Posts Tagged snowbird
Snow Is Back To PC
This morning, May 24th, I woke up to snow covered rooftops in the hood, and a good 4 or 5 inches on the car. The drive up and over Parleys Summit was just like a midwinter commute. UDOT trucks were out plowing the road, semis with their flashers on, single file all the way down to Mountain Dell. Rumor has it, last Saturday was a legit powder day at The Bird, and no doubt today would be great, but they are only open on weekends from here on out. Below is a video from an early April powder day at PCMR, not previously shared for some odd reason.
Ski Utah Gold Pass
So, let’s say you just won the lottery and you had some money to spend. Forget about that, let’s just say you wanted to take advantage of Utah’s winter bounty, and afford yourself the convenience of skiing where you damn want when you damn want. Ski Utah is once again offering up the Gold Pass for a cool $3,400. Say you plan on skiing 100 days plus this year. Wouldn’t it be great to chase the best snow? Most people struggle with scraping together enough jack just to get a local’s pass at one resort. If you are going to ski a lot, this thing makes sense. Plus, it’s direct-to-lift at the following: PCMR (includes Fast Tracks access), The Canyons, Snowbird, Alta, Solitude, Snowbasin, and Sundance. At the others, you just show it at the window and they give you a ticket. Ski Utah usually sells out of these. They are also transferable, so companies looking to provide ski privileges to employees could buy a couple Gold Passes and let employees sign them out. Get the whole skinny on this fat pass. And if $3,400 is out of your range, there is always the $2,300 Silver Pass, which gets you up to 30 days at all 13 Utah resorts. That’s what I’ll be rolling this season. Only bummer is this one is not transferable.
Backcountry Interconnect Tour
Who would believe the amount of snow we have had here in April in Utah? Unbelievable. On Sunday, April 5th, a group of Skids and non-Skids, hard telling who was who, went on an all-day powder seeking adventure into the Utah backcountry. We didn’t have to look very hard, there was fresh snow everywhere. The problem would be avoiding south and southwest facing aspects. As the sun warmed all the fresh snow from a week’s worth of winter storms, these faces were forecasted to be trouble, with the Utah Avalanche Center forecast calling for Moderate to Considerable danger levels. Armed with Ski Utah Gold Passes (valid at all 13 Utah ski resorts), equipped with all the safety equipment including beacons, probes, and shovels, we departed Park City via the Town Lift. Staying safe and choosing north and northeast facing routes, we used lift power and leg power to get us from PCMR to Solitude to Alta to Snowbird, back to Alta, to Brighton, and back to PCMR. At the end of a long day, we squeezed out some last few long lazy turns to end up back at The Bridge for a few cold ones, after everyone was off the mountain except for a few groomers laying down the next day’s corduroy. If you ever want to experience a tour like this, check out Ski Utah’s Interconnect Tour.
Utah's Wasatch Backcountry
Tight lines near Wolverine Cirque
Dropping into Brighton Resort.
More Unsettled Weather in the Wasatch
Sunday, March 22 was the supposed to be the chosen day for Natoconnect 2009, a slackcountry tour where a few hearty souls equipped with packs, beacons, shovels, probes and the all-important tickets to ride, Ski Utah Gold Passes, would hit Park City Mountain Resort, Solitude, Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, and a whole bunch of sweet lines in between, all in one day. Problem is, the weather looks dicey, and the group is unmotivated. Spring in the Wasatch has been warm the last 10 days, but there is a change coming for Sunday that could bring some big snow. We’re putting the adventure on hold to see what this storm brings, and hopefully we’ll pull it off sometime before April. I was looking forward to getting some sweet photos and video of this tour, but we’ll just have to wait and see what the weather has in store for the next few weeks. The question is, should this count as 5 days of skiing if we hit 5 resorts in one day, or does it just count for 1? I guess it will all depend on how good the snow is when we pull it off.
Recent Utah Snow Causes Bird Flu
Some friends on the other side of the Wasatch (Snowbird) forwarded the clever email below. Seems like the storm earlier this week caused a lot of sick days in Park City. Although the storm didn’t amount to as much as we all hoped, my theory is if you are not scraping what’s underneath, and your turns are buttery smooth, it’s still a powder day. Ummm. I mean, a sick day. This report comes from some ailing friends on the other side of the Wasatch. Credit must be given to Jeffrey Marmorstone for this real email to his boss explaining why he would not make it to work on the morning of another “sick” day:
SICK DAY: BIRD FLU
Mike,
I woke up this morning at 6:37 a.m. with a terrible headache. It was something fierce. And let me just say, I’ve had my fair share of intense headaches in the morning. After all, the liquor store is only three blocks from my house. But this one was serious. There was definitely something strange and weird happening in my noggin. It was debilitating and it was a major battle just to get out of bed. Lucky for me, the Insticare Clinic is right across the street from the liquor store. It’s a great neighborhood Mike. It has everything you need. Somehow, I managed to crawl from my bed to my ski poles, which I used as crutches to help brace myself as I hobbled to the Clinic. The doctor checked me over and diagnosed me with the flu. It took over fifteen minutes of haggling with this bum to convince him it was more serious than just the flu. I demanded a brain scan. After the scan the doc told me I was right. It was more complicated than just the flu. He said it was serious, but they could fix it with a couple of shots. I protested the shots. The doc said I’d need several… several shots to the face to survive. This is serious shit we’re talking about here Mike. Worst than rabies. If left unattended, it could prove fatal. He told me I needed the
shots right away and I would need to take the rest the day off to recover. No joke Mike. Take a look at the brain scan; see for yourself (See attached image, notice the discoloration of the ventricles). Doc said it’s the BIRD FLU. Can you believe that shit? The Bird Flu. So I’m off to get my face shots. Doc claims the only place to get them is up Little Cottonwood Canyon. See you tomorrow. Doctor’s orders.
Brain Scan: Afflicted with Bird Flu