Day 46: Cruiser heaven
Sunday was another warm, sunny day, sunnier than I'd expected given the weather forecast for high clouds. It was, however, a few degrees cooler than Saturday, and after the snow barely softened a day earlier groomed cruisers seemed the most viable option. Tony Crocker, his friend Richard and I therefore headed to PCMR, which has a bigger variety of groomed terrain than most places around here.
And we got what we were looking for. Sure enough, there was very little softening going on, save for low on the mountain near the base area and on the most westward-facing Motherlode runs in late afternoon. In between, though, we enjoyed carveable groomed winter snow from our arrival around 10:30 right up until the last lift load. Occasionally Tony and I would venture off the groomed to sample. I genuinely enjoyed the south-facing aspen trees of 10th Mountain, though Tony found the snow there to be a little stiff. Molly's, the well-sheltered and shadowed evergreen forest that consitutes the southern boundary of McConkey's Bowl were surprisingly soft. And Portugese Gap off Jupiter delivered the steep, dry, chalky snow that I'd fully expected it would. We finished the day skiing nicely sun-softened groomers off Motherlode, particularly Sunnyside and Glory Hole.
After a week of getting beaten up by Snowbird's steeps, intermediate Richard proclaimed Sunday his favorite day of this trip. Not surprising to me, actually -- PCMR's ace is its blue cruisers, and Richard zipped around them all day long without some of the intimidation that Snowbird's terrain will instill in any intermediate.
We opted to stick around Park City for dinner, enjoying a fine meal at Wahso, a noted Main Street eatery featuring Asian fusion cuisine. I've been eating well this weekend, but it's time to try to return to a normal routine!
No pix today either. I just wasn't feeling inspired to shoot.
Sunday was another warm, sunny day, sunnier than I'd expected given the weather forecast for high clouds. It was, however, a few degrees cooler than Saturday, and after the snow barely softened a day earlier groomed cruisers seemed the most viable option. Tony Crocker, his friend Richard and I therefore headed to PCMR, which has a bigger variety of groomed terrain than most places around here.
And we got what we were looking for. Sure enough, there was very little softening going on, save for low on the mountain near the base area and on the most westward-facing Motherlode runs in late afternoon. In between, though, we enjoyed carveable groomed winter snow from our arrival around 10:30 right up until the last lift load. Occasionally Tony and I would venture off the groomed to sample. I genuinely enjoyed the south-facing aspen trees of 10th Mountain, though Tony found the snow there to be a little stiff. Molly's, the well-sheltered and shadowed evergreen forest that consitutes the southern boundary of McConkey's Bowl were surprisingly soft. And Portugese Gap off Jupiter delivered the steep, dry, chalky snow that I'd fully expected it would. We finished the day skiing nicely sun-softened groomers off Motherlode, particularly Sunnyside and Glory Hole.
After a week of getting beaten up by Snowbird's steeps, intermediate Richard proclaimed Sunday his favorite day of this trip. Not surprising to me, actually -- PCMR's ace is its blue cruisers, and Richard zipped around them all day long without some of the intimidation that Snowbird's terrain will instill in any intermediate.
We opted to stick around Park City for dinner, enjoying a fine meal at Wahso, a noted Main Street eatery featuring Asian fusion cuisine. I've been eating well this weekend, but it's time to try to return to a normal routine!
No pix today either. I just wasn't feeling inspired to shoot.
