From tech to trails: Building a private backcountry playground in Utah’s mountains

UTAH — The road up to Moose Springs Ranch is rough, but at the top, there’s a pristine backcountry view of the Wasatch Mountains that extends to the horizon, with rocky outcrops, stands of trees, and steep slopes that are being slowly shaped by a former tech entrepreneur with a lifelong love of snowboarding.

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Over the past six years after buying the Utah property, Richard Oldham has spent summers cutting access roads, clearing brush, and opening up terrain that he and his friends and family can ride once snow arrives. There are mellow runs designed with his children in mind, rocky features and drops for more experienced riders, and new lines and jumps that are still taking shape.

When Oldham first toured the property, it was covered in fresh snow. He wasn’t sure what it would become, but the powder he saw gave him plenty of ideas and stoke for boarding seasons to come.

Oldham envisioned a place where his family could spend time in the mountains, returning to the kind of freedom he remembers from growing up in Spanish Fork Canyon, where he and his brother, Sam, would snowboard on trails near their homes. Now, the brothers work side by side cutting trails and roads to create access points and terrain features on the property.

For Oldham, the work is a shift from his career in tech, where he co-developed Grove Menus, a menu-planning and kitchen-management software platform for healthcare and long-term care facilities. After 15 years in the industry, he said he reached a point when he wanted something different.

“I just wanted to come up here and dig in the dirt,” Oldham said. “I was just trying to get back to my childhood.”

It was quickly evident that the change was less about leaving work behind than choosing work that felt more meaningful. Shaping the ranch is a hands-on project, and he’s learning as he goes. Oldham and his crew of family and friends have had to work around rock, clear vegetation, and build routes that allow them to reach different parts of the property on their snowmobiles in the winter. Oldham said the ranch currently offers about 1,100 feet of vertical drop.

Some areas of the mountain offer natural routes, while others need clearing or access improvements before they can be ridden. Oldham dubbed one area with a gentler slope “Mellow Ridge,” which he cleared to give his children a place to ride.

Take a different turn, however, and riders will find large road gaps Oldham has constructed.

Oldham has continued building gradually, learning from what worked and deciding what to tackle next.

As skiing and snowboarding in the Wasatch Back have drawn bigger crowds, the ranch offers a different experience. Access is controlled by Oldham, making it a private project rather than a public resort.

Oldham has been documenting his projects on Instagram, where he has amassed more than 38,000 followers. The ranch has also begun attracting interest beyond his social circle. He said people have reached out about potential film projects and brand deals, and he has considered ways to share more of the work online and bring others into future projects.

But for Oldham, social media is a means of connecting with people and finding resources rather than the reason he’s building the ranch. The comments on his posts are filled with people offering up manual labor for access to the ranch.

“I’m not doing this for social media. Social media is a tool to allow me to connect with people and build out stuff,” he said.

There may be more to build beyond the winter riding terrain. Oldham has considered adding mountain biking features in the future, which could offer another way to bring people into the project.

For all the equipment, roadwork and planning, Oldham describes the result in personal terms. He said he feels more at peace with himself, even if the project keeps him busy.

“I’m probably more busy in some ways,” he said. “But it’s doing what I want to do.”