Fresh Tracks in Kamas – Utah's Snowcountry

Skiing Outside the Lines

“How about you lead us out, Melissa?” 

I’m standing at 10,598 feet above sea level at the top of the wide and sweeping Giant Steps Bowl. A light breeze dances sparkling snowflakes across the unbroken slope descending gently in front me and the rest of the group. A cloudless, endlessly blue sky gleams above our heads. I turn to look at Ron Baldis, our guide and co-owner of Park City Powder Cats, to make sure I’ve heard him correctly. He gives me a nod and a grin. I turn, point my skis down hill and push off into the cold, knee-deep fluff. (Read: "Deep Powder, Open Bowls: The Best Utah Cat Skiing")

Located on the privately owned Thousand Peaks Ranch, Park City Powder Cats has led guided, snowcat-served skiing and snowboarding into bowls, chutes and old-growth glades adjacent to the High Uintas Wilderness for the last 25 years. My magical day there began at the outfit’s rough-hewn-log-cabin base camp just outside of Peoa. (Fun fact: Scenes from the Netflix series “Yellowstone” were filmed there.) 

There I met Baldis and the rest of the group I’d be skiing with and was taken through a backcountry skiing safety briefing and equipment check. We then trundled into the spacious and airy cab of the snowcat (a fully tracked vehicle designed to travel on snowy terrain) and were on our way. We saw no one else for the rest of the day, which was filled with an euphoric series of glorious powder runs, all, like Giant Steps Bowl, through deliciously untracked snow. 

After the day’s final descent, Baldis asked our group if we’d prefer to return to the cabin by riding in the snowcat or by skiing along the Weber River, which runs through the Thousand Peaks’ valley floor. The consensus was to return via our own steam. As we poled our way back to where we started the day, I paused more than once to take in the serene contrast of the darkening foothills set off by ridgetops lit with an orange-hued alpenglow.

Nature-Imbued Mindfulness

I peer through the silk folds to the skylight above as I sway gently back and forth and watch fat snowflakes meander lazily around the glass pane under a steely sky. “Let your breath take on a natural rhythm,” said Julia Geisler, owner of Park City Yoga Adventures. “You can stay here in savasana as long as you want.” I contentedly oblige by settling into the hammock, closing my eyes and letting the last bits of tension drain from my body.

At the 4U Ranch in Peoa, Geisler and her staff of outdoorsy yogis lead restorative yoga-in-silk-hammocks sessions within the ranch’s heated white-timber-and-glass barn. For the uninitiated, this kind of yoga is done using a soft-fabric hammock suspended from the ceiling as a prop. Geisler guided the class I took through familiar yoga poses — including downward-facing dog, forward fold, pigeon and back bends — all modified to utilize the support of the hammock. I giggled more than once as I got used to using the silk, but then quickly got the hang of it, so to speak, and noticed how much deeper and more soothing the stretches felt supported by the hammock than in a traditional mat-yoga class.

Following the silks yoga session, we bundled up and pulled on snowshoes for a hike along the section of the Weber River bisecting the 4U Ranch. At a clearing along the way, framed by views into a rocky arroyo on one side and bucolic winter pastures on the other, Geisler paused and passed out pottery mugs of hot tea. The conversation made a comfortable pause as we sipped our tea and drank in the view.