From $275/person
From $275/person
Some of the best skiing in the Wasatch begins where the resort boundary ends — and a chairlift is the fastest way to get there. Lift-accessed backcountry skiing lets you skip the first two hours of skinning and start your day at 10,000 feet, dropping through a backcountry gate at Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, or Solitude into terrain that most visitors never see. Your IFMGA/AMGA-certified guide manages the gate, the forecast, and the objective, so the day is spent skiing rather than route-finding.
Lift-accessed touring is the highest-yield day in the Wasatch for skiers who are short on time. Lifts do the vertical that legs would otherwise have to, which means more descents per day and less of the day spent on the up. We may take a single ride to gain the ridge and tour out to a more remote objective, or return to the lifts repeatedly — combining chairs with short bootpacks and traverses to keep finding untracked snow adjacent to the resort. On a good storm cycle, four to six laps is realistic.
This trip is also the most efficient introduction to backcountry skiing available. Because the approach is short and the exit is usually a groomer, the margin for a slow day is wide — which makes it a low-consequence place to learn transitions, skin technique, beacon work, and how a guide actually reads terrain. Many guests use a lift-accessed day as the step before a full private backcountry ski tour, an Introduction to Backcountry Skiing Course, or an Avalanche Level 1 course.
It is also the trip most often misunderstood. Terrain outside a resort gate is not patrolled, not controlled, and not mitigated — the ropeline is a legal boundary, not a safety one. The snowpack four hundred feet past the gate behaves exactly like the snowpack four miles up the canyon. That is the reason to hire a guide for it, and it is the reason we carry and issue full avalanche rescue equipment on every lift-accessed day.
Before or after booking, read our summary of what a day of ski touring with Wasatch Mountain Guides actually looks like.
Trips for All Experience Levels
- First-Time Backcountry Skiers: gate protocol, transitions, skinning, beacon use, and terrain basics — with a lift to reset between laps
- Intermediate Ski Tourers: more laps, longer traverses, bigger aspects, and an introduction to touring beyond the immediate sidecountry
- Advanced Skiers: committing lines off the ridgelines — Wolverine Cirque, the Superior side, steep gate-accessed chutes when the snowpack allows
Read our Mountain Guiding Difficulty & Fitness Guide to understand your level.
- Difficulty: No prior backcountry experience is necessary. You do need solid intermediate to advanced downhill ability — you will be skiing ungroomed, variable snow with a pack on — and good fitness. If you have never toured, this is a good first day; if you have never skied off a groomer, it is not.
- Beginners to touring may also want the Introduction to Backcountry Skiing Course
- Meeting Time: Generally 8 a.m. Earlier on powder days and during Little Cottonwood road closures.
- Meeting Location: Big or Little Cottonwood Park and Ride, Alta, or Brighton — depending on the day’s objective and the road status.
- Duration: Full day, roughly 6–7 hours on snow. Expect 1,500–3,500 feet of human-powered climbing on top of the lift-served vertical.
- Season: December through April, conditions dependent. Lift operations and gate openings are set by the resorts and the Utah Department of Transportation, not by us.
A note on splitboarders: Alta is skiers-only, so splitboard days run out of Brighton or Solitude. Tell us at booking and we will plan the day around a mountain that will let you on the lift.
What We Provide
- IFMGA or AMGA certified ski and mountaineering guides
- Avalanche beacon, shovel, probe and pack (if needed)
- Single-ride lift ticket — included in your price
- Day-of terrain selection built on the Utah Avalanche Center forecast
What You Need
- Alpine touring, telemark, or splitboard equipment with skins
- Review the equipment list (sent upon booking)
- Lunch, water and snacks
- Resort-appropriate layers — you will be riding a lift in the wind before you start moving
Ending the Day
Your day usually ends where it began — a park-and-ride lot, a resort base area, or your lodge. Always confirm the meeting point with your guide the night before; Little Cottonwood road closures can move it.
Dates
- These are private guided days. Contact us to schedule, or use the “Book Trip” calendar.
Max Client to Guide Ratio
- 4:1
- Groups larger than four are welcome — we add a guide and hold the ratio at 4:1.
There is no fixed itinerary. Your guide picks the objective the morning of, based on the Utah Avalanche Center forecast, overnight wind and loading, which gates are open, and your ability. What follows is the working menu, organized by which lift gets you there.
Difficulty uses the same technical and fitness scale as every other WMG trip. Each entry reads: objective — access, then vert · aspect · level and fitness · typical window.
Out of Alta — Little Cottonwood Canyon
- Grizzly Gulch — Sugarloaf / Albion gate ~1,200 ft · N/NE · Introductory, moderate fitness · Dec–Apr
- Catherine’s Pass & Tuscarora — Supreme / Catherine’s gate ~800 ft · N/E · Introductory–Intermediate, moderate fitness · Jan–Apr
- Wolverine Cirque — Twin Lakes Pass from Sugarloaf ~1,200 ft · N/NE · Advanced, high fitness · Feb–Apr
- Dry Fork — Explore runs directly off the Supreme charilift
Out of Brighton — Big Cottonwood Canyon
- Wolverine Cirque — Great Western ~1,200 ft · N/NE · Advanced, high fitness · Feb–Apr
- Patsy Marley & Twin Lakes Pass — Great Western ~900 ft · N/NE · Intermediate, moderate fitness · Dec–Apr
- Preston Peak & Hidden Canyon — Milly ~1,000 ft · N/E · Intermediate, moderate fitness · Jan–Apr
- Grizzly Gulch (from the east) — Great Western to Twin Lakes Pass ~1,000 ft · N/NE · Introductory, moderate fitness · Dec–Apr
- Snake Creek Pass — Great Western ~800 ft · N/E · Introductory–Intermediate, moderate fitness · Jan–Mar
Brighton allows splitboards and has the most generous gate policy in the canyon. It is our default for snowboarders and for first-time sidecountry days.
Out of Solitude — Big Cottonwood Canyon
- Silver Fork — Summit / Powderhorn gate ~1,500 ft · N · Intermediate, moderate fitness · Dec–Mar
- Fantasy Ridge & the Solitude backcountry gates — Summit ~1,000 ft · N/NE · Intermediate, moderate fitness · Jan–Apr
If you are staying in Park City, you do not have to drive to the Cottonwoods to ski good backcountry terrain. See also guided backcountry skiing in the Southern Wasatch.
Don’t see your objective?
Bring it to us. If it is gate-accessible in the Wasatch and it is in condition, we have probably skied it — and if we have not, we will tell you that straight.
- You start high. Lifts deliver 2,000–3,000 feet of vertical before you take a single step.
- More skiing, less skinning. Four to six descents on a good day, versus two or three on a pure touring day.
- Gate knowledge is local knowledge. Which gate opens, when, and what is behind it changes daily.
- Real-time terrain selection against the Utah Avalanche Center forecast — not a pre-booked itinerary.
- A low-consequence classroom. Short approaches and a lift-served exit make this the best place to learn touring mechanics.
- The escape hatch is right there. If weather turns or someone’s day ends early, the resort is a traverse away.
- This is your day — we build it around your fitness, your ability, and what you want out of it.
FAQs
Sidecountry skiing — also called slackcountry or side country — is backcountry skiing accessed through a resort’s backcountry gates rather than from a trailhead. You ride a lift to gain elevation, then leave the ski area boundary to ski unpatrolled, uncontrolled terrain. The snow outside the rope is true backcountry snowpack: it is not avalanche-mitigated, it is not patrolled, and it requires the same equipment, training, and decision-making as any other backcountry objective. The lift only changes how you get to the top.
An important note:
We are attempting to no longer call this terrain “sidecountry” or “slackcountry”. We want all parties to understand that when you are outside of a resort boundary, at any point, you are in backcountry terrain.
Yes. The single-ride lift ticket is included in the trip price on this program. That is different from our private backcountry ski tours, where lift tickets are an additional cost when the day uses one.
No. This is the most common first backcountry day we run. You do need to ski ungroomed, variable snow confidently at an intermediate level or above, and you need reasonable fitness — expect 1,500–3,500 feet of climbing under your own power on top of the lift-served vertical.
Yes, but not at Alta, which is skiers-only. Splitboard days run out of Snowbird, Brighton, or Solitude. Tell us at booking. Hard-boot or soft-boot splitboards are both fine.
A private backcountry ski guide day is human-powered from the trailhead, typically 2,500–5,000 feet of climbing, and opens up the full range of Wasatch objectives. A lift-accessed day trades that range for efficiency: less climbing, more descents, a shorter day, and terrain concentrated near the resorts. Many guests do a lift-accessed day first and a full touring day second.
Alta, Brighton, and Solitude in the Cottonwood Canyons, plus gate-accessed terrain at Snowbird and Park City and Guardsman Pass. Snowbird and Park City tours do not include the lift pass, the clients will have to pay for these passes if they desire to meet at these backcountry access gates at Snowbird or Park City, Utah.
The specific mountain is chosen the morning of, based on avalanche conditions, wind, gate status, and canyon road conditions.
Little Cottonwood and Big Cottonwood close for avalanche control, sometimes for hours. If we cannot get to the objective, your guide will move the day to the other canyon, shift the start time, or work with you to reschedule. Check UDOT road conditions the morning of and confirm your meeting point with your guide.
No. But if you find yourself wanting to go back without a guide, take one. We run Avalanche Level 1 throughout the season, and an Avalanche Rescue Course as a one-day companion.
- Expert Guides: IFMGA and AMGA-certified guides manage risk and navigate Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. We work within the AMGA’s Scope of Practice.
- Customizable Experiences: Terrain, pace, and instructional focus are matched to your skill level and goals.
- Premier Locations: Gate access at Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, and Solitude — the densest concentration of lift-served backcountry terrain in North America.
- Skills Training: Avalanche awareness, route selection, transitions, and skinning technique, taught in terrain where mistakes are cheap.
- Comprehensive Equipment Support: Beacon, shovel, probe, and pack provided if needed.
- Small Group Focus: 4:1 maximum, private groups only.
- Transparent Pricing: $275 per person (with a group of 4) lift ticket included. No surprises at checkout.
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What Clients Say
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Guided Backcountry Skiing in the Southern Wasatch