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Shangri-La
Shangri-La
Drainage Little Water Gulch
Terrain Pines and Glades
Ridge Elevation 9,450'
Flats Elevation 8,800'
Typical Vertical 600'
Location 40.6724° / -111.6320°
Online Map View on wbskiing.com

Shangri-La is moderate-angle terrain through clearings and trees. It begins on the ridge that runs between Dog Lake and Little Water Peak. Shangri-La is in Little Water Gulch in Mill Creek Canyon.

Getting to Shangri-La

Follow the directions to Dog Lake from the Spruces trailhead (or from Mill Creek if you are ambitious). From Dog Lake, head east up the ridge toward Little Water Peak. As you are ascending the ridge, you'll encounter a false summit (Peak 9401). You can either stay on the ridge and go over the false summit (although this will require you to ski down the other side for a short pitch with you skins on, and the summit is sometimes bare), go around the right side of the false summit (often the best choice, although you may still need to ski downhill a bit with skins on), or skirt around the left side of the false summit (a popular approach, but it does put you on a steeper, northfacing slope). Take you pick.

Shangri-La is the area to your left after this false summit and before Little Water Peak. You can descend the ridge near Peak 9401, enter the big clearing that is about halfway between 9401 and Little Water Peak, or ski through the aspens that are closer to Little Water Peak. There is often a skin track on the western edge of this drainage (near 9401) that you can use to put in a few laps.

This website mistakenly said there was a serious avalanche accident here. In fact, the accident was in the drainage to the east of Shangri-La. The party involved in that accident thought the drainage to the east was named Shangri-La.

About the name

Some early editions of the Wasatch Backcountry Map incorrectly called this area Little Water Tree. The correct name, Shangri-La, was coined by Fred Staff in the early 1980s (although it was used by a relatively small number of people). Many people simply call all of the runs that come off of Little Water Peak, "Little Water."

Many, maybe most, people think that the drainage to the east is named Shangri-La, because the party that was involved in the above mentioned avalanche accident were mistaken about the name.