Solitude 2/28

Again -- still catching up here with some old posts. Bear with me ....

Conditions: Powder
Gear: K2 Recon Riser snowboard

So the dump that gave us 18" on Monday continued into Tuesday. I didn't make it to the slopes on Tuesday, but was lucky enough to get out on Wednesday. What an awesome day! Because the snow was still falling on Tuesday, the patrols weren't able to get all the terrain cleared. This meant that Wednesday there were fresh tracks to be had all over the place.


(Top of Sunrise lift on a beautifully sunny day.)

I headed up to Solitude for the day with my snowboard in tow. What a great decision! The snow on Summit was absolutely incredible and there was no one there. Actually, not many tracks at all. Check out this pic: the only tracks you see are mine! All mine!!!!!


(First track off Summit!)

The snow in Honeycomb was also excellent. Again, very few tracks and great snow. I kinda wish the chairlift back there would take you up to where Summit lets off so you could just make runs in the canyon, but oh well. Maybe someday. :)


(View from Summit towards Brighton.)

What a lucky day. Tons of new snow. Blue skies. And no one else on the mountain. Perfect!

'til next time,
- Jeff

POWDER! 2/26

Sorry -- it's been a while. I'll attempt to get caught up here in the next few days with highlights of the last month of skiing.

Conditions: 18" POWDER
Gear: K2 Recon Riser snowboard

So, this was by far the best day I've had so far this season. 18" of soft, white, fluffy, Utah champagne POWDER! An absolutely awesome day to get out and ride.


(Me over by Dreamcatcher.)

I was on my way to Park City when Pete and Dan sent me a TXT and said they were going to the Canyons. I met them there for a few hours of riding.


(Dan in the trees.)

I met the guys on Tombstone as we waited for them to get Peak 5 and other lifts open. As soon as ski patrol had everything clear, we headed over to Dreamscape. We had a few awesome runs down De Ja Vu and (an aptly named) Bliss before heading over to Dreamcatcher.


(Woops!)

Dreamcatcher is new this year. Last time i skied the Canyons, it wasn't even open yet. So, it was nice to explore this new terrain under such optimal conditions. A few runs through Fool's Paradise quickly confirmed this is some of the best terrain on the mountain. Too bad they only
put a slow quad over there.


(Base of Dreamcatcher.)

'til next time,
- Jeff

Snowbasin 2/23-24

Conditions: powder
Gear: Rossignol Z9 skis

In what has become a bit of a winter tradition, we headed up to Snowbasin for a weekend of skiing. The group this year was Eric, Kelvin, Bill, Jay, Lance, Mike, Rex, and I.



This year, Mother Nature cooperated in grand fashion. We finally started getting some snow about two weeks ago. We got even more this weekend. Friday was a wonderful powder day. Saturday brought a little more powder and beautiful, sunny blue skies.


(Someone hiking.)

We spent most of our time skiing off John Paul and Needles. Not that we made that many runs each day :) but they were good runs. Strawberry had some nice snow, but was so windy at the top that we mostly avoided it.


(Bill and Jay on John Paul.)

As usual, we stayed at the Moose Hollow condos. This enables us to make our own dinners which is always a treat. Chili on Friday and stir fry on Saturday. The condo was a bit of a disappointment this year (a pull out couch and a DVD player might be nice) but it's still a great place to stay. The hottub was warm.


(Eric and Kelvin on John Paul.)

I also had my first ever opportunity to try out Shooting Star on my way up on Thursday night. Bill says it's the oldest bar in Utah. The menu is simple (read: no special orders) and the hamburgers "legendary" (don't ask). It certainly has character. I'll just say it was "interesting" and leave it at that. :)


(Lance and Mike.)

Unfortunately, I couldn't talk anyone into skiing on Sunday (boo) but it all worked out ok. Check out the next post ...

'til next time,
- Jeff

Superbowl Sunday at Solitude 2/4

Conditions: packed powder
Weather: 32, flurries
Gear: Rossignol Z9 skis

The secret of Superbowl Sunday is that the slopes are sorely lacking in skiers. So, Bill and I headed up to Solitude for a day of skiing.

The weather was kinda foggy and gray with light snow flurries. But the trails were not in bad shape. Things actually got better as they softened up just a tad in the afternoon. The bumps just under the quad were particularly nice.



Best runs were off Summit. That and a nice run down Honeycomb Canyon. And we still made it home in time for the kickoff! :) Go Colts!

'til next time,
- Jeff