Day 39: A powder day...sort of
I awoke this morning and much to my wondering eyes did appear, but a fresh inch of snowfall! That had been totally unexpected -- at least by me.
Morning reports were disappointing, in the one- to three-inch range, but those reports were filed right after the snow started at 5 a.m. It didn't stop at the house until close to 9, and I had some things to take care of for work, anyway. Once those few things were done, though, I struck out for a short while to join snowave for a few runs at Park City.
Snowave had arrived in town last night for his long-anticipated visit. I was there barely in time for our scheduled meeting, but he'd forgotten his gloves in his hotel room back in Murray, so we headed off to my truck to grab a spare pair out of the bag. It was thus after 11 when we finally boarded the Payday chair and headed up.
Riding Bonanza it was immediately apparent that more than a couple of inches had accumulated. We watched a tele-chica descend the unmarked section under the lift below Home Run in about six inches, and our judgment on the day was that the upper mountain picked up 6 to 8. We immediately made plans to head to Jupiter, but our first run down Single Jack revealed perhaps the lightest pixie dust I've ever skied through. And I mean through -- we were in essence skiing the hard base underneath, with the new snow barely detectable. For once I actually wished for some Sierra Cement!
We rode up the Thaynes chair, then we headed out Jupiter Access as snowave struggled to maintain speed on his snowboard. I developed a whole new appreciation today for getting around traverses on a board. I ski with snowboarders on occasion, although not frequently, and I just plain haven't skied PCMR in a snowboarder's eyes before.
Hopping off Jupiter, the traverse out to the West Side of Jupiter Peak was out of the question, so we dropped down Shadow Ridge. The upper part was heavily bumped underneath, but lower down we found much better skiing, especially when we wrapped around to hit some untracked north-facing trees dropping down to the pond at the base. Sure, we had to trudge out of there, but it was well worth it.
I was on a time limit due to work, and I wanted to show snowave more of the mountain, so we sped down Thaynes Canyon all the way to King Con. Up King Con, and more of the scratchy base with piles of fluff awaited on King Con trail to get to Silverlode. We took one lap on Silverlode via Hidden Splendor, which skied rather well, actually, before riding back up Silverlode and descending via Home Run toward the base.
A birch glade to skier's left of where the tele-chica was skiing earlier beneath Bonanza drew us in for more untracked, tightening up before we spilled back onto Home Run after it had rounded the corner. We were heading back to the base, but made a last-minute decision to ski Creole all the way to downtown Park City to board the Town Lift, then head to the resort base via Home Run so that I could return to work.
It was a good break from work, and fabulous to meet you, snowave! I had fun.
The storm tomorrow night is now sounding slightly more promising. They're now talking about 6-12 inches for the mountains on KSL, and while they can sometimes be somewhat optimistic I'm hoping that this time they're right!
I awoke this morning and much to my wondering eyes did appear, but a fresh inch of snowfall! That had been totally unexpected -- at least by me.
Morning reports were disappointing, in the one- to three-inch range, but those reports were filed right after the snow started at 5 a.m. It didn't stop at the house until close to 9, and I had some things to take care of for work, anyway. Once those few things were done, though, I struck out for a short while to join snowave for a few runs at Park City.
Snowave had arrived in town last night for his long-anticipated visit. I was there barely in time for our scheduled meeting, but he'd forgotten his gloves in his hotel room back in Murray, so we headed off to my truck to grab a spare pair out of the bag. It was thus after 11 when we finally boarded the Payday chair and headed up.
Riding Bonanza it was immediately apparent that more than a couple of inches had accumulated. We watched a tele-chica descend the unmarked section under the lift below Home Run in about six inches, and our judgment on the day was that the upper mountain picked up 6 to 8. We immediately made plans to head to Jupiter, but our first run down Single Jack revealed perhaps the lightest pixie dust I've ever skied through. And I mean through -- we were in essence skiing the hard base underneath, with the new snow barely detectable. For once I actually wished for some Sierra Cement!
We rode up the Thaynes chair, then we headed out Jupiter Access as snowave struggled to maintain speed on his snowboard. I developed a whole new appreciation today for getting around traverses on a board. I ski with snowboarders on occasion, although not frequently, and I just plain haven't skied PCMR in a snowboarder's eyes before.
Hopping off Jupiter, the traverse out to the West Side of Jupiter Peak was out of the question, so we dropped down Shadow Ridge. The upper part was heavily bumped underneath, but lower down we found much better skiing, especially when we wrapped around to hit some untracked north-facing trees dropping down to the pond at the base. Sure, we had to trudge out of there, but it was well worth it.
I was on a time limit due to work, and I wanted to show snowave more of the mountain, so we sped down Thaynes Canyon all the way to King Con. Up King Con, and more of the scratchy base with piles of fluff awaited on King Con trail to get to Silverlode. We took one lap on Silverlode via Hidden Splendor, which skied rather well, actually, before riding back up Silverlode and descending via Home Run toward the base.
A birch glade to skier's left of where the tele-chica was skiing earlier beneath Bonanza drew us in for more untracked, tightening up before we spilled back onto Home Run after it had rounded the corner. We were heading back to the base, but made a last-minute decision to ski Creole all the way to downtown Park City to board the Town Lift, then head to the resort base via Home Run so that I could return to work.
It was a good break from work, and fabulous to meet you, snowave! I had fun.
The storm tomorrow night is now sounding slightly more promising. They're now talking about 6-12 inches for the mountains on KSL, and while they can sometimes be somewhat optimistic I'm hoping that this time they're right!
