Little Cottonwood Canyon is on the east side of Salt Lake County at about 9000 South on the County street grid. The canyon is home to a large variety both lift-served controlled access and “earn-your-turns” open backcountry ski terrain. Much of the backcountry portion of LCC is accessed from the White Pine parking lot. LCC is home to Alta & Snowbird ski areas and is surrounded by two wilderness areas: Twin Peaks Wilderness to the North and Lone Peak Wilderness to the South. State Road 210 provides access up the canyon and is prone to avalanche activity. (The wilderness boundaries are near the road on both North and South sides of the road.) The road is often closed for short periods during the Winter for avalanche control, usually perhaps over-night, but certainly sometimes in mornings during and after snow storms, sometimes even mid-day if conditions warrant.
LCC is a unique weather environment, the weather often being not what it is in the Salt Lake Valley (clear or cloudy in the valley, cloudy and snowing up the canyon). LCC is favored by Northwest flows, that is storms coming from the Northwest. (Simplistically, storms come into the Salt Lake Valley and are funneled up LCC where they deposit their snow-load due to orographic lifting, which is why the upper reaches of the canyon receive prodigious quantities of snow. (See Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth for detailed information on weather along the Wasatch.)
Avalanches are common in the canyon, check with the Utah Avalanche Center for current avalanche conditions and daily avalanche hazard and mountain weather updates. Also check with UDOTavy on Instagram or Twitter for road and backcountry closures. (Yes, the backcountry can be closed due to avalanche control work.) Also check Unified Police for canyon alerts on road closures. Alta and Snowbird both reliably post on their websites if the road is closed. BTW, if you drive the canyon during Winter without snow tires, well, good luck. (Snow tires on the car from October 1 through April 30, or chains in the vehicle so you can put them on when you get stuck, are required by law.) Finally, if you plan on skiing the backcountry be prepared with the right gear, the knowledge of how to use it and pay attention to UAC avalanche information. It all may save your life. Live to ski/board/ride another day!
Little Cottonwood Canyon Weather & Avalanche Information
Ski Areas:
-
Alta Ski Area: Forecasts and Weather Maps – Snow Report – Weather Observations – Snowfall History
-
Snowbird Ski & Mountain Resort: Mountain Report – Powder Alerts/Current Conditions – Driving Requirements
Weather Dashboard:
National Weather Service:
-
Alta Guard House (Avalanche) Weather Conditions – Elev. 8799 ft.
-
Alta – Base (Avalanche) Weather Conditions – Elev. 8560 ft.
-
Alta – Mt. Baldy (Avalanche) Weather Conditions – Elev. 11066 ft.
-
Alta – Top of Collins (Avalanche) Weather Conditions – Elev. 10443 ft.
-
Cardiff Peak (Avalanche) Weather Conditions – Elev. 10059 ft.
-
Central Wasatch – Snow Reports (Alta, Brighton, Deer Valley, Park City M.R., Snowbird, & Solitude)
-
Snowbird – Mid-Gad (Snotel) Weather Conditions – Elev 9177 ft.
-
White Pine – Little Cottonwood Canyon (Utah DOT) Weather Conditions – Elev. 7688 ft.
-
UDOT LCC Elberts (Avalanche) Weather Conditions – Elev. 7600 ft.
Utah Avalanche Center:
Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT):
-
UDOTavy on Instagram (Generally LCC backcountry closures associated with road related avalanche control work, but also a few gems.)
-
UDOTavy on Twitter: Backcountry closures and highway avalanche control notifications for Little Cottonwood, Big Cottonwood and Provo Canyons.
-
UDOT Traffic Canyon Web Cameras (Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons + American Fork & Provo Canyons)
-
UDOT Avalanche Safety – Planned Backcountry Closures
-
Additional information about the UDOT Avalanche Safety Program:
-
Avalanche Safety Backcountry Closure Policy (482KB PDF File)
-
Avalanche Safety Plan (71MB PDF File)
-
Other:
-
On The Snow: Live Utah WebCams (Alta, Deer Valley, Eagle Point, Park City, Powder Mountain, Snowbasin, Snowbird, Solitude & Sundance.)
-
Unified Police Greater Salt Lake: Canyon Alerts
-
Colorado State Coop Inst Atmospheric Research – RAMMB SLIDER: GOES-16 Satellite Loop Interactive Data Explorer in Real-time
Mt._Superior_Alta_UT – Wikimedia Commons
Mt Superior – Alta Ski Resort by Danny Fay – DanFay1009 on Flickr.
National Geographic Topo Map showing Twin Peaks and Lone Peak Wilderness Areas adjacent to LCC Hwy 210.