Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah — The backcountry experience on Mt. Superior will drastically change next season.
Earlier this summer, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) announced on social media that they would close Mt. Superior to the public. The project, which began on July 8th, involves having UDOT install 16 remote avalanche control system (RACS) towers on Superior’s ridgeline. This means the hiking trails and climbing routes in this construction area on Mt. Superior have been temporarily closed.
In addition, Mt. Superior is a popular backcountry skiing spot, as it’s one of the last spots to find snow during the summertime in the Beehive State. With this closure, skiers have been blocked off as well. Initially, the plan was to keep Mt. Superior closed off until at least October. However, the recreationists of Mt. Superior got surprisingly good news this past weekend.
On Saturday, UDOT Cottonwood Canyons gave a construction update on the project. Crews have been doing site prep, drilling in the tower anchors, and pouring concrete into the foundations, which will hold the towers. Because they’re ahead of schedule, they reopened the area to hikers on Sunday at Sunrise. However, the towers are expected to be flown in either in late August or early September, which will mean this area will undergo another temporary closure during this phase of construction. This timeline for this closure is dependent on whether helicopters are available due to their potential usage for containing wildfires.
According to Julie Jaggard of the Salt Lake Tribune, Wyssen RAC towers were installed on Superior well before many European ski resorts adopted this method. However, most avalanche mitigation came from firing a 105mm howitzer cannon. This was housed in the same building as Alta’s howitzer, which they retired in the Spring of 2023. The UDOT howitzer would fire artillery over buildings in the Town of Alta, which presented risks to the townsfolk and guests. With Alta retiring their howitzer, UDOT decided it was appropriate time to retire theirs too and transition over to the RACS. Howitzer avalanche mitigation will still be used for the lower portions of the canyon.
This new method has a few benefits. In prior seasons, they’ve used P-Ridge Howitzers, which were shot over the town of Alta and its buildings. Ultimately, a remote avalanche control system increases efficiency and safety.
When this was announced in July, some people weren’t thrilled with the news and learning about it on such short notice. Here are some of the most reasonable, well-thought-out comments:
- “Should probably rename it Mt Wyssen cause it definitely won’t be Superior anymore.”
- “Who wants to go straight monkey wrench gang? This is the worst news of the summer.”
- “Now we just need a gondola drop off up there.”
- “Great. Now the liberals are taking the howitzer away from us too😔.”
- “Why don’t we just groom Superior at this point??”
- “I’m still doing superior bruh what they gonna do send the construction workers to arrest me 💀💀”
I think that adding more remote avalanche control systems on Superior is a good move, as this is one of the critical avalanche points that can lead to road closures on SR-210. However, they’re installing sixteen Wyssen towers, so I get the backcountry skier’s perspective that it’s overkill and will tarnish the skiing experience.
Image/Video Credits: Andrew Meehan (Featured Image), Utah Department of Transportation
