Park City Mountain Resort 3/24

Another day of spring skiing. Overnight temps were in the mid-twenties. But it warmed up quickly and hit a high near 50. The snow was a little firm at first, but softened up nicely.

I don't get down to the Town Lift very often, so decided to check it out today. Both Quittin' Time and Creole runs were in great shape and there was no line at all for the lift -- that couldn't be said for most other lifts on the mountain.


(Old Town (foreground) from Quittin' Time run.)


(The old and the new.)

I'm surprised at how crowded things still are. I thought the crowds might die down after Easter. But there must be enough schools still on spring break. I guess Park City is just that popular. :)


(Beautiful slopeside living.)

I made a couple of runs off Thaynes (Double Jack and Comstock) and McConkey's (Tycoon and Sunrise) before finishing up on Silver Skis. A short day, but fun nonetheless.

If you go, remember it's a bit firm in the mornings. Maybe better to wait a bit and let the sun soften things up. But keep in mind that those runs that get the sun all morning will be slushy by the afternoon. Move around the mountain and find something you like.

' til later,
- Jeff

Park City Mountain Resort 3/17

After a shaky start -- gotta watch out for that sun-baked powder! -- things turned out pretty ok. Scott and I quickly made a beeline for McConkey's to get away from the crowds. I was surprised how many people were on the hill -- on a Monday no less. But the line at McConkey's wasn't too bad -- it never is.

The Black Forest trees weren't all that great so we decided to hike Jupiter Peak. I'd never been to the top before. I'd hiked up the shoulder a few times and had some great runs, but never gone all the way to the summit. Today it was well worth it. Great view from the top. And some nice snow on the face.

We repeated a few times, dropping in a bit sooner each time. But the snow almost seemed to get better. Maybe it had gotten less wind. Anyhow, the snow was great. The skies were blue. And overall it was a great day.

I'm learning that the picture quality of the iPhone isn't always so great -- it sometimes gets tripped up by too much bright light and sometimes the color balance seems off. But it's nice just carrying one device - phone, iPod, and camera in one. So you'll just have to deal with it. :) All pictures have been "enhanced" in iPhoto -- i.e. I hit the enhance button instead of tweaking the image manually. I'm just too lazy. But you can still see that it was a really, really nice day.


(Scott.)


(Yours truly resting on the hike up Jupiter.)


(Flagpole at the top of Jupiter.)


(Tree.)


(Scott ripping it up on the east face.)

If you go (and are an expert skier) don't be afraid of the hike from McConkey's. The snow can be well worth it.

'til later,
- Jeff

Park City Mountain Resort 3/9

Did you remember to set your clock forward a hour? Today is the start of daylight savings time! But based on how few cars were in the parking lot at 9am, I'm guessing most people forgot. In fact, the mountain was almost deserted for the first hour.

Too bad for those sleepyheads! They missed out on some perfect corduroy.


(Perfect corduroy awaits.)

I made a few runs off Silverlode to warm up. That and to leave a few perfect arcs on the groomers. I absolutely love my Rossignol Z9s.


(A beautiful morning.)

A short time later, my friend Bryan joined me and we decided to explore a bit more of the mountain. We spent the morning on McConkey's before an early lunch at Mid-Mountain Lodge -- gotta beat the crowds.


(Easter's not for another 2 weeks, but the Easter Bunny was already busy hiding eggs at Park City.)

Then we headed over to Jupiter for the afternoon. I usually spend my days on McConkeys and sadly neglect the awesome terrain on Jupiter. True, I hate slow lifts, but sometimes it's worth it. Indicator wasn't quite as good as last time, but there were still some good turns to be had. Portuguese Gap was probably my favorite run of the day.


(Jupiter through Pioneer.)

Afterwards we headed to Wasatch Brew Pub for dinner. The 30 minute was wait perfect for enjoying a few beers. And the beer cheese soup was a perfect appetizer for the cheesesteak sandwich.

'til later,
- Jeff

Sorry! 3/1

Hey! Sorry I've been bad about keeping this updated. I've been out skiing lots that last two months, but have been really bad about blogging. I'm back and I promise to be better!

If you haven't heard, it's been an incredible winter in Utah! So much snow! December and January were absolutely insane. Several storms that brought three feet in three days or so. In one ten-day stretch we had 90" of snow! That's 9" a day! Crazy!

The banks of snow at the end of my driveway were 10 feet tall. My snowblower hated me. (It actually quit for a time, but I got it some rehab and it's doing better.) And my road looked more like a bobsled track that a street -- one car wide with huge banks so you could barely see the houses.

It's warmed up a bit and the sun is out, but we've got so much snow that we'll be able to ski into August. Just kidding on the August part, but seriously, skiing will be great right on through closing weekend. If you haven't made it out to Utah yet, there's still time. Deer Valley is open through April 13 and the Cottonwood resorts will be open later than that.

Here are some of my pics from the last two months. Thanks to all my skiing friends for some great days.


(Scott on Pinyon Ridge at Park City Mountain Resort.)


(Scott dropping into P-Zone.)


(Jeff and Bryan at Deer Valley.)


(A deer at Deer Valley. :) )

Cheers! Enjoy the snow and tune in often.

'til later,
- Jeff

Park City Mountain Resort 1/8

Was on my way to the office this morning, but somewhere in the 8 mile drive I gave up on that idea and ended up at Park City Mountain Resort instead. Strange how that happens. :)

Ran into my dad while I was in the lodge, so spent the morning skiing with him. Dad taught me to ski 30 years ago in upstate New York. The skiing in Utah is so much better that I came out here for college and my folks followed when they retired. It's nice to have everyone so close. Dad works as a safety patrol at PCMR. But today was a day off, so we got to get in a nice morning of skiing.

I usually just head over to McConkey's, but decided to try something different. We enjoyed a couple of nice runs off Thaynes -- Keystone was nicely groomed, Hoist was nice and soft, and Double Jack had some great powder at the top and some friendly bumps further down. Then we moved on to Motherlode and I got my first run through the new glades -- Motherlode Meadows. They really did a nice job this summer opening that up and the snow was great. Up King Con and down First Temptation for a run. Then down High Card before calling it a day -- looked like another storm was blowing in. They say we could see another 8 to 18 inches of snow overnight. If you can go tomorrow, enjoy it! I really *do* have to make it to the office. :(

'til later,
- Jeff

Park City Mountain Resort 12/20

Yesterday I woke up to 7" of snow in the driveway, but wasn't able to make it up to the slopes. :( Today, I woke up to another 6" of fresh snow. So, after a quick meeting at work, headed over to Park City Mountain Resort to take advantage of all the new powder!

Unfortunately, another storm arrived about the same time I did, so there was a little wind and snow to deal with. I tried a few runs off Silverlode but didn't find anything too spectacular there. So I went to McConkey's and, man, what a good move that was. The winds seemed a little lighter even if the visibility was challenging.


(Low visibility at the top of McConkey's.)

Scott and I made a bunch of runs, taking advantage of great snow in the trees. I swear the coverage is better on McConkeys and the powder was definitely awesome.


(Scott rips it up in McConkey's Bowl.)


(Base of McConkey's.)

After Scott took off, I made a quick run down Double Jack (less powder, more bumps), a nice run down Glory Hole, and finished my day on Crescent. All in all, a great day. And the forecast calls for another foot or two of snow tonight! Bring it on!

'til later,
- Jeff

Park City Mountain Resort 12/14

Mother Nature delivered a little fresh snow overnight and it made for a nice day at Park City. The snow report said 3" but it felt like a little more than that. I took my snowboard out for the first time this year and had fun riding McConkey's for a few hours. Sorry no pics - forgot my camera. But I'll get some soon.

'til later,
- Jeff

Park City Mountain Resort 1/29

Conditions: packed powder
Weather: low 20s
Gear: K2 Recon Riser snowboard

So, after skiing only 3 times in the last three weeks, mostly due to a nasty sinus infection, I decided to get out today even though I knew the snow wouldn't be great. It hasn't really snowed in over two weeks, so what we've got is well packed and even a little thin. Still, the snow here beats that back east any day! (And I can say that 'cause I grew up skiing back east.)

Park City was nice. The Sundance crowds are gone (though they don't ski much anyhow) and the mountain was pretty quiet. Snow on trails where they made snow is pretty good. So I mostly stuck to groomers. Nothing exciting, but better than being inside all day.

Hopefully we'll get a storm soon. Come on, Mother Nature! Hit us with your best shot! I'm talking feet of snow. I've got plenty of gas in my snow blower, so bring it on! :)

'til next time,
- Jeff

BRRRRR! Park City Mountain Resort 1/12

Conditions: powder
Weather: COLD - low single digits, clear skies
Gear: K2 Recon Riser snowboard

Damn it's cold! So this latest storm (9" or so) was followed by an impressive cold front. Temps at the resort today were in the low single digits. And that's before the wind shill factor. It made for a cold nose, but the powder was definitely worth getting out in.


(Top of Bonanza/Motherlode.)

I had a decent run down Double Jack. There was some nice powder on the edge of the trail. But things were still a little scraped out between the moguls. Same on Hoist. I'm glad we got this last storm, but another 3 or 4 feet would help. :)


(Top of Thaynes.)

The trees off Hawkeye weren't quite as nice as I had hoped -- still too many little branches poking up through the snow. But there were a few nice turns to be had. I continued to McConkeys where I made a few runs before calling it a day.


(Aspens off Hawkeye.)

If you go, remember to bundle up! The Freestyle World Cup is also going on at Deer Valley this weekend. If you get a chance, go check it out.

'til next time,
- Jeff

Park City Mountain Resort 11/29

Conditions: packed powder
Weather: teens, sunny
Gear: K2 Recon Riser snowboard

So Utah got hit by a huge snowstorm the beginning of this week. It snowed much of Monday and Tuesday and the mountains picked up a few feet of snow. This morning I blew the 10" of snow out of my driveway and headed to Park City for a little riding.



What a different 12 days can make! The conditions were much improved over my last visit. Park City still didn't have a whole lot of terrain open, but they are working on it. They were making tons of snow on Payday and the cats were smoothing out Silver Queen to get it open tomorrow. Check out the details on their blog available on http://www.pcmr.com.



I made most of my runs off Payday, sticking to the lower mountain. I had the whole place to myself and took advantage to find little stashes of powder off the side of the trails.



The only drawback was the temperature! It was 12 degrees when I left the car and my face was frozen much of the day. But it was a good excuse to stop in the Legacy Lodge and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. With skies this blue, you can't complain.


'til next time,
- Jeff

Park City Mountain Resort 11/17

Conditions: almost spring-like
Weather: warm, forties
Gear: Volkl 7 24 Pro skis

Park City Mountain Resort opened for the season today with Payday and First Time lifts and a few trails. Home Run and Treasure Hollow were open off Payday. And Turtle Trail was open off First Time.

I mostly skied off of Payday. The weather was beautifully warm, even if the snow was a little soft. It was a great day to be out.



Hopefully the weather will cool off a bit and a nice big storm will blow itself in. Still waiting for that first big powder day ...

'til next time,
- Jeff