Summit Park Peak Trails Overview

Overview

Summit Park Peak has a mixture of old doubletrack roads and new trails built by Synderville Basin Special Recreation District. Because there are so many of them, I won't break them out into separate routes.

Getting There

See the trailhead information on the front page.

Routes

There are many different ways to reach Summit Park Peak using the extensive trail system built by the Synderville Basin Special Recreation District. Several are appropriate for mountain biking.

See this link (opens as .pdf) for information on the trail system, including mileages for the different trails.

Snow Season Routes

Summit Park Peak and Point 8102' offer great moderate ski touring terrain (and snowshoeing), usually on treed slopes. I won't give away all my secret spots, but I will offer some general guidance on finding good lines. The prevailing winds and storm patterns typically wind-load the lee (northeast) side of these mountains with lots more snow than the windward side. The windward side (into Lambs) is also very scrubby. I've skied that way once on a really stout snowpack, and even then it was pretty bad.

Most touring parties park at Trailhead #1, and skin a combination of the old roads and new trails to reach the ridge between Point 8102' and SP Peak. There are really nice north-facing trees that fall from this ridge. If you descend from the summit along the east ridge, several relatively open shots fall from this ridge into the sub-drainage below. Watch for some rollovers in this area and some convex features. Remember that the wind loads this side. Point 8102' also has some great north-facing touring with moderate treed slopes. 8102' also has a west-facing shot that is very open. I've witnessed a slide in this area.

The only spot here where you always need to be careful is a narrow gully that falls steeply from just northwest of the summit of SP Peak. I've seen this area release a few times over the years, and I've gotten this to slide on my own. It's an obvious convex terrain feature that sits right on top of the gully at an angle of about 39 degrees. The slope quickly alleviates down to the high 20s after about 75 feet, so slides don't go very far. It's not a huge concern, but I wouldn't want to get strained through the trees below. For what it's worth, I've only skied this gully once or twice -- it's not that good.

Summit Park Peak touring always involves some bushwhacking. This can be alleviated if you use some of the old roads and trails near the trailheads to descend instead of trying to squeeze through the scrub brush.

Essential Gear

Nothing in summer. In winter, if you choose to ski, you should have a beacon, shovel, probe, partner, and the knowledge to evaluate avalanche terrain.

Images

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