Cross-country Skiing at Sundance

This is legit. The Nordic Center is waaaaaaay out in the mountains, even more so than the isolated Sundance resort. In fact we had decided that we were on the wrong road and were looking for a spot to turn around when we finally came across the yurt.

Inside we found Nate and he was an encouraging sign. Full of that Utah warmth and perfectly at home in the mountains. That's him gliding uphill on the Nordic Center brochure. He got us into snowshoes (literally strapped them on) and gave us a little orientation on the map. After a quick talk he plotted out the route he thought we would most enjoy and sent us on our way.

Now I have been snowshoeing a few times but never in terrain like this. It was truly wild. You aren't pacing around some farmer's field, you are trekking into the wilderness. It is hard but the spectacular views are worth it. As for the trails themselves, we were following the orange markers but there were no tracks in sight. We would reach the crest of a hill and looking all around see no footprints but our own. The trail was not defined until we plotted a path through the trees. People coming after us may have seen our tracks as a path but in reality we were just picking our way through the snowy woods.

It was definitely worth the effort to get out there. This is what I imagined Utah could be.
~Stephen K. from Dublin, Ireland