Backcountry skiing Neffs Canyon Mount Olympus Utah Memorial Couloirs

If you want to take your dog with you into the mountains around SLC your options are limited.  Neffs Canyon and in neighboring Mill Creek canyon are two of your only other options.  I enjoyed bringing my Rottweiler to both for tours when I lived in Salt Lake valley.   

Story:  In the photo above if you look closely the man in front has a white full-sized poodle behind him.  It was a cold January day and we had already passed a poor golden retriever that had snow clumping on his fur weighing him down like a boat anchor.  My Rottweiler seemed to have an advantage on the golden as her fur kept her warm and didn't clump up with frozen snow.

Much further up the Neffs trail a party of 2 and their dog caught up with me and Kota.  Their dog was a full-sized poodle.  The dog seemed to be handling the cold temperatures just fine with its coat.  The snow was not sticking and clumping up on the fur-like on the Golden Retriever's was.  This dog also had a distinct advantage over my Rottweiler.  Rottweilers are built like bulldozers.  When Kota would follow my skin track she would mostly posthole.   She would then have to break her own trail with her chest.   It was a lot of work but the dog was strong and loved it!  When we encountered the poodle I noticed how it walked on top of the snow with much less effort than my Rottweiler.  In all the years that I skied with my Rottweiler Kota, I never encountered another dog that seemed to be better equipped for backcountry skiing than this full-size poodle.  So if you're considering getting a backcountry ski dog, I'd consider getting a poodle.