When Days, Piercing and Dry, Become Gifts
Job Search: Ski Guide
Alec Hornstein may have the greatest job in the world. I asked him flatly if he did and he sort of ducked the question, but regardless: Many adult Americans, I bet, would gladly trade part of their lives for a week or two of Alec's.
Alec Hornstein guides backcountry skiers, cross country skiers and snowshoers into the mighty Tushar Mountains of southwest Utah, a fantastic high country wilderness of primeval forests and piercing, tundra-clad and snowbound mountains. From his base at Elk Meadows Ski Area, just about 18 miles east of Interstate 15 and Beaver, Utah, Alec takes skiers of almost any ability to his yurt, a winter-ready canvas hut, which sits at the edge of a beautiful forest and at 10,404 feet above the oceans - here, almost treeline. The yurt is the gateway to 100 square miles of jaw-dropping peaks, easy glades, treeless bowls, heart-pounding chutes and old mining roads.
The Tushar Mountains, which at over 12,000 feet are the second-highest mountain range in the state (just behind the powerful Uintas and just ahead of the imperious La Sals) rise from Beaver and I-15 at unbelievable angles and, in fetching afternoon sun, are visible from over 100 miles. The Tushars are, I believe, laccoliths. They formed when molten magma welled up beneath the Earth's crust but did not actually explode into a volcano. The magma froze in place and cooled slowly. Below the peaks, the intrusion eroded when first glaciers then rivers scoured the canyon bottoms. Today, the range is under the management of Fishlake National Forest and a popular spot, especially in the summer, with locals seeking relief from the heat.
And yet as high as they are, the Tushars are not known as a bad weather range. Rather, good weather is the rule, sunshine can be counted on, and the snow that falls - upwards of 400 inches a year - is usually the kind where if you sneeze, it blows away. What the Tushars do have, unfortunately, is lots of wind. Strong post-frontal winds, just like in the La Sals and Henry Mountains to the east, often blow the tops of the peaks clean. Sheltered draws and canyons, however, remain powdery.
The Fall That Started It All
The second worst fall I ever took in my life was in the Tushar Mountains. It was May 2, 1992 and I was skiing a run on Mt. Holly locals call Five Fingers Glacier. Not a glacier anymore, Five Fingers are five ribbons of snow bounded by cliffs on each side, falling from nearly the summit of Mt. Holly and angling southwestward towards the ski area. It the first run of the third day of skiing and I was stiff still but tired. I skied down the summit of the mountain and into the middle chute. Averaging about 40 degrees steep, each turn is the type where it is really more of a jump than a slide and about five turns into the chute one of my skis caught the other, I was oddly airborne for a moment, then came slamming down on my back.
My editor has been getting on my case about profanity, so I'll give you an abbreviated version of what happened next. I was on my back sliding down the hard-snow chute. The corn snow was flying in my face. Somehow I caught a glimpse, for an instant, of the slope beneath me. It narrowed and featured a clump of rocks (I remember still they were a sort of rust-red) in the middle. My skis were above me, uselessly clocking air time. One ski came down, touched the snow, and exploded off my boot. I dug one of poles into the snow and with a boot as rudder was able to steer around the rocks but to a stop only when the slope leveled out, having slid a full 400 vertical feet. My loner ski sailed past me into the flats below. For a while after that I was known as 'Slide-for-life Schmerker.'
And I became convinced that the Tushars had great skiing potential.
Sky, Hundreds of Miles Wide
I met Alec at his Elk Meadows condo at 8 a.m. last Sunday. The yurt was booked but I was going to ski with him for the day anyway. We took his truck back down the canyon for a few miles to the trailhead and skied in from there, eventually meeting a party of four scientists on their way out from the yurt. From there we headed up into the high country, breaking into loose forests of gleaming sunlight and finally up above timberline, where white mountains stretched from horizon to horizon. The high peaks had been sandblasted by a recent windstorm but we pressed on to a high point overlook. It was a warm day, and I could feel my skin getting burned. The sky was hundreds of miles wide.
We gingerly picked our way across the hardpack but Alec led me to a sheltered north-facing slope where we hopped into creamy settled powder. This slope led around the corner to another: more turning. And another. Then back to the yurt where he straightened things up and skied back the road.
Like I said, it was a Sunday, and I had to be back in Tooele that night. I packed up, grabbed a coffee at the resort, and drove down spectacular Beaver Canyon with the radio on and the windows down. Such an amazing mid-winter day. The depth and clarity and dryness to the air and the sky made me feel empty inside when I took a deep breath, like I had the butterflies or something.
Down in Beaver - and I and going to have to come back here sometime and tell you all about this great little town - I looked in the rearview mirror and saw not only the inevitable sunburn but also that my ratty hair and even my stubble was sun-bleached a shade or two lighter. Out on the interstate the shadows of dusk seemed to last a hundred miles, and I was sorry when the sun set on such a great day.
Tushar Mountain Tours Statistics:
- Season: late November to late May or early June.
- Driving distances: from Salt Lake City, three-and-a-half hours; from Las Vegas, four hours.
- Costs: Full day of guiding and lunch, $69 per person; moonlight tours, $19 per person; $99 to $139 per group for a night in the yurt, depending on size, plus a one-time guiding fee of $85 per group; De-luxe yurt stay, three meals and guiding service, $99 to $149 per person per night, depending on size and food. The yurt can sleep up to ten, but that is getting into pretty close quarters. Six to eight is a better number.
- For the yurt you need to bring: a sleeping bag and food if you are doing your own cooking. It already has wood, fuel and cooking utensils. There is an adjacent pit toilet.
- Warning: this type of skiing it not for everybody, and should trouble arise skiers should remember that they essentially are in a wilderness setting.
- For more information, call (435) 438-6191 or e-mail twomilehigh_99@yahoo.com.
A special thanks to Elk Meadows Resort.
