Alta, UT, Report: Thy Storm Cometh Report from January 9, 2024 The storm has arrived. I got to Alta’s empty Wildcat parking lot at 1 pm today with flakes beginning to fall and windspeeds increasing. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning from today until Thursday at 5 am, calling for upwards of 30 inches of fresh snow for Alta when it’s all said […] Conditions Report Martin Kuprianowicz | January 9, 2024 0 Comments
Beaver Mountain, UT, Report: All I Want For Christmas is to Ski The Beav Report from Saturday, December 23, 2023 There’s only one thing better than skiing. It’s going skiing with friends and family. We gathered the fam this Christmas weekend and took a trip north from Salt Lake to Beaver Mountain. The uniquely east-facing mountain is located about 45 minutes away from Logan, Utah, in the Northern Wasatch Mountains—about a 2-2.5 hour drive […] Conditions Report Martin Kuprianowicz | December 24, 2023 1 Comment
Snowbasin, UT, Report: Early Season Powder Hunting Report from Sunday, December 10, 2023 The boys were back in town. Naturally, we decided to go north and head to Snowbasin. It was a relief to show up around 9 a.m. with no trouble finding parking, a nice spot near the front, and strolling up to the gondola with a short line… Sundays are lovely at Snowbasin. We hopped […] Conditions Report Martin Kuprianowicz | December 12, 2023 0 Comments
High Avalanche Danger Incites Warnings Across 5 States A large winter storm slugged its way across the Pacific Northwest, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado last Thursday to Sunday, dropping several feet of snow in many mountain locales. As a result, avalanche danger has skyrocketed across four states, with avalanche centers issuing warnings to avoid steep, avalanche-prone terrain due to the risk of large, life-threatening slides. Washington/Oregon The Northwest Avalanche […] Avalanche Martin Kuprianowicz | December 5, 2023 0 Comments
Letter From The Editor: Myths, Fallacies, and the Usefulness of Social Media in the Backcountry I took my role as Editor with SnowBrains four years ago, when I was a young college kid at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. I wanted to ski every day and find a way to make a living from writing, and by some cosmic chance I landed an internship with SnowBrains. Not long after that, I was […] Backcountry Martin Kuprianowicz | November 29, 2023 0 Comments
Sun Dogs, Sun Halos, and Complex Sun Phenomenon—What Do They Mean? Was it an angel? Or perhaps a portal opening to another dimension? Either way, the vastness of outer space has never felt so nearby. We stopped and gazed for a while at the event unfolding above our puny human heads as we stood in the cold snow of the mountainside at the end of a long ski tour in the […] Brains Martin Kuprianowicz | November 21, 2023 0 Comments
[REVIEW] Cody Townsend’s “The Polar Star”—A Wholesome Ski Expedition to Baffin Island Cody Townsend’s “50 Project” is at the apex of its career with “The Polar Star,” a full-length feature film covering one of the project’s most coveted lines. In the film, Townsend, accompanied by cinematographer Bjarne Salen and IFMGA Mountain Guide Vivian Bruchez, embarks upon an adventure to Baffin Island in the far reaches of Canada’s Arctic Circle to ski the […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | November 13, 2023 0 Comments
Gear Review: LEKI Spitfire Vario 3D Adjustable Ski Poles After I got my LEKI Spitfire Vario adjustable ski poles, the first thing I did was ski Main Chute at Alta Ski Area. I immediately noticed how light, easy to swing around, and well-constructed they were. With its variable length of 110 to 140 cm, you are immediately safely on the go in any terrain and can very easily adjust […] Gear Review Martin Kuprianowicz | November 9, 2023 2 Comments