Tag Archive for: Whisper Ridge

Jon Weisberg

Short Swings!

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Pond Skimming at Vail

Skiing’s Silly Season starts this weekend with the annual ritual of the pond skimming competition. They’re generally associated with live music, costumes, BBQ, beer and LOTS OF FUN. Seven Springs (PA), Stratton (VT), Mt Snow (VT), Nashoba Valley (MA) and others have theirs scheduled for Saturday. Many others will be in April. Mt Bachelor‘s (OR) is the latest I found — May 28. It’s unlikely many SeniorsSkiing.com readers will compete, but if you do, check out these instructions for getting a good run. Be sure to send the video!!

COLORADO

Colorado Ski Country USA announced that its 22 member ski areas reported a January/February increase in skier visits over the same months last year. Snowpack is 125 percent of average and March and April are typically the snowiest months.

MASSACHUSETTS

Nashoba Valley Ski Area’s March Meltdown will be held this Sunday. Prizes for best costumes and pond skimming. Costume theme is 80’s TV or cartoon characters.

QUEBEC

Mont-Sainte-Anne announced the start of its 6 week spring season featuring live outdoor music, a slopeside sugar shack, and sunny terraces. Last day: April 30th.

UTAH

Snow Basin celebrated #nationalpuppyday with an Avalanche Dog Fundraiser benefitting Wasatch Backcountry Rescue.

Whisper Ridge, the new Utah heli/snowcat operation about a hour north of the airport has closed for the season. The company reports a banner season. Whisper Ridge is taking reservations for the coming season: 801-876-4664 or email info@whisperridgeutah.com

VERMONT

Okemo is promoting  an “all-new, bigger, better and bolder lineup” of season passes for ’17/’18. All passes are eligible for a M.A.X. Pass add-on. Purchase by April 30 for best prices and added value. Prices drop dramatically starting at age 65.

OTHER

Zeal Optics has an end of season 30% off sale on all goggles.

KJUS skiwear is beautiful, technical and pricey. 2016-17 Fall/Winter merchandise currently available online at 20% off.

Harriet Wallis

Whisper Ridge: 100 Square Miles Of Snowcat Skiing In Utah

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It’s New This Year And Something To Shout About.

Helo to cat, cat to snow fields, skiing and glamorous camping, aka “glamping”.
Credit: Whisper Ridge

It’s the largest backcountry resort in the country: 3,300 feet vertical, 300+ average inches of snow, and luxury yurt “glamping.”

Check your bucket list. Better add Whisper Ridge. Peace, quiet, the hush of snow, make your own tracks, and the vastness of mountain ranges virtually to yourself.

Are you drooling?

Whisper Ridge is located about 60 miles north of Salt Lake City and close to Ogden, Utah. More specifically, this heavenly skiing is between towns appropriately named Eden and Paradise – names given by early settlers.

The area is so remote that Whisper Ridge flies its guests by helicopter to the cat base and from there it’s cat skiing from eight custom PistenBullys until your legs fall off. Then it’s overnight glamping in well appointed yurts.

Roughing it in a Whisper Ridge yurt. Yes, it’s a yurt.
Credit: Whisper Ridge

But how did 100 square miles of skiing go unnoticed until now? It began with owner Dan Lockwood’s vision. His environmental education and life-long career of land management on several continents was the spark. Locally, he was saddened that ranches that have been in families for eons were being chopped up and sold to developers. He wanted to make an impact.

Lockwood owns a portion of the land, and with the cooperation of adjoining landowners, he put together the 100 square mile tract of ridges, forests and meadows.

One day several years ago, Lockwood was skiing fresh, untracked snow with his son Cort. They stopped for a rest, and Lockwood asked: “Do you know what’s wrong with this?”

“There’s nothing wrong with this,” Cort told his dad. “This is perfect.”

But Lockwood continued. What’s wrong is that we aren’t sharing this with anyone, he said.

And thus Whisper Ridge was born from Lockwood’s passion to preserve the land and share the untouched wilderness experience with others. Last year was a test season. This is its first year of operation.

Check the video below or click here to whet your back country appetite.

For more information and reservations, click here. 

To read more from Harriet click here for her stories on SkiUtah.

Whisper Ridge Cat Skiing from Whisper Ridge Cat Skiing on Vimeo.

Jon Weisberg

This Week in SeniorsSkiing (Sept. 16)

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First Snow! New Cat Skiing Operation. Long Poles. Plus-Sized Ski Clothing.

Early One Pole Skiers

Early One Pole Skiers

I’m writing this from Utah where, a few days ago, Snowbird received it’s first snowfall. It’s an exciting precursor to the coming season. On Saturday, I’ll attend First Chair Festival, a ski-oriented street and film festival. Also from this weird and beautiful state is news of Whisper Ridge, a 50,000 acre cat skiing operation with three luxurious yurt villages and catering by one of Utah’s top chefs. Here’s the clincher: it’s about an hour from the airport! Can’t wait to review this developing powder paradise.

Three really interesting articles are in this week’s package.

At the top of the stack is a wonderful piece by Alan Engen, of the great Engen ski family. He tells the story of Ruth Rogers Altmann, who in her youth in Austria learned to ski using the long pole method and then learned the two-pole technique. This is must reading for anyone interested in ski history.

The next article covers long pole skiing as practiced in the remote Altai Mountains. People there have used skis to hunt and travel for thousands of years. Technology has not advanced in that part of the world. On this side of the globe, there’s a nascent movement to bring back long pole skiing. That, too, is covered in the article.

Finally, there’s a candid, and amusing, article on the difficulties associated with finding plus-sized ski clothing. Yvette Cardoso does an excellent job of spelling out the issues.

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