Parking at the very front of the lot near First Time ski lift at Park City Mountain one Wednesday morning last January, I looked out toward the lift that had carried my kids and me countless times over the years. However, today, despite the calm weather, the winds rarely blow this early, I could only make out its faint outline in the dark.
The dark. Glancing at my dashboard, the clock read 6:30 am. I didn’t even bother to verify the temperature. In Utah, because of its high altitude and dry air, the mercury doesn’t rise until the sun peaks over the ridge line. Folks here, living by the Nordic and Germanic philosophy that “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing,” grab their layers—layering will become important quickly—and all-terrain (AT or touring) skiing gear and venture out.
Friluftsliv!
The Norwegians, who are credited with bringing skiing to the United States, have a knack for enjoying the outdoors and crafting words that convey understanding in any language. The country’s most famous playwright, Henrik Ibsen, coined ‘friluftsliv’, which just sounds like joy in any tongue. But it describes more than a feeling; it describes a cleaving from the everyday world and a reconnecting of people together as part of the natural world. The point is not necessarily to venture out alone, because traveling solo or with a group, in nature, you quickly discover you are part of something far greater.
And taking my final sips of coffee, still steaming above the rim of the cup, that’s what I thought about as a dozen shadows clutched their touring equipment and quietly passed my car to the resort’s base.
”Welcome, ladies,” cheerfully announced Erica Tingey at the start of this morning’s tour. Years of leading women across the Wasatch Back on bikes and in boots, as a founder of Women in the Mountains, has shown her just how transformative getting women into the outdoors can be. But why before 7 am? If you know or follow Erica, it’s because that’s where she is, and her enthusiasm is infectious, enough to get you out of bed and drive from Salt Lake City to join her.
The lifts at Park City Mountain start spinning at 9 am. The resort is one of several in Utah that, in off-hours, allows visitors to hike (tour or ‘skin’) uphill. It’s skiing without a lift…or hiking with a short bit of skiing down, and, for many, it’s the best way to experience both.
This requires AT bindings and boots that release the heel and pivot at the toe for gliding uphill, and adhesive “skins” on the skis to prevent sliding downhill. This ‘sidecountry touring,’ done in-bounds, is a great entry point for those who want a taste of backcountry before venturing beyond the gates and into the wilds.
Tip: White Pine Touring in Park City and Wasatch touring in Salt Lake City rent AT boots, skis and skins.
Darkness, different equipment, people I don’t know…Why again am I doing this? The outdoors can be intimidating, scary even, but, like most things, “Every time you do it, it gets easier,” Erica mused in that coach-as-teacher way. She continues, explaining that the early hour is both compelling and self-selecting, “There are morning people, and there are night people.” Skiing at sunrise “attracts like-minded souls.” Particularly in winter, when “people are naturally sleeping in…hibernating.” Just getting up, getting dressed, packing and getting to the meeting point is, for some, “pushing what’s possible.”
Falling distinctly into the ‘not-morning’ category, I could acknowledge that while getting up and out the door was a challenge, when I did, and as I did that morning at Park City, I felt energized. It left me wondering when I could do it again.
My mind awakened with the sound of a dozen women clicking into their bindings. They began slowly skinning up a ski run that most only experience zooming down, illuminated solely by a collective glow of headlamps. As the glow and the warmth of the sun peaked up ahead, I found myself moving more effortlessly and enjoyably toward the top. I expected the exhaustion of an early-morning spin class and experienced a multisensory awakening instead. My caffeine-limited canis horribilis persona was fueled and transformed into Teddy Ruxpin, chatty and ready to play.
Erica and her merry band, experiencing a little adrenaline-filled and oxygen-deprived high, quickly returned to base as the paying public was queuing up to the lifts. The rest of the day was starting, including ours.
These sunrise skins, which doubled in size almost each week from January through March, will continue during the 2025-26 season on Wednesdays, leaving Payday lift at 7 am sharp (weather permitting). Check her Instagram for dates and details. While no particular experience is required, this is not a lesson but a gathering of co-venturers, and participants should be able to operate their equipment independently.
Sunrise/Sunset
Nature abhors a vacuum and, undisturbed, it seeks balance. I know I read that in a science class or science fiction. If a group of women convened on the mountain at sunrise, it should shock no one that another group converged on the opposite side of the Wasatch at sunset. Alas, after posting about the former, the algorithm immediately flooded my feed like a child bursting in shouting, “Look what I found, Mom!” with the latter.
And that’s how I ended up at Solitude Mountain Resort on Thursday at 4:30 pm, yes, just 36 hours later, to skin uphill with the Backcountry Baddies.
Founded during the 2024-25 season by friends, Laila Hakkarinen and Addy Jacobsend, the Backcountry Baddies wanted to bring more women to more of the mountain, in particular, the backcountry. “I fell in love with intense relationship with nature…the quiet, peacefulness on the uphill,” Laila explained. She described how “others enjoyed the exercise, knowledge and decision making” that go into choosing a route. There are few signs posted in the backcountry.
Laila and Addy enjoyed ski touring to the backcountry, where men far outnumber women, and wanted to introduce other women to the sport, provide pathways to access equipment and education, build community, and, of course, cultivate more touring partners.
Their “mission-focus” approach led them to Solitude, which not only allows uphill skiing after lifts are spinning but keeps the taps flowing at the Round House, its mid-mountain lodge, on Thursday nights until 8 pm for everyone. This gave the Baddies a natural meeting point at the top of the climb to warm up, watch the gorgeous sunset down the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon and do what women do really well, connect.
And this is how I ended up skiing downhill in the dark.
Tip: Whether skinning uphill at sunrise or downhill at sunset, a working headlamp is a must.
The Backcountry Baddies will return to Solitude on selected Thursdays. For information and dates, follow @BackcountryBaddies on Instagram or go to Solitude’s page for information. There is no fee to participate, but Solitude requires that uphill skiers sign a waiver before accessing the mountain.
Connect with Others and Nature
Why would women gather in the early hours or after long days, in the cold and the dark, to do something they could do any other time? Skiing, skinning, hiking…all of those things are incredible in Utah during regular working hours.
But listen…to the crunch of the snow under your feet as you glide, glide, glide up the slope. Listen to your breath, inhale and exhale every ounce of oxygen like a metronome keeping time with your legs.
Feel your skin warm, get warmer still, then sweat as you climb, shedding layers just moments after you worried unnecessarily about being cold.
Watch the sun rising over the Wasatch Back or the sun setting down Big Cottonwood Canyon, across Salt Lake Valley, over the Great Basin and beyond. So ordinary, yet so extraordinary, in the company of others, pushing what’s possible to connect with nature and each other in this incredible world.
To learn more about uphill policies at Utah's resorts, visit our resource here.
