Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) announced today that Guardsman Pass is open for the summer. This high-altitude route connects Park City to Big Cottonwood Canyon in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains and provides access to Central Wasatch’s best backcountry terrain. Some stretches of the road were buried under as much as 11 feet of snow, resulting from another robust winter in the Wasatch.
“Guardsman Pass is OPEN! Enjoy the trips through Big Cottonwood (SR-190), Empire Pass (SR-224) and Pine Canyon (SR-222)!”
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Crews work in a cycle: clear what they can, wait for the melt, then clear again. This year, the snowpack was especially deep in shaded and wind-loaded areas, slowing progress and leaving no firm timeline for reopening.
Peaking at 9,717 feet, the pass is inaccessible during the winter due to the area’s heavy snowfall and the pass’s lack of plowing services. UDOT has consistently enforced this seasonal closure to prevent accidents on the increasingly treacherous road as conditions deteriorate.
Its opening marks the unofficial start of the high-country season for hikers, cyclists, and sightseers eager to access the region’s alpine terrain. The pass opened on May 23 last year, June 23, 2023, and May 27, 2022.
