Deseret Peak: Temple Couloir and the Twin Couloirs
4/22/20
Deseret Peak is located in the Stansbury Mountains past Tooele, UT. It is a bit over 11,000 feet and is home to some amazing and diverse couloir skiing. I have been wanting to ski the Twin Couloirs and Temple Couloir off of the peak for years now but different things like injuries and school kept me at bay. Finally, with a lot of time on my hands and good corn on the menu we decided to send out of the Wasatch for some desert skiing.
I set a 5:15AM alarm to meet with Jeremy Collette, Alex Arnis, and Toby Brotherton at 6:00AM. We loaded bikes, skis, and the rest of gear in Toby’s rig and set out. It took us about an a hour and fifteen minutes to get there. On the way we actually got a pretty good view of the peak and the Temple Couloir.
-Deseret Peak, with Temple Couloir and the right and Twin Couloir's barely in sight on the left
We got to the trailhead, and as expected there was no one there. We hopped on our bikes, as the road is closed about 3 miles before the trailhead actually starts. The road is mellow with a small grade but was still a bit difficult with 50lb packs on mountain bikes. After a nice pedal, the road started to get pretty snowy so we threw on ski boots and skis and started the skin up.
-A slotty part of the road on the pedal up
-Rocky start to skinning
The trail head actually starts at the Loop Campground which we were close to. From there we followed some old tracks on the hiking trail. The skinning was easy, winding through the forest and eventually we started to get out of the trees on the north side of the drainage and could see the Temple Couloir again.
-Looking at Temple through the trees
The sun was in and out with clouds moving overhead. It was nice to keep the temps down, and the snow fast for the uphilling. After a steep push we came over a roll and were at the base of Temple. We started to tour up, switch backing across the apron. Jeremy and I opted to start boot packing a little earlier while Alex and Toby kept skinning up a bit higher.
-Toby snagged a photo of us as the booter started to get steep
The boot pack felt pretty easy since the snow was firm, and before we knew it we were nearing the top. Up there it started to get hard and icey and there was about a 30ft section that was pretty steep. But we pushed through and were rewarded with the top!
-Alex standing on the diving board the separates the top of the couloir.
It is a really cool vantage point up here that is very different from the Wasatch. You can look over to Salt Lake on one side and over many smaller mountain ranges down towards Wendover, a very nice change of perspective. But looking down Temple Couloir is the real breath taker with massive cliff walls on either side. Very aesthetically pleasing.
-Looking west towards Wendover and the Salt Flats
-Looking down the cooly
We put our skis on and prepared to drop. I stood above and took photos and skied last as the boys ripped down. When my turn came I actually found a little cold soft snow on the edge where it was steep and sheltered. As the run opened up the snow turned into better corn and I was able to open it up a bit more.
-Jeremy and Toby ready to drop
-Toby's first turn
-Alex finding the corn
-Me skiing some of Temple
After this we skied a little more corn and transitioned to our next objective, Desert Peak and the Twin Couloir’s. Temple is pretty close to the Twin’s so before we knew it we were skiing up the apron. The further we went we realized we would be able to skin to the top of the chute since it is really not that steep.
-Skinning up the Twin
We arrived at the top of the couloir and decided to push on to the top. It was mellow skinning on corn, but in a few weeks we would likely be hiking on rock. After reaching our summit we cracked some beers and soaked up the sun! More amazing views of SLC, the desert, and the Great Salt Lake. Looking west, the backside of Desert Peak actually looks like it would have some great steep skiing as well, I hope to come back and ski it.
-Soaking in some sun at the top
We transitioned into some interesting outfits (see video for details) and party shredded down! From the peak was a mix of amazing corn snow and rock dodging, but this is always fun with friends. We stopped at the top of the wide open cooly and then shredded down! It is an awesome, fun run with plenty of room to turn and lots of good snow. It was a treat to get to the bottom and look back up at our skinner and tracks down.
-Looking at our work
From here we shredded out, it was a mix of bushwhacking, corn snow, rotten snow and rocks to get to the Loop Campground. Then we pushed and skated on the road until we arrived at our hidden bikes. We then swapped shoes and loaded up. The ride out was a blast. Fast roads, loose corners and some snow. I would strongly recommend biking over walking this exit, half because it is more fun and half because it is more efficient.
Getting to the truck we were all smiles. Taking boots off, sitting down, and drinking a beer was much earned after a 5,500 vert day of two couloirs and one peak. I am glad it turned out well and am excited to come back out here and ski again!
Here is a video recap of the whole thing!
Trip Stats:
Elevation Gain: 5,680 feet
Max Elevation: 11,115 feet
Total Time: 6 hours 41 minutes
Total Distance 10.29 miles
Thanks for the read!