realskiers

My thoughts on Lynn's post.?
A great week, great ski buddy (even when we decided to hike a quarter mile uphill to get to Ontario bowl).? I don't remember waiting in line anywhere the whole week.

SnowBasin.? Strawberry Bowl had been a favorite of mine in the past.? On this trip, the middle bowl area was better, probably due to better tree protection, some because I am better able to ski the terrain.? The great thing about Strawberry is that there are so few trees that you can ski almost anywhere, but that was a bad thing this time around due to the effect of the sun exposure.

Deer Valley:? SUCCESS is a green slope, and even it was bumped up.? I was very surprised that, given their reputation, Deer Valley wasn't trying to groom some slopes during the day (even if it was snowing 2" per hour).? But we found some good blue trees and slopes, one of our two best days of skiing.

Canyons:? They have opened quite a bit of new terrain all the way to the left of the map, and Lynn and I spent most of the day over there.? One area in particular was on the lee side of a ridge line, and it was easy to be knee deep in powder when you stopped.? I had powder baskets on my poles and could still sink the pole down to the handle in lots of places.? We didn't ski it elegantly or very well, but we had a great time over there.? Route was over the ridge line and down through pine and aspen trees, and into 2 or 3 large open bowls; top much steeper than the bottom.? Pine trees were pretty close together, but we were skiing there pretty slow anyway.? Lots of housing has been built along the sides of the trails since I was last there, much like the layout at Killington with trails and roads intertwined and tunnels or bridges common.

Sundance: Lovely.? Makes you wonder (or appreciate) the dilemma of finding a balance between preserving the naturalness of nature and still allowing the average man to see the beauty of that same natural area.? (and paying the taxes).? Lynn really loved it there, but she's a New York City girl at heart and probably won't ever to be able to really leave "the City".? Note that the Sundance ski resort really didn't appear to have much to offer; it's mostly blues and blacks but only 500 acres or so.? But the overall experience was pretty special.? They have a hallway in the restaurant with pictures of stars contributing and some handwritten sentiments from Redford about Sundance.? Mt. Timpanagos evidently retains some snow all year, so area doesn't dry out.? Would love to go horse-back riding up there some July or August.

Mojo 90's:? Didn't really like them much.? Compared to the Watea 84's the waist width of 90 didn't make up for the fact that the binding mounting point is farther forward (it's more of park ski).? Overall, really enjoyed my Watea 84's all week even though the inside of my ankles could really feel the extra width (the Magnum's waist is 71 mm).? Moved the bindings from +15 back to -15 for the two snowy days, but given the infrequency of me hitting this much snow (and not wanting to tote two skis), I think Gary and Ron's recommendation of the Watea 84 for me as a single ski quiver for Western skiing was excellent.? Lynn commented on how "soft" the skis looked as they flexed in the bumps, but still had good edge hold on harder slopes and great stability skiing in really crusty crud (especially noted the first day at SnowBasin but also the last day at Solitude).? The word "upflappable" comes to mind.

Alta fall:? A quick reminder on how quickly a situation can deteriorate when we get a bit overconfident.? Had to kick steps in the snow just to be able to walk back up the hill, felt like climbing a ladder with ski boots on.? Way too steep and narrow for me; never should have gone through the gate.? A quick jerk back to reality for both of us.