An Old Favorite... (trip report to Park City, Utah)

[midwif]

By popular demand (or semi-popular as the case may be).......
Park City Trip Report.

Flew in Friday night. Flight arrived 30 minutes EARLY. A portentous sign of the good skiing to follow.

Stayed at Bear Hollow, a condo community about a mile up the road from Kimball Junction (where one gets off 80, onto the road in PC.)
Found a nice one bedroom. Only problem?? Was a duplex, which in this case meant the bedroom/bathroom was in the basement. A hike if you forgot your socks.
Also, the front door lock was a VERY tempermental combo lock! Took us 15 minutes the first night to get it to comply.

Eventually, we learned it didn't like two people together in front of it. Seriously, Jim and I would take turns standing on the sidewalk. That's the only time the damn thing would open after only 1 or 2 tries.


Back to the skiing....

Since we got in late on friday (1 am), we had previously decided to ski the following afternoon at Sundance Resort and stay there for dinner.
The day was warmish which made the snow a bit sticky. The terrain looks very limited from the base, but is surprisingly varied once behind the initial hills.
We enjoyed our day of skiing, but would not make an effort to go there again just to ski.
Dinner was lovely at the "Tree Room". Though I must admit, paying $15 for one glass of red wine was painful. I thought I lived in a pricey city! Dinner was very good, but not as wonderful as the prices were. Beautiful ambience though.

The next day was at the Canyons. Better snow than we expected. Some lovely tree skiing.

But, I learned to listen to Jim when he noted the south facing slopes. They looked SO creamsickley!! SO inviting with their gleaming snow capped bumps!!  Such false promises they tried to sell! Crust covered by a smidgen of softer snow. Danger, Danger Will Robinson!!!

The following day at ALTA, my favorite. Good conditions, snow in good shape. Soft patches of powder to be found. A beautiful blue-bird day. A promise was made to the snow gods to return again this week to the mecca.

A day of skill improvement was decided on. You know, that place with all the groomers, all the perfectly aligned corduroy, Deer Valley. Well, the sweetest glades of the week were found there. A trip to challenge Ontario Bowl again also took place. Ontario Bowl won. We escaped with our skis, but not our pride, intact. The snow was a bit hard to turn in, not champagne powder. Then it got pretty steep and the trees a trifle too close for  our skill ability. Much side slipping, some strategic falling and slow carefully placed pole plants, took place. But, I had to drag Jim out of there at the end of the day.

It snowed that day and thru the night. Not heavily, but persistently. Since we had "Big Bad Red", a chevy suburban which I was initially embarrassed to be seen in, up we went, to the Little Cottonwood canyon for a GREAT DAY at Alta. I even got Jim to go to Catherines' Area. A small hike up to get thru the gates to. But, so much fun. Soft, pillowy powder in an off-piste setting. Yum, Yum!!! We were wiped after that. But explored more. Got a bit lost at the end of the day. Made our way back to a trail.
Jim finally saw what I liked so much about Alta. A day of challenges which we met.

Since the temps were warming, we decided to ski in the Big Cottonwood Canyon. Brighton and then Solitude. Brighton won out of the two for us. We liked the somewhat meandering trails, the trees on the side which were so much fun to play in. Solitutude was more wide open. The trails mostly straightforward. Lots of open terrain which would be wonderful on a powder day, but less so when tracked out. Because of this, we tried to video each other this last day since the off piste was becoming tracked out and frankly, my left knee was hurting quite a bit. I knew I needed to quit doing any more bumps.

Doing the last run was sad for us both as we knew that it was probably our last of the season. Time off, pocket books and temps were all running out. 

A wonderful season. Jim and I both hit all-time highs of ski days. Jim at 26, me at 32. 

The trip back to NYC from Salt Lake City started with sitting on the runway for almost 3 hrs waiting for deicing. And finished 28 hrs later when I finally got home. With a night spent in Minneapolis. Horrid experience with poor administrative responsibility on the part of Delta. Bad weather is bad weather, but not knowing what the right and left hands are doing is another. Jim faired slightly better. He only had to take an hour ride shuttle back from Baltimore to the washington dc area.

Looking forward to hearing about the early spring outings of many of you!

Lynn

[jim-ratliff]

The afternoon of Deer Valley, we also drove down to Midway, Utah to explore a mineral pool at the Homestead Resort that was described in a past issue of Ski magazine.? Strange formation, rock domes covering natural heated pools of water.? There are several in the area, and in fact the area used to be named Mound City.? They teach SCUBA diving there.? Main pool is 65' deep, but one of the divers said that they have dived down to a hole in the bottom at 65 feet and then dropped a weight through and 300' of line wasn't enough reach the real bottom.

Interesting to have visited it one time, but not all that enjoyable.? Strawberry Springs at Steamboat was much hotter water and a much nicer ambience, multiple pools of varying temperature and great scenery (and the afternoon we went there it was snowing a little bit).

[midwif]

Obviously the "Mound" did not leave a lasting impression on me!
I HATED having to wear a flotation device. But, you sign a piece of paper making that the contract. Makes it harder to surface dive and look for the real divers. Its deep, but I'm an old competitive swimmer who just chafed at the restriction. No fun for me, but probably wiser for many.
The 90 degree temp was tepidly warm, but not warm enough to feel like a hot tub experience.

A nearby "resort" called the Zermatt, had created "Melting Ice Castles" by placing misting water to freeze at night. GORGEOUS!
Pics to follow.

Psssttt, I have a pic of Jim straddling a tree. He hugged it inadvertently!! No damage done to anything ..... well, you know.

L

[jim-ratliff]

It snowed that day and thru the night. Not heavily, but persistently. Since we had "Big Bad Red", a chevy suburban which I was initially embarrassed to be seen in, up we went, to the Little Cottonwood canyon for a GREAT DAY at Alta. I even got Jim to go to Catherines' Area. A small hike up to get thru the gates to. But, so much fun. Soft, pillowy powder in an off-piste setting. Yum, Yum!!! We were wiped after that. But explored more. Got a bit lost at the end of the day.? Made our way back to a trail.

TRANSLATION --? Cross country skiing on downhill skis, after the lifts had closed and the slopes were feeling pretty deserted.? Glad I had large baskets on my poles.

[Gary]

Hey guys.....sounds like a Sherlock Holmes who done it mystery.....such fun!

Sounds to me like you were very adventuresome looking for off piste experiences where you could find them. I know this time of year can get? such a variety of snow conditions all on the same run. But, I have found as ski skills continue to improve, so does my ability to "feel better" about how I skied the run no matter what mother nature has provided...yes...so me more fun than others for sure.

Your insight on places to go and not to go like dinning, bathing, and sleeping were great! Great exploring!
So.....what did you guys find were the top ski skills that helped you navigate your off piste adventures?

Wing it and let gravity be your guide
Fat skis
The right wax
Burrito's
Best, g

[jim-ratliff]

So.....what did you guys find were the top ski skills that helped you navigate your off piste adventures?

Wing it and let gravity be your guide
Fat skis
The right wax
Burrito's
Best, g

Gary, for me two parts. As with most activities, the more you do it the more comfortable you become, and I've become more comfortable in trees and soft snow as I've had someone to share it with (my son and daughter-in-law pretty much stick to groomed slopes and I don't go there by myself). Part 2 was a commitment to remember and apply technique outside my comfort zone territory. Primary focus for me was pole plants to support slow turns, weight forward & use edges, and "forwardagonally" committing to the turn. And picking my own line rather than trying to follow someone else's trail. Another subtle one is "John's my bump mantra."? I've gotten much better at drifting along and picking where I want to turn.

The biggest effort in soft snow has been getting comfortable skiing fast enough for the skis to float and then dealing with the speed variations in cut-up powder (moving the bindings back helped a lot here).

We had a really good day at Alta, on? Ballroom, East Greeley, and Catherine's Area.

Then a trio of 8 year olds would come ripping through the trees on their short skis in a solid wedge, and I would be totally humbled.

[Gary]

YOu made some great points Jim....skiing with others that push you to try different terrain and conditions really will improve confidence. Once you have the basic raw skills to work with, ya gotta get out and apply them.

Even following a 10 year old in a power wedge through the trees....the little buggers just scoot through there like lightning.....oh yeah....don't forget to duck!!!!

Pole plants, picking out where you want to turn, keeping your upperbody moving into the fall line, (Forwardagonally), these are strong factors in trees and broken snow....

Now as far as the weight forward and edges.....I can tell you for me.....finding the center on my skis, working the tongue of my boot to leverage the edges, the rear of the boot, so I can edge, drift, slide, pivot or whatever it takes to tackle? changning snow conditions.....all key. You don't want to be to edgey in broken wet snow.....judicial use of edges is more important I find.

But hey it's been a great season so far and you obviously have made great strides in your? skiing evolution.

All the best,
g

[jim-ratliff]

Now as far as the weight forward and edges.....I can tell you for me.....finding the center on my skis, working the tongue of my boot to leverage the edges, the rear of the boot, so I can edge, drift, slide, pivot or whatever it takes to tackle? changning snow conditions.....all key. You don't want to be to edgey in broken wet snow.....judicial use of edges is more important I find.

Yes; when I say weight forward I'm meaning "don't revert to my historical back seat skiing."? Balanced is a better description, but the exaggerated implementation of that (for me) is to focus on being forward.? When the tip of the inside ski is off the snow and knee high, then I know that I have reverted and am not even close to "balanced".?

It is also very good to have a constant nag coach along - a common comment might be " welll, your left turns looked pretty good but I didn't see any counter balance in those right turns at all" or "you know, Jim, counterbalance is more than just leaning your head to one side or the other."? ?
 
One of the most fun runs we had was on a groomed rolling black trail that must have been about 33 degrees for 100 feet into a compression and up the back side of the next hump and then down again before leveling off.? Straightlining the short steep section with weight forward felt like flying on the prow of the Titanic, a feeling that I will try to replicate more of the time.

[Gary]

Hey Jim..you should be very proud of how far you've come with your skiing....it was a brand new you we saw in Aspen....nice work.

The fact of the matter I think is you actuall can identify and correct what and where your center of mass is....very cool. Certainly a leg up on advancment....and as far as  having that "coach" with you....

color yourself "lucky"!   

Heading for Whistler tomorrow for 6 days with Ed....you known Lynns' special boot boy!

Looks like they've been having some good snow....best, g

[jim-ratliff]

Gary:

I hope you and Ed have a great time at Whistler (and yes, the boot story just never dies, huh).  Make sure you go over and ski the downhill course in CreekSide (but not at downhill racer speeds, of course).

And yes, I color myself pretty lucky recently.