Fast Facts:
Start Elevation: 8,000
Peak Elevation: 10,001
Vertical: 5,059 (see Strava)
Distance: 5.87 miles (not including snowmobile travel)
Elapsed Time: 7:03
Date: Mar 8, 2025
I've had my eye on Big Daddy’s—a wide-open, long, and sustained pitch in Snake Creek—for years. The challenge with skiing it is timing; being south-facing, it needs just the right conditions. After five straight days of snowfall in the Wasatch, with Alta receiving 50 inches, my plan was to hit this line at first light on the first bluebird day, maximizing the perfect window before the sun affected the snow.
We left the parking lot on our sleds at 6:45 AM and we were skinning by 7:15 from 8,015 feet.
At the bottom, the snow felt light and fluffy, but as we began climbing, we quickly realized that overnight winds had formed a thick wind crust on top. Our dreams of knee-deep powder were dashed, but we were already committed so we continued onward. We set a skin track between Big Daddy’s and Snake Eyes, and since we were breaking trail, it took us 1 hour and 40 minutes to reach the top of Snake Eyes at 9,800 feet. The skiing at the top was tricky due to the breakable crust so my main goal was simply to stay upright and make it down unscathed. By the time we dropped to around 8,500 feet, the March sun had softened the snow, allowing for some nice turns near the bottom. I counted my buddy’s turns in the bottom section and he made about 80 turns so if the run had been deep powder, we could have easily made 200 turns. I’d argue this is one of the longer, sustained low-30-degree angle runs in the Wasatch (I know—feel free to mock that claim). The run delivers 1,600 feet of continuous, straight fall-line skiing at the perfect powder-skiing angle.
Since the lower section provided some soft turns, we decided to go back up for a second run and ski the adjacent line, Big Daddy’s. This time, we climbed a bit higher on Rochester Ridge toward Brighton, which gave us a great view into Caribou Basin, the area separating Clayton Peak and Rochester Ridge.
There were some tracks in a run called The Outer Runs but that shot is pretty short. Similar to our first run in Snake Eyes, the upper section of Big Daddy’s was still firm, while the lower half had started to soften. With the right timing, these two runs have the potential to deliver an incredible powder run —so we’ll definitely be back to experience the best that these runs have to offer.
Since we had started early, it was still relatively early in the day, so we took the sleds over to the Big Flats section of the Snake Creek drainage and headed toward Snake Eyes North, hoping to find some softer snow in this northeast-facing shot. We skinned up to the ridge just south of Snake Eyes North at 9,400 feet, expecting a quick skin along the ridge to the 10,000-foot summit. However, the terrain was steep and narrow and it ended up taking us about an hour. At one point, we attempted to boot up one of the final pitches, but the other side dropped off into cliffs, forcing us to backtrack and traverse along the left side —a maneuver that proved to be a bit spicy.
When we reached the top, we noticed a few other ski tracks but couldn't tell if they originated from Brighton/Alta or if someone had skinned up from the north side of Snake Creek. Snake Eyes North is a steeper run, and the right side has cliffs about 300–400 feet down, so we opted for the left side, which provided a safer route. After a lot of work, we were finally rewarded with some dry, light powder! The run descends to 8,300 feet, but we exited around 9,000 feet to avoid extra skinning and easily reach our parked sled.
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