The Canyons, UT 12/31/06

[Admin]

Day 26: Travelin' man

It looked like I was going to be skiing alone today. Marc_C whined something about having skied multiple consecutive days, The Kid was grounded, Roger was back in Vermont, and I hadn't spoken with Bob Dangerous. Figuring that I'd take advantage of the opportunity for a change of scenery, and since I hadn't been to the Wasatch Back in weeks, I decided to head over to The Canyons for a quick trip around the world to see how things were looking over there.

With the exception of Golden Eagle, High Meadow and Saddleback Express (Sunrise and the new Dreamcatcher Express were closed), I rode every lift in 2.5 hours, and only rode Short Cut and Tombstone Express twice. It was a grand tour of the resort in the following order:

Flight of the Canyons Gondi
Tombstone Express
Ninety-Nine 90
Peak 5
Day Break
Dreamscape
Tombstone Express
Short Cut
Super Condor Express
Sun Peak Express
Short Cut

Groomers were firm and scratchy in places on a manmade base. Natural snow groomers had chocolate chips here and there in high-traffic locations, but nothing that couldn't be avoided with a quick edge set (not that my edges have anything left to them, mind you). Ungroomed runs had chalky yet edgeable bumps everywhere. Remind me next time that runs named "Talus Garden" and the like aren't generally conveying warm and fuzzy images, OK?

Some steep north-facing natural runs had very good cover, while others -- most notably Grande comes to mind - were a pick-and-choose dodge-'em festival. I'd rather do that, though, than do the human slalom on some of the easier groomers.

Where were the holiday crowds? I pretty much skied right onto each and every lift. It made for a fun, quick way to rack up 12,500+ verts.

My camera crapped the bed shortly after I started skiing, so I apologize if there aren't more images to accompany this report. I'm now heading out camera shopping.

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

[johnnash]

Interesting to read your account of the Canyons, since my wife and I made our first trip there last week (Dec. 28 I think). After waiting forever to get up on the gondola, we found some pretty lousy (for SLC area) conditions off the Tombstone Express, crowded, icy in spots, with -- as you put it -- some chocolate chips protruding in a few places, and long lines at the lift. Then some wise soul advised us at lunch to head for the Dreamcatcher/Daybreak area. We spent the rest of the day skiing on packed powder and right onto the lifts. All blues in that area, but a nice mix of groomers, ungroomed runs, and some trails that were more like open bowls or glades. We had a nice time that afternoon, but given the time spent getting up the gondola in the morning and down in the afternoon, and the other options in the SLC area, I don't think I would return during a busy period.

 

[Admin]

Interesting to read your account of the Canyons, since my wife and I made our first trip there last week (Dec. 28 I think). After waiting forever to get up on the gondola, we found some pretty lousy (for SLC area) conditions off the Tombstone Express, crowded, icy in spots, with -- as you put it -- some chocolate chips protruding in a few places, and long lines at the lift. Then some wise soul advised us at lunch to head for the Dreamcatcher/Daybreak area. We spent the rest of the day skiing on packed powder and right onto the lifts. All blues in that area, but a nice mix of groomers, ungroomed runs, and some trails that were more like open bowls or glades. We had a nice time that afternoon, but given the time spent getting up the gondola in the morning and down in the afternoon, and the other options in the SLC area, I don't think I would return during a busy period.

It's my understanding from talking with regulars, and I say this as someone who's personally only skied there twice, that this traffic pattern is typical. I'm told that most visitors stay right near the "core" lifts of the gondi, the couple of chairs above Red Pine Lodge, and over to the Super Condor. I'm told that you seldom find many others by venturing way over to looker's left as you did.

 

[Tony Crocker]

My experience 2 years ago was somewhat similar. The bucket gondola from parking, the Flight Gondola and the Red Pine Lodge were congested, but not much else. Super Condor was wide open, and has the longest fall lines. But I was there in March of a good year with a solid base of snow. My guess is that some of the Super Condor terrain might be sketchy now.

 

[Admin]

My guess is that some of the Super Condor terrain might be sketchy now.

Your guess would be correct.