I had to run up to Park City this afternoon for the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team's press conference at Deer Valley. Along the way, snow guns were blazing top to bottom absolutely everywhere -- even at the Gorgoza Park tubing center on Parley's Summit. Canyons was running top to bottom on Doc's Run. Park City Mountain Resort had them on the Payday run, Three Kings, First Time and Homerun.
Bald Mountain at Deer Valley had so much snowmaking running it looked almost like a January day, even though they don't open for nearly another four weeks:
I chatted for a while with Bob English, Deer Valley's Director of Mountain Operations. He said that they've had so much cold weather to allow for round-the-clock snowmaking that his list of warm-weather tasks for snowmakers to do during down time has been left untouched.
After the press conference I decided to take the Guardsman Pass route home through Big Cottonwood Canyon.
I decided to go that way largely because they don't do winter maintenance on the pass and the road is scheduled to close on Friday morning. This is why:
It was slow going on the narrow, steep sections with big drop-offs and no guardrails, so I didn't make it to Solitude or Brighton until after sunset. Both have so much snowmaking running ahead of their openings on Thursday that the moisture was creating its own clouds on an otherwise cloudless day.
T-minus two days and counting:
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/2011/1 ... d-opening/
Bald Mountain at Deer Valley had so much snowmaking running it looked almost like a January day, even though they don't open for nearly another four weeks:
I chatted for a while with Bob English, Deer Valley's Director of Mountain Operations. He said that they've had so much cold weather to allow for round-the-clock snowmaking that his list of warm-weather tasks for snowmakers to do during down time has been left untouched.
After the press conference I decided to take the Guardsman Pass route home through Big Cottonwood Canyon.
I decided to go that way largely because they don't do winter maintenance on the pass and the road is scheduled to close on Friday morning. This is why:
It was slow going on the narrow, steep sections with big drop-offs and no guardrails, so I didn't make it to Solitude or Brighton until after sunset. Both have so much snowmaking running ahead of their openings on Thursday that the moisture was creating its own clouds on an otherwise cloudless day.
T-minus two days and counting:
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/2011/1 ... d-opening/
