The Back Side is the west side of the Albion Basin U-shaped valley. Runs typically begin steeply (the High Notch and Eddy’s High Nowhere) and become gentler below. The rocks exposed at the top of the Back Side are nearly vertical beds of the Cambrian Ophir Shale. Three principle traverses access the Back Side; the High Notch Traverse, the High Traverse and Yellow Trail, giving the skier various options on steepness and degree of difficulty.
About three quarters of the way down the back side, the pitch of the slope steepens again. This is probably the result of a younger glacial event, the Pinedale Glaciation, carving a smaller U-shaped valley within Albion Basin. Susie’s trees has the same profile but with abundant evergreens which help snow quality and improve visibility during storms or on flat light days.
There are various ways to exit the back side. Two challenging routes are Glitch and Glatch which follow narrow post-glacial stream channels that cut into the smooth glacial profile.
| The Back Side |