Meet the Expert
PHOTOS UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
simply been called the Republic of Snow. And the heart of it is Lamoille, an unassuming gateway to the breathtaking Ruby Mountains. Utahns are belatedly joining skiers from around the globe in realizing one of the world’s backcountry gems is closer to Salt Lake City than to Nevada’s capital Carson City. But the Rubies have no lifts. Joe Royer, a former Snowbird ski patroller, was ahead of the curve when he founded Ruby Mountain Helicopter Skiing 40 years ago. For most of us, heli-skiing is a rare bucket-list treat. Even those wealthy enough to do it regularly don’t take it for granted. “There’s something different about the Rubies,” says Ogden business owner Steve Arneson, who heli-skied in the Wasatch before finding himself in Lamoille last year. “You get out here and you feel like you’re in the Wild West. It’s more remote. More rugged. And there are fresh tracks all day long.” Experiences like this are meant to be savored. Royers offers a three-day trip complete with cuisine
by his chef wife, Francy. “I think I started dreaming about heliskiing when I was eight years old, reading about it in a ski magazine,” says Salt Lake real estate agent Tim Watcke. “This seems like a bad, expensive habit,
IT’S MORE REMOTE. MORE RUGGED. AND THERE ARE FRESH TRACKS ALL DAY LONG –STEVE ARNESON but it feels worth it. We’re already figuring out when to book for next year.” When National Geographic listed “America’s Best Adventures,” it included “heli-ski the Ruby Mountains.” Adventure writer Doug Schitzspahn described copious dry snow, saying “you won’t have to share any of it with other backcountry skiers or snowboarders.” Indeed, racing through endless acres of pristine backcountry, you may spot bighorn sheep, mountain goats or mule deer, but no
humans. Guides take their guests on roller coaster routes through low-angle canyons dotted with aspen and bristlecone and plenty of steep-and-deep drops that go on and on. It’s hard to describe the magnitude of the territory. Park City Mountain Resort, having recently combined with the former Canyons Resort acreage, brags it is the nation’s largest at 7,300 acres. That’s less than four percent of the skiable acres in the Rubies. Even the solitude at Big Cottonwood Canyon’s Solitude Resort doesn’t hold a candle to the loneliness Royer’s operation offers. “You can go to a ski area, and on a busy weekend you might be skiing with 5,000 people on 5,000 acres,” Royer says. “Here in the Rubies, you’re skiing with 16 other people—on 200,000 acres.” “It’s simplicity, really,” Salt Lake City pilates studio owner Tessa Arneson says. “It’s so accessible from Salt Lake—that’s the piece that’s so amazing. All of a sudden you step out of the helicopter and you’re just completely by yourself and it’s quieter than you’ve ever heard in your life. You’re not racing 30
Caleb Merrill understands risk. In seven years at Solitude Mountain Resort, where he forecast and mitigated avalanches, and worked as a guide for the resort’s backcountry skiing service, he was constantly reminded of the deadly power of snow and its exhilarating rewards. “There’s so many things that are great about the Rubies,” says Merrill, who completed his third year as a guide for Ruby Mountain Heli-Skiing in 2016. “The best thing is that it’s such a hidden gem. A little bit of a secret. You just don’t get the crowds you have in the Wasatch.” That also means few people are around to help if things go wrong. So Merrill and the Ruby Mountain guides never stop training. “Everyone who works here is top-notch,” he says. “And the thing that makes me feel so confident working with this team is nobody here rests on that. Everyone’s working to be better prepared.”
S A LT L A K E M A G A Z I N E . C O M NOV/DEC 2016
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