It’s New This Year And Something To Shout About.
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.
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.
Nice article, looks like 1800$ a day. Video shows only low angle terrain, so something to think about.