Day 36: Powder day!!!
And an unexpectedly substantial one. I was scheduled to attend a Ski Utah media event at PCMR today. The forecast was for 8-20" overnight, with the higher amounts on the west-facing slopes of the Wasatch. I figured that meant 20" in LCC and 8" at Park City, but as I went to bed last night we had already exceeded the 2-inch prediction at my house by about 300%.
When I awoke this morning, I checked the reports - Alta was claiming 19" from the storm, but surprisingly PCMR was reporting 17". Could this be?
It could. Damn, it was amazing this morning! And I got my ass kicked. Last weekend was about killing the visitors. Today was about locals killing locals.
Part of the day's events was a scavenger hunt for attendees. However, the only thing I was looking to hunt down was untracked. I was in a small minority, as folks really got into the hunt and grouped up to strategize. About the only other person more interested in powder than prizes was Stephanie Nitsch from the Park City Resort Chamber Bureau, so we appointed ourselves "Team Powder" and went on our own scavenger hunt this morning. Besides, we've been talking about taking some runs together at just about every media event for the past several years, but had yet to do so. I therefore had absolutely no idea what I was in for.
The ass kicker:
The ass kickee:
"Hard charging" doesn't begin to describe this morning. Stephanie can really rip, and I had all I could do just to keep her in sight as we hit tree shot after tree shot in knee-deep untracked. No pause at the bottom of any lift, and no pause at the top, either -- I've never seen a snowboarder who can strap in that quickly. "Go, go, go!" seemed to be the unspoken morning mantra.
I actually got to take precious few photos today, and all from the lift -- there was just no opportunity to stop during a run to take a photo. Untracked through the steep evergreens on the Pioneer side of the 10th Mountain ridgeline was divine, and deep. Ditto for one of her secret stashes through Black Forest, although the more popular lines in there had some substantial bumps underneath the untracked. We missed the rope drop for Jupiter, so instead we rode Thaynes and repeatedly hit the trees below the Jupiter Road that remained fresh, untracked and deep.
The day's lunch meeting was at High West Distillery, which you may have seen in an article we published last night. Lunch was superb, as expected.
Fortified by food, a latté and a shot of Rendezvous Rye, we headed out for the afternoon as a larger group, now accompanied by Tyler Jackson from Alta, freelancer Vanessa, snowboarder Skip, and Ori Hoffer from PCTV. We headed for the Motherlode trees, but this morning had taken its toll -- I just couldn't turn 'em anymore, and by 2:30 I skied back to the resort base with Tyler and called it a day. By that point we had lost Ori to attrition and Skip to I'm not quite sure where, leaving iron women Stephanie and Vanessa to keep the fire burning.
I was happy to have my Goliaths back after Silvretta warrantied the bindings. They were just the tools for the day. And Nathan and I finally set a date for the ski trip into the Uintas that we've been talking about for years, but have yet to actually complete. A big shout-out to Ski Utah, PCMR and High West for putting together a spectacular event, and those of us who attended really appreciate the powder order y'all put in for the day.
Just one black mark on the day: on the last lift ride Stephanie commented, "You keep up pretty well, for an old guy."
:shock:
And an unexpectedly substantial one. I was scheduled to attend a Ski Utah media event at PCMR today. The forecast was for 8-20" overnight, with the higher amounts on the west-facing slopes of the Wasatch. I figured that meant 20" in LCC and 8" at Park City, but as I went to bed last night we had already exceeded the 2-inch prediction at my house by about 300%.
When I awoke this morning, I checked the reports - Alta was claiming 19" from the storm, but surprisingly PCMR was reporting 17". Could this be?
It could. Damn, it was amazing this morning! And I got my ass kicked. Last weekend was about killing the visitors. Today was about locals killing locals.
Part of the day's events was a scavenger hunt for attendees. However, the only thing I was looking to hunt down was untracked. I was in a small minority, as folks really got into the hunt and grouped up to strategize. About the only other person more interested in powder than prizes was Stephanie Nitsch from the Park City Resort Chamber Bureau, so we appointed ourselves "Team Powder" and went on our own scavenger hunt this morning. Besides, we've been talking about taking some runs together at just about every media event for the past several years, but had yet to do so. I therefore had absolutely no idea what I was in for.
The ass kicker:
The ass kickee:
"Hard charging" doesn't begin to describe this morning. Stephanie can really rip, and I had all I could do just to keep her in sight as we hit tree shot after tree shot in knee-deep untracked. No pause at the bottom of any lift, and no pause at the top, either -- I've never seen a snowboarder who can strap in that quickly. "Go, go, go!" seemed to be the unspoken morning mantra.
I actually got to take precious few photos today, and all from the lift -- there was just no opportunity to stop during a run to take a photo. Untracked through the steep evergreens on the Pioneer side of the 10th Mountain ridgeline was divine, and deep. Ditto for one of her secret stashes through Black Forest, although the more popular lines in there had some substantial bumps underneath the untracked. We missed the rope drop for Jupiter, so instead we rode Thaynes and repeatedly hit the trees below the Jupiter Road that remained fresh, untracked and deep.
The day's lunch meeting was at High West Distillery, which you may have seen in an article we published last night. Lunch was superb, as expected.
Fortified by food, a latté and a shot of Rendezvous Rye, we headed out for the afternoon as a larger group, now accompanied by Tyler Jackson from Alta, freelancer Vanessa, snowboarder Skip, and Ori Hoffer from PCTV. We headed for the Motherlode trees, but this morning had taken its toll -- I just couldn't turn 'em anymore, and by 2:30 I skied back to the resort base with Tyler and called it a day. By that point we had lost Ori to attrition and Skip to I'm not quite sure where, leaving iron women Stephanie and Vanessa to keep the fire burning.
I was happy to have my Goliaths back after Silvretta warrantied the bindings. They were just the tools for the day. And Nathan and I finally set a date for the ski trip into the Uintas that we've been talking about for years, but have yet to actually complete. A big shout-out to Ski Utah, PCMR and High West for putting together a spectacular event, and those of us who attended really appreciate the powder order y'all put in for the day.
Just one black mark on the day: on the last lift ride Stephanie commented, "You keep up pretty well, for an old guy."
:shock:
<- Me
/ Did it bake at all up there today? Stuff on PCMR's lower mountain was wetting by early afternoon.
