I'd never skied Utah before, but after being traumatized by Sierra cement, I was excited to ski the drier fluffy stuff.
Feb 3: Solitude. Boards: Nordica Olympia Victory, 146s. First, we got the best parking spot ever, right in front of the Moonbeam lodge. Never again will I have such a great parking spot. After some warmups, headed into the chutes a little past the Sol/Bright access. Skier pal turn off into one chute full of trees; I followed a snowboarding buddy to a chute that was comfortably wide and clear and made three turns that were blissful. Powder that I could handle and skis that read my mind. I could have gone home and been happy, but of course, the three blissful turns made me want more. Ended the day butchering the bumps. I have a mental block when it comes to them - I ski more of a GS style and I really don't like someone (aka, bumps) telling me when to turn. It just probably means that I'm not technically proficient....Also, the radio wave activated ticket/turnstile thing is a good idea, but I felt like I had to contort myself to activate the turnstiles every now and then. Or, for several runs, it kept saying that the ticket was expired. Annoying.
Feb 4, Superbowl Sunday: Solitude. Boards: Atomic Metron M10, 150s. My Colts were playing, but because we had slopeside accommodations, I got in an entire day before the game started at 4:20PM local.
Skied most of this day alone in crummy conditions. I couldn't tell if it was snowing or icing, but it hurt at speed. Visibility was low until later in the afternoon. Skied the Eagle Express chair, practicing on smaller bumps. The most dynamic thing that happened to me was that as I was coming down a steep and iced over portion of the Challenger trail, I carved into the mountain, thinking that the skis would slip downhill a little and slow down. Instead, I whipped laterally across the slope so fast that all I could think was, "Holy crap, that was fast!" I don't think I've ever gone that fast with my skis not in the fall line. Ended the day with a tour of Honeycomb Canyon. Dropped in at the top by the lift; decent coverage in that bowl. The rest of the Woodlawn trail was skied off in the steeper areas, with exposed rock faces. It would definitely be a blast in there if there were more coverage. YAY COLTS! :D
Feb. 5: Solitude. Boards: same as day before. Warmed up a lot today, from what I remember. I was bored of Solitude by now. Oh, this is when I learned that if you say you're going to buy a helmet, do it as soon as you say you will. Otherwise you will definitely catch and edge, spin around, drag your left ski and land on your right side and smack your head into the snowpack. And get a concussion. I also strained every neck muscle known to me.
Feb. 6: Rest/travel to Huntsville.
Feb. 7: Snowbasin. Boards: K2 Burnin Luv, 146s. "Warm," sunny day. The snow was soft and worked the legs. The lodge = beautiful. Trails named after Beatles songs? Brilliant. I loved the number of trails one lift (Strawberry Express) could service. My favorite: practicing bumps on a less steep trail. Loved the boards.
Feb. 8: Rest.
Feb. 9: Powder Mountain. Boards: K2 Tru Luv 153s. Fought the length all day long. Alternatively, I felt like the bindings were set too far back....PowMou would be amazing on a powder day, and would be great training for me to improve in the trees. It's not steep, and the trees aren't dense. Skied off the Hiddle Lake Express list, predominantly, with a detour to hike up behind the Cobabe Canyon a little. Made some fresh tracks in powder there. Other than that, the snow off piste was disappointing; sort crusty on top.
Feb. 10: Powder Mountain. Boards: Rossi B2s, 150s. The ski shop guy is fantastic - he remembers you and talks skis with you. I appreciated that a lot. One of the perqs of being a small mountain. These were the fattest skis I tried out, and it took a few runs to figure out what was going on. We then headed into the Cobabe Canyon to try some runs in there. Snow was powdery, deep, but heavy.
This was a last minute trip for me, as I am about to transition to another job. I found a friend who was organizing a trip with his high school friends and glommed onto their trip. This group tended to be more of the "play-drinking-games-until 2AM-and-sleep-in-get-to-the-mountain-at 11:30AM" type. With 8 people and two cars, getting to the mountain had to be coordinated when we weren't in slopeside accommodations. I'm a little more type A when it comes to skiing. I had wanted to take a lesson or two, or try telemarking, and wouldn't have minded a little x-country or snowshoeing during the off days, but the lack of transportation made that tough.
My best friend's cousin is a US ski team development coach for girls in SLC. A more type-A group of us are going back out March 24-25-ish. :D
Feb 3: Solitude. Boards: Nordica Olympia Victory, 146s. First, we got the best parking spot ever, right in front of the Moonbeam lodge. Never again will I have such a great parking spot. After some warmups, headed into the chutes a little past the Sol/Bright access. Skier pal turn off into one chute full of trees; I followed a snowboarding buddy to a chute that was comfortably wide and clear and made three turns that were blissful. Powder that I could handle and skis that read my mind. I could have gone home and been happy, but of course, the three blissful turns made me want more. Ended the day butchering the bumps. I have a mental block when it comes to them - I ski more of a GS style and I really don't like someone (aka, bumps) telling me when to turn. It just probably means that I'm not technically proficient....Also, the radio wave activated ticket/turnstile thing is a good idea, but I felt like I had to contort myself to activate the turnstiles every now and then. Or, for several runs, it kept saying that the ticket was expired. Annoying.
Feb 4, Superbowl Sunday: Solitude. Boards: Atomic Metron M10, 150s. My Colts were playing, but because we had slopeside accommodations, I got in an entire day before the game started at 4:20PM local.
Skied most of this day alone in crummy conditions. I couldn't tell if it was snowing or icing, but it hurt at speed. Visibility was low until later in the afternoon. Skied the Eagle Express chair, practicing on smaller bumps. The most dynamic thing that happened to me was that as I was coming down a steep and iced over portion of the Challenger trail, I carved into the mountain, thinking that the skis would slip downhill a little and slow down. Instead, I whipped laterally across the slope so fast that all I could think was, "Holy crap, that was fast!" I don't think I've ever gone that fast with my skis not in the fall line. Ended the day with a tour of Honeycomb Canyon. Dropped in at the top by the lift; decent coverage in that bowl. The rest of the Woodlawn trail was skied off in the steeper areas, with exposed rock faces. It would definitely be a blast in there if there were more coverage. YAY COLTS! :D Feb. 5: Solitude. Boards: same as day before. Warmed up a lot today, from what I remember. I was bored of Solitude by now. Oh, this is when I learned that if you say you're going to buy a helmet, do it as soon as you say you will. Otherwise you will definitely catch and edge, spin around, drag your left ski and land on your right side and smack your head into the snowpack. And get a concussion. I also strained every neck muscle known to me.
Feb. 6: Rest/travel to Huntsville.
Feb. 7: Snowbasin. Boards: K2 Burnin Luv, 146s. "Warm," sunny day. The snow was soft and worked the legs. The lodge = beautiful. Trails named after Beatles songs? Brilliant. I loved the number of trails one lift (Strawberry Express) could service. My favorite: practicing bumps on a less steep trail. Loved the boards.
Feb. 8: Rest.
Feb. 9: Powder Mountain. Boards: K2 Tru Luv 153s. Fought the length all day long. Alternatively, I felt like the bindings were set too far back....PowMou would be amazing on a powder day, and would be great training for me to improve in the trees. It's not steep, and the trees aren't dense. Skied off the Hiddle Lake Express list, predominantly, with a detour to hike up behind the Cobabe Canyon a little. Made some fresh tracks in powder there. Other than that, the snow off piste was disappointing; sort crusty on top.
Feb. 10: Powder Mountain. Boards: Rossi B2s, 150s. The ski shop guy is fantastic - he remembers you and talks skis with you. I appreciated that a lot. One of the perqs of being a small mountain. These were the fattest skis I tried out, and it took a few runs to figure out what was going on. We then headed into the Cobabe Canyon to try some runs in there. Snow was powdery, deep, but heavy.
This was a last minute trip for me, as I am about to transition to another job. I found a friend who was organizing a trip with his high school friends and glommed onto their trip. This group tended to be more of the "play-drinking-games-until 2AM-and-sleep-in-get-to-the-mountain-at 11:30AM" type. With 8 people and two cars, getting to the mountain had to be coordinated when we weren't in slopeside accommodations. I'm a little more type A when it comes to skiing. I had wanted to take a lesson or two, or try telemarking, and wouldn't have minded a little x-country or snowshoeing during the off days, but the lack of transportation made that tough.
My best friend's cousin is a US ski team development coach for girls in SLC. A more type-A group of us are going back out March 24-25-ish. :D
