Where the Wild Things Are
Blending the rugged beauty of the Wasatch with elevated experiences, The Lodge at Blue Sky brings together world-class culinary talent, nature-driven wellness, and the craftsmanship of High West whiskey.
(All photos courtesy Auberge Collection.)
The shots rang out before I could tell what was happening. Shatters of clay burst through the air like fireworks as shotgun shells dropped to the floor. I stood there, stunned. A brown and white spaniel named Wesson raced ahead of me on the trail just as I heard another yell coming from the cabin up ahead.
“Pull!”
Clay shooting school was in session, and I had just witnessed the opening shots. Shooting clay pigeons with a shotgun (i.e., clay shooting) has risen in popularity in recent years across the United States, but nowhere more so than in a small town among Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, where a luxury resort transformed its mountainous terrain into the ultimate sporting escape. The Lodge at Blue Sky, an Auberge Collection (auberge. com/blue-sky), operates its sporting clay shooting course almost like a golf course, where 25 stands and multiple
clay target scenarios lay out a course for shooters to work their way through with a professionally trained guide.
But clay shooting is only one aspect of Blue Sky’s adventurous side, which includes heli-fishing, snow skiing, rock climbing, hiking, and various forms of trail riding. Depending on the season, guests could be cruising the trails on snowmobiles, horses, dog sleds, mountain bikes, or 4x4s in less than an hour after leaving Salt Lake City International Airport. Private shuttles are available (with advanced reservations) to bring guests the 44 miles from the airport to the resort’s 4,000 acres of wild mountainous terrain.
“Blue Sky is right between the Wasatch and Uinta mountain ranges,” says Carter Kuehn, lead adventure guide for the Lodge at Blue Sky, an Auberge Collection. “Our unique location allows us to lead men on world-class adventures in some of Utah’s most prolific areas.”
Aside from the excited reaction most first-timers have when they first see the resort’s adventure dog, Wesson, Kuehn’s absolute favorite thing to witness is the moment when guests start to grasp just how much is actually at their fingertips. “Pretty much anything is possible out here,” he adds. “Whether mountain biking the trails of the Wasatch or hiking the less-traveled backcountry peaks of the Uintas, guys have the opportunity to experience a unique part of the Rocky Mountain West.”
At Blue Sky, fly fishing unfolds from quiet ponds to remote alpine waters, sometimes reached by helicopter, before the day ends with your catch prepared at Yuta, the resort’s award-winning restaurant.
(All photos courtesy Auberge Collection.)
Fly fishing is a top experience for most, where Blue Sky offers guests the chance to learn on local waters and private ponds before testing their abilities on a private-access freestone river or even hiking into remote backcountry
lakes. For the more adrenaline-focused fishermen, heli-fishing is an option, where a private helicopter brings fishermen into Utah’s remote, high-alpine wilderness for a truly memorable — and solitary — fishing experience with plenty of opportunity for wildlife spotting. The chefs at Blue Sky will even cook anything caught back at the resort’s award-winning restaurant, Yuta.
It’s there that executive chef Guillermo Tellez — Mexico native and recipient of the first-ever James Beard Foundation’s Felipe Rojas-Lombardi Award of Achievement for Hispanic Chefs — leads a culinary program so exciting that it caught the eye of British filmmaker Guy Ritchie. So taken by the wild landscape and experience-driven hospitality, Ritchie designed an exclusive year-round, off-grid dining experience in the high-alpine fields above the 46-key resort, called WildKitchen.
The experience was featured in his Netflix series, The Gentleman, and brings together food, fire and community in a rustic setting. From May through October, guests can hike up or take a shuttle to Ritchie’s retractable canvas WildTent for a memorable multi-course meal cooked over an open flame. On special evenings, celebrity chefs and Michelin-starred talent take over the WildKitchen tent for exclusive Chefs on Fire nights, where chefs interact with the table for a truly bespoke experience in the mountains.
The lodge itself hosts anywhere from four to six Michelin-starred chefs per year at its intimate panoramic restaurant in the main lodge and even has an annual partnership with chef Kyle and Katina Connaughton of SingleThread Farms that books up as soon as reservations are released each year.
“Guests come to Blue Sky to reconnect with the natural world around us,” says Joe Ogdie, general manager for the Lodge at Blue Sky, an Auberge Collection. “Bringing chef partners in helps
us create the unique experiences that guests strive for, both from the partnered culinary experience and our other pillars of wellbeing and adventure.”
Their wellbeing programs are equally as adventurous, with treatments inspired by the men and stories that shaped the land. The Ancient Warrior Massage incorporates organic herbs to help increase mobility and rejuvenate muscles, while the High West Whiskey Rubdown pairs a relaxing foot soak and massage with a local distillery’s premier whiskey.
Here, the past lives on in design: reclaimed wood, native stone and landscapes that remain the true focal point.
The High West Distillery (highwest.com) opened a 30,000-square-foot facility on the Blue Sky property in 2015 and partners with the resort regularly for private tours and exclusive tastings and runs a shuttle back and forth for guests looking to sip on-site. “Blue Sky offers an experience I have yet to see anywhere else,” Kuehn adds. “A single day can include whiskey flights at High West, adventures in the mountains, a sauna-to-cold-plunge treatment, and a game dinner at Wild Kitchen.”
The pioneering past is ever-present at Blue Sky, even in the luxury accommodations, where elements like reclaimed wood and indigenous stones are woven into the modern biophilic aesthetics of each interior space. Enclosed terraces and private fire pits are scenic enhancements, but nothing can compare with the wild and organic views outside each window and around each corner of the acreage.
It’s that sense of place that draws most guests back each year. Whether it’s to shoot clays or sip whiskey, there’s never a dull moment in Utah’s most untamed luxury resort.
From adventure-filled days to fireside evenings and unforgettable meals prepped by Michelin-starred chefs, every moment at Blue Sky is designed to reflect a deeper connection to place.
(All photos courtesy Auberge Collection.)