Evren
New member
I haven't had a chance to put on skis since before Christmas, so when my Friday afternoon opened up around 1pm, I made haste to Deer Valley. And not wanting to waste time schlepping gear across a vast parking lot I headed directly for the Jordanelle entry point. That place is a lifesaver on days when the road into and out of PC is jammed. On other days, it can still be a quicker way to get on the mountain (you end up having to take an additional lift to access the main areas, though). You can also save time by leaving the boot fussing to the gondola ride as it's pretty much guaranteed to be an empty cabin. The parking did not disappoint:
Didn't know what to expect conditions-wise as I clicked in at 1:39pm on top of Little Baldy. This is what I saw:
So yeah, umm, the camera does not do justice to how steep it *really* was :^o
Wait, is that another skier I see?
It was high 30s, great sunshine and the air, absolutely still. I decided to remove my hat, put on my sunglasses and get as many laps as I could off of Deer Crest.
So yes, some runs like Dynamic here were a bit on the icy side but overall no complaints. In fact, I've seen Jordanelle (the piste) much icier the day after a big dump last season. Little traffic is making up for little snow. Here's that sweet Jordanelle powder:
Rode up with couple of guys from Australia, who said that it costs them the same to ski at Deer Valley as the crappy day-areas that are available to them Down Under (excluding airfare). They mentioned how nice it was to not have to deal with kamikaze boarders at Deer Valley and I mentioned that inexperienced tourists can present a similar hazard. Two minutes after we disembarked, they ran into each other at very high speed, one cutting across a run and the other bombing down. I had to laugh.
Shocker of all shockers, an exposed rock on a DV piste! It *was* all the way to the side, at the lowest elevation possible on DV but still. If DV mgmt is reading this I can send GPS coordinates
Luckily, I was able to avoid this veritable Scylla and arrive at safe harbor with my hull unscathed.
No post on Deer Valley is complete without an example of the good-life on display there. For that I choose this 3.5 ounce jar of salt on sale at DV grocery for $21.95 At that price, an amount equivalent to the 69 cent container of Morton Salt at the grocery store comes to $169 !!! That's a 24,500% markup, lads. Of course, your salt was not hand gathered in Brittany by maidens in revealing sundresses.
I don't want to sound too sarcastic as the employees there are lovely people and they make great cafe food every time. Get your salt somewhere else, though.
Didn't know what to expect conditions-wise as I clicked in at 1:39pm on top of Little Baldy. This is what I saw:
So yeah, umm, the camera does not do justice to how steep it *really* was :^o
Wait, is that another skier I see?
It was high 30s, great sunshine and the air, absolutely still. I decided to remove my hat, put on my sunglasses and get as many laps as I could off of Deer Crest.
So yes, some runs like Dynamic here were a bit on the icy side but overall no complaints. In fact, I've seen Jordanelle (the piste) much icier the day after a big dump last season. Little traffic is making up for little snow. Here's that sweet Jordanelle powder:
Rode up with couple of guys from Australia, who said that it costs them the same to ski at Deer Valley as the crappy day-areas that are available to them Down Under (excluding airfare). They mentioned how nice it was to not have to deal with kamikaze boarders at Deer Valley and I mentioned that inexperienced tourists can present a similar hazard. Two minutes after we disembarked, they ran into each other at very high speed, one cutting across a run and the other bombing down. I had to laugh.
Shocker of all shockers, an exposed rock on a DV piste! It *was* all the way to the side, at the lowest elevation possible on DV but still. If DV mgmt is reading this I can send GPS coordinates
Luckily, I was able to avoid this veritable Scylla and arrive at safe harbor with my hull unscathed.
No post on Deer Valley is complete without an example of the good-life on display there. For that I choose this 3.5 ounce jar of salt on sale at DV grocery for $21.95 At that price, an amount equivalent to the 69 cent container of Morton Salt at the grocery store comes to $169 !!! That's a 24,500% markup, lads. Of course, your salt was not hand gathered in Brittany by maidens in revealing sundresses.
I don't want to sound too sarcastic as the employees there are lovely people and they make great cafe food every time. Get your salt somewhere else, though.
