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Cross Country Route · Little Cottonwood Canyon

Grizzly Gulch

The backcountry ski-and-ride zone at the head of Little Cottonwood — a short-approach touring hub below Twin Lakes Pass and Wolverine Cirque, a serious avalanche terrain trap, and the home of Chad's Gap.

Also known as: Grizzly Gulch Backcountry, Grizzly Gulch Ski Tour

Grizzly Gulch is the backcountry ski-and-snowboard zone at the very head of Little Cottonwood Canyon, where the plowed road ends at Alta and a gate opens onto the skin track. It is one of the highest-traffic, lowest-friction tours in the Wasatch — a short approach off the upper Alta lot, reliable early-season north-facing snow, and a gentle valley floor that funnels tourers up to the Little Cottonwood / Big Cottonwood divide at Twin Lakes Pass. From there the upper range opens: Patsy Marley, Mount Wolverine and the expert chutes of Wolverine Cirque, Davenport Hill and Silver Fork, and the crossover to Brighton and Solitude. Its everyday identity is touring and avalanche education — the lower gully is a notorious terrain trap, and people have been buried here. Its second, episodic identity is freestyle history: the mine-tailings gap jumps of Chad's Gap and Pyramid Gap sit in this drainage, where Travis Rice had his 2004 breakout session.

Quick stats

Distance
2.6 mi round trip
Elevation gain
1160 ft
Time
1.5–4 hrs
Difficulty
Challenging
Dogs
Not allowed
Best months
Jan, Feb, Mar

Getting there & parking

Drive Little Cottonwood Canyon (SR-210) about 10 miles past the towns of the canyon to the very top, parking in the upper Alta lot — roughly 45 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City when the road is open. The road is one of the most avalanche-closed corridors in North America: check UDOT before you commit, and be ready for 'Interlodge' shelter-in-place orders and approved-traction requirements (Oct 1 – Apr 30). There is no fee to park or skin, but there is no overnight parking and the lot fills on storm days.

No fee to park at the trailhead or to skin. There is no overnight parking, and the upper Alta lot fills early on storm days.

Know before you go

No dogs. Dogs are banned in all of Little Cottonwood Canyon — including dogs left in your car — because it is Salt Lake City's protected drinking-water watershed. The ban is a city ordinance with narrow exceptions and is enforced.

No hiking permit required.

The route

The standard valley-floor tour to Twin Lakes Pass is short — strong parties skin it in under an hour. Add time and vertical for the real objectives: Patsy Marley, Mount Wolverine, Wolverine Cirque, or a point-to-point descent into Silver Fork and out at Solitude.

  • 0 mi · Grizzly Gulch Trailhead / gate (upper Alta lot, ~8,800 ft) — Pass the gate at the east end of the lot. Check posted parking hours; no overnight parking.
  • 0.4 mi · Summer Road skin track past the snowcats — Skin up the plowed, cat-groomed road — about 1,000 ft of mellow road grade. Expect grooming machinery.
  • 0.6 mi · Bear up and left into Grizzly Gulch proper — Leave the road (~15 minutes in) and climb into the gulch.
  • 0.9 mi · Lower gully — the terrain trap — The notorious pinch. Don't bunch up; minimize time below steep rollovers.
  • 1.1 mi · Open valley-floor basin — Gentle skinning under Patsy Marley and Mount Superior — the classic avalanche-course terrain.
  • 1.3 mi · Twin Lakes Pass (~9,960 ft) — The LCC/BCC divide and gateway to Patsy Marley, Davenport/Silver Fork, and the Brighton/Solitude backcountry.

When to go

A winter and spring tour, roughly December through April, with the best mid-winter conditions in January–March. Grizzly is a classic early-season choice — north-facing snow holds before the resorts open — which also concentrates avalanche exposure early when the snowpack is thin and weak. Spring brings corn cycles and the bigger summit lines.

Little Cottonwood requires approved snow tires / traction devices October 1 – April 30 and closes for avalanche control after storms (sometimes for days, with 'Interlodge' shelter-in-place at Alta). During Alta's operating season the resort is closed to uphill travel except the Summer Road from the Grizzly Gulch Trailhead, which is open 24/7 to Grizzly Gulch and Catherine's Area under a Forest Service permit. There is no patrol and no marked hazards in the backcountry — you are responsible for your own rescue.

Check current conditions before you go:

Safety & hazards

Grizzly Gulch is serious avalanche terrain, not benign beginner ground. Slopes on all sides slide, and the narrow gully at the bottom of the gulch is a well-known terrain trap that funnels debris into deep, deadly deposits. Carry beacon, shovel, and probe; travel one at a time through the gully and below steep rollovers; and read the Utah Avalanche Center forecast every single day. In December 2013 a skier here was fully buried on a north-facing rollover on a 'considerable' day and was dug out alive only because trained bystanders were close.

The lower gully concentrates any slide from the slopes above into a narrow, deep catchment. Even a small avalanche can bury deeply where the terrain pinches. Don't regroup or skin tightly bunched in the gully. Spread out and minimize time in the pinch.

High-elevation winter terrain with wind, cold, and no shelter once you leave the road. Storms move in fast. There is no patrol and no rescue infrastructure above the gate — self-rescue is the expectation.

Alta operates snowcats on the lower Summer Road skin track. Stay aware of grooming and cat traffic on the way in and out.

Wildlife & geology

A winter zone — wildlife interest is mostly the goats and marten on the surrounding high terrain rather than anything on the snow-buried gulch floor.

Wildlife you might see: mountain goat (on the surrounding ridges), pine marten.

Grizzly Gulch is cut into the granite (quartz monzonite) of the Little Cottonwood stock at the head of the canyon. The old Emma-mine tailings piles on the gulch floor — leftovers of the Alta silver district — are the literal foundation of its freestyle fame: Chad's Gap and Pyramid Gap span those mining mounds.

History

Grizzly Gulch carries a mining-era name from the Alta silver district, whose claims and tailings still litter the drainage.

Mined in the Alta silver boom, then folded into the birthplace of American avalanche science just down-canyon. Today it is one of the most heavily used backcountry-touring and avalanche-education zones in the range. It is also the flashpoint of the Wasatch interconnect fight: a ~284-acre block of low-angle private land at the head of the canyon owned by Alta Ski Lifts. Proposals to run a canyon-to-canyon lift connection (SkiLink, ONE Wasatch) and Alta's conditional offer of the gulch into the Mountain Accord / Central Wasatch land exchange would have developed it; Save Our Canyons and the Wasatch Backcountry Alliance fought back under the banner '#KeepGrizzlyWild.' Alta withdrew Grizzly Gulch from the exchange in July 2018, and it has remained privately owned and undeveloped — without any permanent easement protecting it.

Grizzly Gulch is the rare Wasatch case where the famous backcountry jump scene is in this exact drainage rather than over the divide at Brighton. Chad's Gap — a roughly 110–120-foot gap jump across two old mine-tailings piles about 0.6 miles northeast of Alta — was spotted in 1999 by local Chad Zurinskas and named by filmmaker Kris Ostness. Candide Thovex made the first successful jump of it at sixteen that same winter; Tanner Hall famously came up short and broke both ankles. In 2004 snowboarder Travis Rice, riding with Romain De Marchi, sessioned Chad's Gap for Absinthe Films' 'POP' — stomping a cab-720, a switch backside-540, and a backside rodeo-720 — the breakout moment that helped launch his career. The nearby Pyramid Gap is a second, ~90-foot tailings kicker. These are episodic, hand-built film features made of mining debris, not a maintained freestyle venue. (Salt Lake City's storied street and jib snowboarding heritage — JP Walker, Mikey LeBlanc, Bjorn Leines — belongs to Brighton, in Big Cottonwood Canyon, a separate scene over the ridge.)

Frequently asked questions

Where is Chad's Gap, and who has hit it?
Chad's Gap is in Grizzly Gulch, about 0.6 miles northeast of Alta — a roughly 110–120-foot gap jump built across two old mine-tailings piles. Skier Candide Thovex made the first successful jump of it at sixteen in 1999; Tanner Hall came up short on it and broke both ankles; and in 2004 snowboarder Travis Rice had his breakout session there filming Absinthe Films' 'POP.' It's a hand-built film feature that only exists when someone shapes it, not a maintained jump.
Is Grizzly Gulch safe for beginners?
The skinning is gentle, but the terrain is not beginner-safe. Grizzly is serious avalanche terrain, and the lower gully is a documented terrain trap where people have been buried. Go only with a beacon, shovel, and probe, the training to use them, and the day's Utah Avalanche Center forecast — or go with a guide.
Can you skin up Grizzly Gulch when Alta is open?
Yes. During Alta's operating season the resort is closed to uphill travel except the Summer Road from the Grizzly Gulch Trailhead, which is open 24/7 to Grizzly Gulch and Catherine's Area under a Forest Service permit. The rest of Alta's terrain is off-limits for uphill during operating hours.
Are dogs allowed in Grizzly Gulch?
No. Dogs are banned in all of Little Cottonwood Canyon — including dogs left in a vehicle — because it's Salt Lake City's protected drinking-water watershed. It's a city ordinance and it's enforced.
What's the standard tour, and how long does it take?
The classic lap is the valley floor up to Twin Lakes Pass — about 1.3 miles and ~1,160 feet of gain one way, often done in under an hour by fit parties. From the pass you can drop into Patsy Marley, continue to Mount Wolverine and Wolverine Cirque, or descend point-to-point into Silver Fork and out at Solitude.
When is the season?
Roughly December through April, with the best mid-winter snow in January–March. Grizzly is a popular early-season tour because its north-facing snow comes in before the resorts open — which is also when the snowpack is thinnest and most dangerous, so early-season judgment matters.

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