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Presidents Day Powder In Park City

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:53:22 +0000

This past weekend was a wild one here in Park City, Utah. We had the Mountain Trails Round Valley Roundup skate ski race in the worst conditions imaginable. 40 kilometers (2 laps) in blowing wind and driving snow, and the whole time I was thinking I was robbing myself of a powder day. Well that’s not exactly true, it couldn’t have been the whole time, because at least half the time I was delirious and thought I was going to die. I had some serious Jack London moments out there. The following Monday, the observed President’s Day holiday made up for missing that powder day. I got to the mountain early enough to claim front row parking, and my skiing buddy and I were only 5 or 6 chairs back at Crescent. We opted for a quick shot over to the Pioneer lift for a run through 10th Mountain Trees, then we overheard a ski patrol talking into his radio that Pine Cone had just opened up. There were hardly any lines at the Jupiter lift, and we swiftly made our way up to Scott’s Peak, then down the shoulder, then took our places in the line to hike up Pine Cone. We bagged second and third tracks in Full Moon Bowl, which was the highlight of the day. See for yourself:

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Nordic Skids, Park City Style

admin — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 20:41:24 +0000

The nordic ski scene in the Park City area is blowing up, in a good way. Although part of me wishes Round Valley stayed a secret, it’s great to have the trail access and grooming in multiple places, not just the golf course and the Farm. Round Valley, Willow Creek, there are new trails popping up all over the place thanks to great early season snowpack, and the tireless efforts of Basin Recreation folks, Mountain Trails folks, and of course, Isaac and his gang at White Pine Touring. The Utah ski industry is starting to pay nordic a little more attention too. Here is a short video from a recent Ski Utah member ski day, which included track passes, demo equipment and lessons from White Pine staff.

Powder to End 2010. Powder to Start 2011?

admin — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 23:01:31 +0000

Quite a few days of storminess we have had here in Park City. The Christmas storms were what they like to call “upside down,” coming in light and fluffy, then warming up on the tail end. I heard people complaining in lift lines about how they came for Utah powder, but instead got Sierra cement. But I heard another guy say “hey, at least it’s 30 inches of something.” Now the New Year is upon us, we have had more classic Utah powder. Light, fluffy, and absolutely the Greatest Snow On Earth. I hope you have had a great 2010, and are getting ready for the best year yet.

Powder Easter

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 04:17:40 +0000

Nothing like hiding Easter eggs in the snow for the kids. While they are running around looking for eggs, the avalanche bombs are going off all along the Wasatch Back. 14″ of fresh reported by PCMR this morning, but I wasn’t in line when the ropes dropped for Jupiter. Instead, I kicked back with an extra cup of joe, and let the kids have their fun. I finally made it to the hill with the little girl in tow, just a daddy daughter day at PCMR. No fighting for a parking spot on Easter Sunday. We had our fair share of kiddie pow, and managed to burn through Detonator, my daughter’s favorite run, when it’s not icy. Today it was all filled in with fresh snow, and my little ripper had a blast. We made our way down to the bottom as things were starting to warm up and get heavy, and made a stop for ice cream at Yellow Snow, where my daughter had “Peeps” ice cream. That’s right, ice cream with those little technicolor marshmallow birds mixed in. Happy Easter.

Detonator at Park City Mountain Resort

Round Valley Skate Skiing

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:22:14 +0000

On the first Saturday of 2010, I took advantage of sun, snow, and skate skis, to check out some of the Round Valley multi-use trails. I wanted to ski somewhere where I could dial up some good music on the iPod and go off the grid for a little while. Off the grid, right out my back door. Hey people, I’m all for taking your dogs out on the trails, but when they gnaw off big hunks of sagebrush and drop them in the middle of the track, do us all a favor and kick it off to the side. I had to stop a few times to do this for the benefit of other skiers out there. The ticket in Round Valley is to time your ski shortly after the groomer makes his pass, and before the masses of walkers get out there to avoid the lumpy footprints. I haven’t figured out exactly when this magical time is yet. Or you could just ski it on a shitty day when nobody else is out, but that’s no fun. I took a digger on the backside of the loop when I was stepping around a downhill turn and hooked a tip on the soft side of the trail. Went down in a heap. Wanted to blame it on a stick left on the trail, but I couldn’t find one. I also explored a new section that went under the highway, out towards Richardson Flats, and connecting to the Rail Trail. Here are some iPhone stills, after experimenting with some basic iPhoto filters:

Groomed trail out towards Richardson Flats.

Undulating terrain all the way out to Rail Trail.

The view heading back towards Park City.

Playing around with a little color boost in iPhoto.