Powder instructor in Park City

[fscampbell1]

Hi all. I'm an intermediate skier looking to learn to ski powder. I'm going to be skiing Park City sometime in the next few weeks. I've had some private instruction and found a lot of variation in the quality of instructors. I'm looking for someone top notch. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

 

[Evren]

Hi there. I am assuming you mean PCMR (Park City Mountain Resort) when you say Park City. I am also assuming you can't/won't make it to the Cottonwoods or up to Snowbasin. Couple of observations:
PCMR boasts of 370 inches of snow. But they measure this at the top of the Jupiter lift. This is very misleading. That location is essentially just over the ridge from Brighton and gets a lot more snow than the rest of the resort. At the base, it is 160 inches. The rest is somewhere in between but closer to 160.
In my experience, the easily accessible parts of Jupiter get tracked out very quickly. The rest require hiking and are not suitable for an intermediate. So, I'd say, of the ten resorts within an hour of Park City, PCMR has the least likelihood of favorable conditions for powder instruction -- even if your timing is good. The best alternative in PC is Canyons. After a storm you can find many not-too-steep lines under and near the Tombstone lift while everyone heads up to 9990. It is big enough and there aren't as many powderhounds as in Little Cottonwood. Deer Valley also has some great gladed runs that don't get much traffic from their typical clientele but private instruction there is expensive (I'd guess more so than at the alternatives). They have very good instructors because they treat their employees very well and their customers can afford to tip on top of that(!) even though you are not supposed to tip at Deer Valley.
I'd say, don't lock in to a location way in advance. If the snow tracks further North, go to Snowbasin. If it tracks South, go to Sundance which can have excellent powder after a storm. If it piles much more on the Wasatch front, go to Solitude. You will find good instructors at any of the resorts. After all, they live here.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Yes, you should be taking powder lessons somewhere else. I agree with the above that Jupiter is closer to BCC and unrepresentative of any other ski terrain in the Park City area in terms of snow. I have 398 average there. Summit House at 9,300, which is probably a good surrogate for the upper parts of Canyons and Deer Valley also, averages 310. The base averages 152, and the decline in snowfall is quite consistent as elevation drops from 9,000+ to 7,000 at the base.

Alta of course leads in snow stats, and perhaps the most relevant one is that 22% of days between 12/1 and 3/31 get at least 6 inches new snow vs. 13% at Park City 9,300 and 6% at the Park City base. Furthermore Alta ski school has been doing powder instruction for a long time and I suspect they are very good at it.

The downside of Alta is competition. The instructors will help with that in terms of timing of run selection (as in admin's numerous reports), but a fairly brisk pace helps also. If you want good powder terrain and lack of competition Powder Mt., Solitude and Snowbasin are your best bets. While Canyons is also non-competitive it gets the least snow within the Park City trio and also has the worst exposure to sun.

 

[Evren]

Tony, just visited your bestsnow.net site for the first time. Much respect! Your numbers and analysis/commentary is more comprehensive than anything else I've seen and spot on judging by what I've skied.
One minor addition might be to include a map link to where the snow stakes are. I've always been curious about that. Also, why no love for Sundance?
As for the subject at hand: I defer to my elders here when it comes to Alta. Just haven't skied it enough. Canyons does have the worst exposure but I'd think that doesn't come into play as much in January. I have, however, experienced what the late March sun does do their Southeast facing slopes and it ain't pretty.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Also, why no love for Sundance?

I guess I've been lazy and never tried to collect snow history from Sundance. The reputation is that its snowfall is low relative to other Wasatch areas. In terms of the actual ski experience there I've been there once (with admin on a President's weekend) and was favorably impressed with ambience, dining and steep ski terrain on the upper mountain. I'm sure Sundance is non-competitive on powder days, but I'm also sure it's not going to look good in low snow years like this one is starting out.

 

[Evren]

Tony, I moved out here in late '07 and every season since has been like Lake Wobegon -- above average. So that possibly colors my perception of the "lesser" resorts. If Alta gets 20'' and Sundance 14'', I'd rather have the lack-of-competition and, just as importantly, not have to worry about the road closures or the brave soul in a rear-wheel drive skidding out and turning the trip up into a 2-hr slog. Getting up at 6am being the other option.
Last season, right around this time Bishop's Bowl at Sundance opened up with about 70 inches of recent powder. That was almost a case of too much of a good thing for my semi-fat skis and body-type.
As for this season, the snow is so low that I suspect the "lesser" resorts' strong suit is coming into play. They are probably better equipped to deal with a drought. Can't say for sure as there have been no reports from LCC recently and I haven't yet gone up. But Deer Valley skis like nothing is amiss, all the way up to the double-blues. Forget about anything beyond that.

 

[Marc_C]

As for this season, the snow is so low that I suspect the "lesser" resorts' strong suit is coming into play. They are probably better equipped to deal with a drought. Can't say for sure as there have been no reports from LCC recently and I haven't yet gone up.

The groomers are kinda firm and get that scraped glaze in the middle by lunchtime or so, in particular if the area was blowing dense base-building snow [there some spots at Solitude that should be avoided by anyone without razor edges and a racing background]. Off the groomers, there is an ever increasing variety and quantity of obstacles to hit. It makes for some demanding technical skiing. Honeycomb Canyon at Solitude has 3 or 4 distinctly tricky sections, and the need to stay very focused on the rest. Frankly, I'm surprised they opened it. There is also plenty of stuff to hit on the groomers as well. Traverses are not necessarily in their usual spots due to exposed rocks. Some traverses are impassable and currently closed - the High T being the most notable.

With current sun, temperature, and wind damage, the most heavily skied lines off the groomers ski the best. Elsewhere you're dealing with refrozen crud, earlier ski trenches from when it was better, breakable wind slab, and the ever-present rocks/stumps/branches/elves. On the other hand, any of the West Rustler lines below the Saddle Traverse, Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder, and some specific lines on Backside are skiing excellently with surprisingly few obstacles. I have not done the Jitterbug hike due to laziness, so really can't comment on Greeley Bowl, North Russ, High Russ, etc.

The 4 Cottonwood areas have indeed been opening additional terrain - but that's out of desperation and the toll traffic is taking on the stuff that has been open, not because we magically received additional snow.

I've been out 10 days so far - 3 Solitude, 2 Brighton, and the other 5 at Alta. With the exceptions noted above, the BCC areas seem marginally better, but that may be a trick of perception, as much of my favorite terrain at Alta is either still closed or a PITA to get to. Haven't been to the Bird as I didn't not buy the combined pass this year, so no comment on their product either.

It's adventure skiing at its finest!

 

[Tony Crocker]

Haven't been to the Bird as I didn't not buy the combined pass this year, so no comment on their product either.

You probably haven't missed much, as I found it to be a minefield during the similarly lean Christmas week of 1986-87. I was impressed that BobbyD found some good lines last week. But we know getting to (and possibly from) them was not easy.