.

Intermediate

• Feels comfortable and in control on blues AND black runs at the resorts
• Chooses to go ‘off-piste’ and ski powder and variable snow regularly
• Is confident linking controlled, parallel, tight turns and feels strong ‘ski fitness’ wise
• Can control my speed on steep runs and stop easily when needed
• May fall sometimes or stop to navigate skinnier areas, wide chutes, steep moguls and steep trees
• Starting to ‘pop’ sometimes when powder skiing

Advanced

• Unquestionable downhill skills and seeks out the most expert terrain at the resorts
• Ability to ski/ride in control and link turns in variable snow conditions with a pack
• Weighting and unweighting movements in bottomless snow
• Experienced in powder skiing and chooses to ski off-piste regularly at the resort

WI 3: Sustained 70° with possible long bulges of 80-90°; reasonable rests and good stances for placing screws.

WI 4: Continuous 80° ice, fairly long sections of 90° ice broken up by occasional rests.

WI 5: Long and strenuous, with a rope length of 85-90° ice offering few good rests; or a shorter pitch of thin or bad ice with protection that’s difficult to place.

WI 6: A full rope length of nearly 90° ice with no rests, or a shorter pitch even more tenuous than WI 5. Highly technical.

Rigid, 12-point spikes work better for the front-pointing involved in water-ice climbing than hinged, flexible and often lighter-weight 10-point designs. The extra set of points usually faces forward and down from the front of the frame, providing much greater stability and shearing resistance. Just as on rock, footwork is vital to effective ice climbing.

Water-ice tools are far different than the traditional, straight-shafted alpine axe. They have reverse-droop steel picks and shafts bent to hold the hand, protect the knuckles and enable hooking placements above roofs. Most modern tools have no wrist leashes, but we teach with or without.

Yes, usually it is. Being prepared for ice climbing with warm mittens and a parka to wear when belaying or resting helps immensely. When it’s your turn to climb, take off the puffy jacket and mittens to avoid sweating.

No experience of any kind is necessary. In our beginner courses and guided outings, we review the very basics of tying in and belaying. Any background in rock or alpine climbing may accelerate your learning.

This is very feasible, especially for top roping in Provo Canyon. Steep bulges, thin ice and mixed lines often present themselves right next to confidence-building WI 3 routes.

We usually meet between 7 am and 9 am, either at Nunns Park, the Park & Ride Lot at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon or another pre-arranged spot confirmed by your guide the evening before the trip. The approach to most ice formations is on a climber’s trail that gains 300-500 feet and takes about 20-30 minutes. The guide takes a belay and demonstrates techniques as he or she leads a pitch and sets up one or more top rope anchors. A combination of climbing, instruction, and snack and rest breaks keeps us occupied until we run out of daylight or energy, usually between 3 pm and 5 pm.

On multi-pitch routes, such as the Great White Icicle or Stairway to Heaven, the guide will belay from above and the party will continue up until the formation is completed, if possible. Descent is by rappel and/or down climb, and glissade.

The guide will arrange a specific meeting location and time with you specifically via email for courses and classes and via phone or email for Private trips. Most commonly, this location is the Nunns Parking Lot in Provo Canyon.

10-point, hinged, flexible, lash-on spikes made of light metal (including aluminum) are ideal and adaptable to almost any boot. Step-in crampons are fine, but they won’t fit on softer boots that lack heel and toe rands for attachment. 12-point water-ice crampons are fine, but heavier than necessary.

A mountaineering axe usually has a straight shaft (as opposed to the radically curved shafts and reverse-droop picks designed specifically for water-ice and mixed climbing). Some newer mountaineering axes include a bend only in the upper shaft, and this is fine. Preferred length is 50-75 cm.

Given that many Wasatch routes are on a mix of rock, ice, and snow, a shorter axe is easier to stow for pure rock moves. For this reason, a RETAINER leash connected to the harness is required so the tool can’t be dropped. The best type is a 5′ long, single-strand of 1/2″ webbing attached with a water knot on the pick side of the axe head. Wrist loops are for steep ice and are NOT helpful for mountaineering.

Yes, there are many excellent rock routes in the higher terrain. The Sundial – above Lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon – and Arm and Hammer in Bells Canyon are two of the more popular climbs. These are aesthetic, intermediate to advanced routes needing solid fitness and rock climbing skills. They are described in more detail in our Trad Series: Multi-Pitch Climbing course.

Students must be at least 14 years old to join one of our group courses, which are catered to adults. We offer Youth Camps for youth 17 and under. UMA offers 3 age groups: Kids Camps (6-8 yrs), Tween Camps (9-12 yrs) and Teen Camps (13-17 yrs).

For custom guiding and instruction, there is no age restriction. Even 5 and 6-year-olds seem to enjoy rock climbs with short approaches and lots of holds. Longer approaches and multi-pitch climbing are typically not appropriate for kids under 11.

Shorts are nicer for warm days, but long pants will protect your legs from abrasive rock. If shorts are preferred, they should be long enough to go under the leg loops of the harness.

If you are climbing an easy multi-pitch route or just learning, get a half-size bigger shoe than the sales or rental clerk recommends. Nothing spoils the fun like foot pain. If you are an advanced climber climbing difficult routes, we recommend tight-fitting shoes that border on being uncomfortable to allow more control on small footholds.

We teach learn-to-lead courses with a backup top rope included for safety. Typically, the guide belays on a gri-gri while jugging up a fixed rope beside the new leader. This enables the instructor to give immediate feedback on the effectiveness of cam and stopper placements.