Skiing Deseret Peak, Utah – Twin & Temple Couloirs

Skiing the Twin Couloirs is almost a right of passage for any Utah backcountry skier. In this guide, i’ll cover what you need to know in order to ski the Twin Couloirs, Temple Couloir, or all three.

Difficulty – Strenuous
Distance – Varies (stats below)
Height – 11,031 feet (3362 m)
Elevation gain to summit – 3,576 feet (1090 m)
Duration – 5-6 hours (book time)
Trailhead Location – Deseret Peak Trailhead (Loop Campground)
Dogs – Allowed on leash

Need To Know Information

• This trailhead gets packed quickly on the weekends, so it may be necessary to park down the road at the nearest open spot.
• The road features both reserved and first come first serve campsites. You can reserve and find information on the Loop Campground here. The Upper Narrows and Lower Narrows campground along the road are both first come first serve campgrounds with self serve fee stations.
• The road to the trailhead is usually open May through October, and the winter months it is closed, and becomes a skiing destination. If you are trying to go for a spring skiing trip, you can see if the gate, you can see the status of the campground here. If the campground is open, the gate is open.

Temple Vs Twin Couloirs

Stats:

Just Temple: About 2.5 mile to top of temple with about 3,000 feet of elevation gain. The Couloir itself is a little under 1,000 feet of vertical drop, and the apron ads quite a bit more of skiing depending upon time of year.

Twin Couloirs: About 2.5 miles to top of temple with about 3,000 feet of elevation gain. Add about 800 vertical feet of booting (or more if you want) to stop at the bottom of one Twin to go back up and ski the other.

All three Couloir are awesome. The top of Temple is slightly steeper and far more narrow than either of the Twin Couloirs. Temple has slightly more vertical drop than the Twin Couloirs, but it is really easy to combine both Twin Couloirs in a single trip. A little bit hard, but very doable to do all three.

The top of temple features a split, where you can enter the couloir from either spot. You can access both from the top easily.

My vote, just do them all! Temple is much more east facing, while the Twin Couloirs are pretty close to north facing, so your timing and avalanche considerations will need to keep this in mind.

This is a photo from North Deseret looking back at the both entrances to Temple, as well as the summit of Deseret in the back. One great think about here, is that you can have a fun ski off of Deseret back to Temple Couloir or descend even further if you’d like.

My Experience

I’ve had the pleasure of skiing both the Twin Couloir and Temple Couloir in spring where we were able to park cars at the trailhead.

Me skiing on Twin Couloirs

Trail Map

Here is a link to the route that can be uploaded to your device.

Routes

There are two common routes for reaching Deseret Peak. The Mill Fork Canyon Trail (#1752), or Dry Lakes Pocket Fork Trail (#1753) for a period of time before taking an unnamed trail, or skinning to the Twin Couloirs. We discuss both below.

Mill Fork Canyon Trail (#1752)

This is the primary route to the summit of Deseret, as most hikers take this approach. This IS NOT the best route for skiing. It is well traveled, easy to follow, and features gradual to moderate gains all the way to the summit. Hikers start at the Mill Fork trailhead and at 0.65 miles in, they cross a creek. It is at this creek crossing (just after crossing the creek) that hikers should bear left, and stay on the main trail. Hikers don’t hit another main junction for 3 miles.

From here, hikers bear right and continue ascending towards East Deseret Peak, and pass on the south side of that peak on a gradually inclining trail to Deseret Peak. They will pass the Twin Couloirs right after East Deseret Peak.

Dry Lakes Pocket Fork Trail (#1753)

Skiers will often take this route, as it is the fastest to get to the base of the Twin Couloirs and Temple Couloir. There is a well traveled trail that hikers can take up pretty far into the basin before the trail begins to disappear. From here, the route is still easy, but you’ll need to do some route finding.

Here is a Strava Link of our route:

Skiing Temple Coulior

As you ascend into the basin, you’ll see a few possible paths heading directly towards Temple Couloir. Here is my strava for this ascent:

Hiking or Skiing in Winter

This is a common backcountry skiing zone, but because the road is closed in winter months, it is not well traveled. Hikers and skiers will need to travel 3 miles on the road to reach the trailhead in winter. It is often skinnable, or commonly, skiers will bring bikes to bike on the road depending upon the conditions.

Camping Information

This is an extremely common area for camping. You’ll find groups camping at many of the first come first serve areas, and ATVs and dirtbikes going up and down the road. As mentioned above, the road features both reserved and first come first serve campsites. You can reserve and find information on the Loop Campground here. The Upper Narrows and Lower Narrows campground along the road are both first come first serve campgrounds with self serve fee stations.

Weather

Here is a detailed weather forecast for the area:

Rush Valley, UT

Tonight
Mostly clear. Low around 53, with temperatures rising to around 55 overnight. Northwest wind 9 to 13 mph.

Wednesday
Sunny, with a high near 68. Northwest wind 10 to 17 mph.

Wednesday Night
Mostly clear. Low around 46, with temperatures rising to around 48 overnight. North wind 12 to 17 mph.

Thursday
Sunny, with a high near 65. Northwest wind 7 to 12 mph.

Thursday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 51. West wind 8 to 12 mph.

Juneteenth
Mostly sunny, with a high near 70.

Friday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 53.

Directions

Additional Pictures

Views of the Great Salt Lake heading up Deseret Peak

Twin Couloirs Deseret Peak