Snowbasin 1/3

First ski day of the new year! Decided to try something different (I usually stay close to home and just ski one of the Park City area resorts) and went up to Snowbasin. It's a little further, but it's a pretty easy 60 minute drive.


(Base area.)

It was nice to see the sun, but the wind was not so welcome. High winds kept Strawberry from opening at all. The tram was also closed. Which meant there was a line all day for the Needles gondola. So, I mostly stuck to the chairs and explored as much of the mountain as I could. They were hard at work on the park under Porcupine. And I rode Wildcat for the first time ever. Nice snow in there. And I even tried Becker and some trail off to the south that I'd never even noticed before (Willow Springs).


(BBC.)

So, though the wind was a bit annoying, the day was still fun. Can't wait to get back up to Snowbasin on a powder day. Sounds like a big storm is headed in for the weekend, so keep your fingers crossed.

'til later,
- 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