Formation | August 1913 (informal), May 13, 1920 (official) |
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Founder | Seven original participants (informal), Thirteen charter members (official) |
Type | Recreational outdoor club |
Purpose | Promoting physical and spiritual well-being through outdoor activities, uniting enthusiasts of Utah wilderness, and encouraging nature preservation |
Location |
|
Membership | Open to all adults |
Publication | "Onward and Upward" (official history) |
Website | The Wasatch Mountain Club - Club website |
The Wasatch Mountain Club is a recreational outdoor club for adults based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is a non-profit organization and has no restrictions on who may join. Some of its missions are:
The club was officially founded on the 13 May 1920 with the purpose of providing an education and activity group for those who enjoyed hiking, ski touring, river running and mountain climbing. However, it was informally organized earlier, sometime in August 1913. There were seven original participants who were met in the mountains, or on various trails near Salt Lake City. Originally there were thirteen charter members of the club, but within five years they grew past 500.
Starting in the 1920s, the Club played a key role in the growth of skiing in Utah, [1] including organizing the first "ski train" in 1924. [2]
In the 1950s, the club began to include such activities as river running and ski mountaineering. In the 1960s the club became increasingly concerned with wilderness conservation. Since then the club members have made extensive studies and participated in lobbying efforts aimed at preserving the Wasatch and Uintah Ranges and many areas of Southern Utah and neighboring states. These efforts have been gratified by the designation of the Lone Peak Wilderness Area in the 1970s and eight other wilderness areas in Utah in 1984.
The club's official history "Onward and Upward" by Michael Treshow and Jean Frances, published in 1995 highlights the events and personalities during the club's first 75 years.
The Wasatch Mountain Club is centered around non-competitive, muscle-powered outdoor sports. This includes hiking and backpacking, road and mountain biking, climbing, mountaineering, river running (raft, kayak, and canoe), ski touring and snowshoeing. The majority of the membership lives near Salt Lake City and most weeknight and weekend activities take place in the nearby Wasatch Mountains. The club has an active conservation program the focuses on the foothills and canyons to the east of Salt Lake City and partners with other organizations, such as the Utah Wilderness Coalition, to address statewide issues.
Starting in 1929, club members built a log cabin lodge, the Wasatch Mountain Club Lodge, located in Brighton, Utah, that is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The historic designation recognizes the building as one of few structures surviving from the earliest years of skiing in Utah. The lodge was used for club events and public rentals. In December 2010 the Wasatch Mountain Club transferred the building to a non-profit foundation that will manage the building for the public as an historic site with access through open houses, scheduled use for educational and cultural events, and private reservations for a cost-based fee. [3] In October of 2023, ownership of the lodge was transferred to Brighton Ski Resorts, who has committed to provide the lodge with much needed upgrades to preserve the integrity of the structure as well as to conduct the work necessary to support the lodge's place on the National Register of Historic Places. The Wasatch Mountain Club continues to utilize the lodge a few times a year for special events.
Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County with some portions extending into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is 32 miles (51 km) southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and 20 miles (32 km) from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 8,396 at the 2020 census. On average, the tourist population greatly exceeds the number of permanent residents.
Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest outdoor group in the United States. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., with 12 chapters stretching from Maine to Washington, D.C. The AMC's 90,000 members, its advocates, and supporters mix outdoor recreation, particularly hiking and backpacking, with environmental activism. Additional activities include cross-country skiing, whitewater and flatwater canoeing and kayaking, sea kayaking, sailing, rock climbing and bicycle riding. The Club has about 2,700 volunteers, who lead roughly 7,000 trips and activities per year. The organization publishes a number of books, guides, and trail maps.
The Wasatch Range or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about 160 miles (260 km) from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region. The northern extension of the Wasatch Range, the Bear River Mountains, extends just into Idaho, constituting all of the Wasatch Range in that state.
Mount Timpanogos, often referred to as Timp, is the second-highest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range. Timpanogos rises to an elevation of 11,752 ft (3,582 m) above sea level in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. With 5,270 ft (1,610 m) of topographic prominence, Timpanogos is the 47th-most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States.
Little Cottonwood Canyon lies within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest along the eastern side of the Salt Lake Valley, roughly 15 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah. The canyon is part of Granite, a CDP and "Community Council" designated by Salt Lake County. The canyon is a glacial trough, carved by an alpine glacier during the last ice age, 15,000 to 25,000 years ago. A number of rare and endemic plant species are found in the canyon's Albion Basin. Introduced Mountain goats inhabit the surrounding mountains.
Logan Canyon is a canyon in the western United States in northeastern Utah, which cuts its way through the Bear River Mountains, a branch of the Wasatch Range. It is popular for both summer and winter activities, especially rock-climbing, hiking, camping, fishing, snowmobiling, and skiing, at the Beaver Mountain ski resort. The canyon rises to an elevation of approximately 7,800 feet (2,400 m) above sea level, after a vertical climb of about 2,900 feet (880 m). Just beyond the summit is a steep road leading into Bear Lake Valley and scenic overlooks that provide views of deep blue Bear Lake. The western terminus is at Logan in Cache County and the eastern terminus is at Garden City in Rich County.
Soldier Hollow is a cross-country ski venue located at the mouth of a hollow of the same name about 53 miles (85 km) southeast of Salt Lake City in Wasatch Mountain State Park in northwestern Wasatch County, Utah, United States. The venue was created for the 2002 Winter Olympics and it hosted the biathlon, cross-country skiing, and the cross country skiing portion of the Nordic combined events, a role it is expected to reprise for the 2034 Winter Olympics.
The Mountaineers is an alpine club in the US state of Washington. Founded in 1906, it is organized as an outdoor recreation, education, and conservation 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation, and is based in Seattle, Washington. The club hosts a wide range of outdoor activities, primarily alpine mountain climbing and hikes. The club also hosts classes, training courses, and social events.
Ted Lewis Wilson was an American politician who served as the 30th mayor of Salt Lake City from 1976 until July 1985. He won three elections. Wilson resigned during his third term to become the director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah where he held an adjunct assistant professorship of Political Science.
Established in 1972, Powder Mountain is one of the most treasured ski resorts in North America, renowned for world-class terrain, endless pristine powder, and uncrowded expansive beauty.
Big Cottonwood Canyon is a canyon in the Wasatch Range 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Salt Lake City in the U.S. state of Utah. The 15-mile (24 km)-long canyon provides hiking, biking, picnicking, rock-climbing, camping, and fishing in the summer. Its two ski resorts, Brighton and Solitude, are popular among skiers and snowboarders. The canyon is accessed by The Big Cottonwood Canyon Scenic Byway (SR-190), which runs its length to Guardsman Pass at the top of the canyon, allowing travel to Park City in the summer months.
The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is an amateur athletic association with its national office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906. The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler, who served as its first president, and Elizabeth Parker, a journalist for the Manitoba Free Press. Byron Harmon, whose 6500+ photographs of the Canadian Rockies in the early 20th century provide the best glimpse of the area at that time, was official photographer to the club at its founding. The club is the leading organization in Canada devoted to climbing, mountain culture, and issues related to alpine pursuits and ecology. It is also the Canadian regulatory organization for climbing competition, sanctioning local, regional and national events, and assembling, coaching and supporting the national team.
The High Peaks Wilderness Area is the largest wilderness area of the Forest Preserve in the U.S. state of New York. It is located in three counties and six towns in the Adirondack Park: Harrietstown in Franklin County, North Elba, Keene, North Hudson and Newcomb in Essex County and Long Lake in Hamilton County.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Utah.
State Route 190 (SR-190) or the Big Cottonwood Canyon Scenic Byway is primarily an east and west state highway and scenic highway in eastern Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, that begins at Interstate 215 (I-215), runs through Big Cottonwood Canyon, and ends at the Salt Lake and Wasatch county line.
Mount Timpanogos Wilderness is a 10,518-acre (42.56 km2) wilderness area protecting Mount Timpanogos and the surrounding area in Utah, United States. It is located in the front range of the Wasatch Mountain Range, between American Fork Canyon on the north and Provo Canyon on the south, within the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest on the north eastern edge of Utah County, Utah. The wilderness area receives fairly heavy use due to its proximity to the heavily populated cities of Provo and Salt Lake City. It is bordered on the north by the Lone Peak Wilderness.
Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activities can include fishing, hunting, backpacking, walking and horseback riding — and can be completed individually or collectively. Outdoor recreation is a broad concept that encompasses a varying range of activities and landscapes.
Big Cottonwood Creek is located in the Wasatch Mountains just east of Salt Lake City. It is part of the Big Cottonwood Creek Watershed, which ranges in elevation from 5,000 to 10,500 feet with the headwaters around 9,600 feet. The creek flows through the Big Cottonwood Canyon in a westerly direction until it emerges into Salt Lake Valley about eighteen miles (29 km) from its highest source. Thence its course is northwesterly through Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, and Murray, Utah for a little over twenty-four miles from the headwaters until it empties into the Jordan River about five miles (8.0 km) south of Salt Lake City. The water eventually flows into the Great Salt Lake. In the summer, its waters are all used for irrigation purposes. From its source to its original outlet in the Jordan River is about twenty-six miles.
Skiing in Utah is a thriving industry which contributes greatly to the state’s economy. Skiing started off in the state as a recreational activity enjoyed by only a few, but since the 1930s, it has increasingly developed into a substantial industry, which creates thousands of jobs and brings in millions of dollars in revenue.
The Wasatch Mountain Club Lodge, near Salt Lake City, Utah, is a log cabin built in 1929–30. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.