Hanscom-Kelner Tours

In modern times, it is possible to get a good deal of beta for ski touring from various apps and online sources, but back in the day, the only option was the printed guidebook.

For what we call the central and northern Wasatch Today, the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Utah Backcountry is Wasatch Tours, Volume 2 – The Northern Wasatch by Dave Hanscom and Alexis Kelner.  

Dave Hanscom is a legend in the Utah Nordic Community who has been heavily involved with The Utah Nordic Alliance (TUNA) and Wasatch Citizens Series nordic race series.  I first met Dave in Japan in 1998 when the two of us were sent to the Hakuba Valley as part of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee advance team.  I liked him immediately and still enjoy running into him from time to time at Round Valley. 

I have never met Alexis Kelner, but his research on Utah ski history provided important material for my book.  The Wasatch Mountain Club conservation award is named in his honor, which tells you that he has been a stalwart for preservation of Utah's public lands.  

Wasatch Tours is not not a book for those who tour with beef boots and heavy metal skis.  It was written at a time when leather boots and long skinny skis were the norm.  You won't find a ski-descent rating system or talk about whippet poles.  What you will find are great photos and history and information about nearly every canyon from Lone Peak to Ben Lomond.  

Most importantly, they cover an abundance of low- and mid-elevation touring possibilities that in recent years have been hard to ski.  

Pull out Wasatch Tours and you'll find information on tours in City Creek Canyon, the Foothills, Emigration Canyon, Parleys Canyon, etc.  Some of these tours are cross-country adventures.  Some require navigating through impenetrable scrub oak.  One of my favorite and often used quotes comes from Hanscom and Kelner's description of the Thomas Fork tour in Neff's Canyon:

"About 0.75 mile beyond this point, to the right of the jeep road, is a seemingly impenetrable oak grove located atop an ancient alluvial fan.  Leave the road here and head south almost directly into the grove. No ski area developers have cleared the willows and oak, so considerable ingenuity and determination are requires to get through the rush.  True cross country touring is, after all, a character developing and strengthening form of recreation."

I think of this quote frequently , including today as we exited at the end of our tour today, although the vegetation on our route was somewhat penetrable. 

So Cottonwood Refugees, think beyond the usual tours and take advantage of the remarkably deep snowpack we have with a low angle sun.  Things will be changing in the coming weeks as the sun angle increases.