The "Man Behind The Maps" Offers Up A Daunting Challenge For Utah Skiers

Ella Boyd
·2 min read
2

James Niehues, legendary ski artist and the "man behind the maps", offered up a challenge for Utah skiers today on Twitter.

With a beautiful photo of him detailing one of his famous ski maps, James wrote, "if you're looking for a daunting challenge it's possible to climb Black Bess and ski several chutes above Honeycomb Canyon at Solitude Mountain."

Solitude Mountain has over 1,200 acres of skiable terrain and is located just 30 minutes from Salt Lake City, Utah, making it a popular destination for skiers in Utah.

Even better, with James' little tip, skiers can really get after it and make their day way more of an adventure.

Black Bess is a charted-out backcountry line that runs right from the ski boundary of Solitude Mountain.

According to Powder Project, "the run starts on top of the Honeycomb ridge line. This is Solitude Ski Area's boundary. Ski the lower angle ridgeline down to the Grizzly Gulch Road."

"This run primarily follows the ridge line but skiers sometimes drop into the bowl on the east side (skier's left). The ridge maintains a stable 20-25 degrees, while dropping into the bowl bumps up to 30 degrees with isolated pockets of steeper terrain."

Honeycomb Canyon is not technically backcountry skiing, because it is within Solitude's resort boundaries, and its real name is Honeycomb Fork.

The Honeycomb Return chairlift services Honeycomb Canyon.

The Wasatch Backcountry Skiing Guide explains that Honeycomb "is located west (down-canyon) of the Solitude ski area. Silver Fork, which is also west of Solitude, splits after about three-quarters of a mile with Honeycomb heading to the left (east) and Silver Fork continuing to the right (west)."

The runs along the east side of Honeycomb Canyon include Queen Bess (what James said!), Navarone, Here Be Dragons, Black Forest, and Buckeye Junior.

"These runs are typical black and double-black diamond ski-area runs, with Navarone and Here Be Dragons being the more difficult."

"From the top of Solitude's Summit chairlift you can hike the ridge to access seriously crazy skiing in the massive Honeycomb Cliffs. The classic run being the Cwm Chute."

It looks like James is endorsing some seriously crazy lines. Sounds about right!

Related: Skiing's Next Illustrious Map Designer Unveils New Work

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