Mt Superior - South Face

The imposing south face of Mount Superior beckons many resort skiers across the street at Snowbird. It lures many such skiers into the backcountry as it's very accessible right off the road, yet holds powder much longer than the resort as there is no tram carrying 120 people to the top every 10 minutes. There are several routes down from the peak that can count as skiing the south face. For your first go, just point 'em right off the top! Further down the south ridge you can enter the "W" which ends up in the same place about half way down. There are a couple bands of rock to get through on the descent, with multiple routes through each (assuming enough snow). You can think of it as three different sections, the upper face, the middle portion, and the lower apron. All routes are super fun with incredible views of the resort crowd fighting over scraps of snow. The south face of Mt Superior is often one of the first runs Utahns will ski in the backcountry, yet it never gets old. Fit skiers with a light and fast mentality can round-trip this classic run in two hours or less. Plan on up to four hours if you're just getting out of the resort for the first time and/or have some heavy equipment to lug.

Head up Little Cottonwood Canyon (Hwy 210) almost all the way to the top. Most folks access Superior via Pole Line pass, which heads up from the parking spots near Alta Lodge and follows a line of telephone poles. Once you get to the pass into Big Cottonwood, head up to your left and skirt Cardiff peak on the north side. From there, hug the ridge with a mix of skinning and booting until you get to the peak. The most common route skirts Little Superior peak on either the south or north side. Note there are a few short sections where the ridge narrows to a knife-edge, though the overall exposure is never too high. When there is low avalanche danger, you can also scale Superior right from the base. There is a pull off on the north side of the road with ample room to park for a direct approach. You can skin right up the apron and you may need to boot through a pinch or two where it steepens.

A pinch in the lower cliff band can get quite tight in low snow.

What's called the south face actually faces slightly southeast. Sun hits the face early in the morning it's a favorite target of sunrise-seeking photographers on stable powder days. Get up early if you want fresh tracks, and even then you might be competing with drone crews. In the spring the face can heat up quickly so you may not want to descend past 10 or 11am if there is danger of wet slides.