Ski Bum Poet

As soon as I got on the hill today I realized that yesterday was the day and I missed out! BUT…today was pretty dang good, too. And I made the most it. I even found some soft, deep, untracked turns. It cooled off quite a bit last night so that could have made for even fluffier untracked snow then what the gang had on Monday. But they had a lot more of it, especially early on. As she goes, there wasn’t much untracked left out in the open…but I can find it and I did find it today.

It’s looking up a little bit finally. We’re in the right pattern now. We just have to be patient for the big one(s). Alta.com is showing a 71″ inch base now and the weather should remain unsettled through the week. Check the Cottonwood Canyons Forecast daily for the best summary. Just now as I was typing this I faintly heard from the other room a local weather anchor say something about snow developing on Friday in the Salt Lake Valley. Eh? That sounds good to me.

So today I took a few runs with Darren Marshall and BJ Brewer early on. They were both working for Clif Bar for the day distributing samples around the ski area. I then met up with Rob ‘To The Wall or Not At All’ Rowley and Hardcore for a few, too. Those guys are a riot when they get to bickering on the lift! To end strong I paid the price (skied Highboy) three times solo. Found what I needed on the left side and in the Church. Over and out for now. Next ski bulletin should be Saturday, Feb 17th (maybe Friday).

My friend Scott is a wizard programmer (he’s the genius behind the technology for our Affiliate marketing company AvantLink.com) that can whip up some nifty web stuff. In fact, one of the coolest things he’s added to his site Utah Life Outdoors this winter is the Utah Ski Resort Conditions page. This page aggregates daily snow reports for all of the world-class resorts in the state (and even a few of the little guys). You can bookmark the page, subscribe to his snow report RSS feed or even have the notices delivered right to your email inbox. You choose!

I hope you find this resource useful…I sure do: Utah Ski Resort Conditions

We got the perfect 10%+ density snowfall we needed in Little Cottonwood Canyon this past weekend. It was literally like starting all over again with a November snowpack. It wasn’t a major Wasatch pounding by any means, but when said and done, we received over a foot of heavy snow that blew and filled in the cracks of our former 58″ base nicely. The snow started to get lighter as the day progressed, and at our house in Timberlakes it definitely cooled off last night. I won’t be making it over to LCC today, but the Alta Snow Report posted another 5 inches new since lifts closed yesterday. That new 5 inches should be blower, and with the foot of heavy snow underneath, those skiing will have a good day.

As far as our day on the 11th. The High Traverse that was treacherous on my report from the day before (Feb 10th Alta) was 90% improved. Most of the exposed rock was caked over by the high density snowfall. Made the trip to piss pass a little less demanding and the skiing out there was real nice. Buttery smooth, arching turns with an occasional blast in the face is what I found. I fired up my sniffer and poked around in a few places I knew would offer me run outs full of wind deposited snow…the kind of drifts I knew you could dig deep into. Danette destroyed the fall-line of High Boy with the grace and style she’s always had. I think we skied about 8 runs, from Fred’s Trees, to Highboy, The Nest and out to North Rustler. Didn’t get up into Eddies, though. Next time.

I’m passing on skiing today to get a bunch of work done and then I’ll be in Alta Tuesday morning for some web business. After my meeting I’ll be out for a bit. Til then…

Yesterday it was warm. Around 40 degrees. Groomers were soft and pretty fun, but most of the time there were a ton of people so you had to pick and choose when to open the throttle. Off-trail (Highboy) was pretty harsh. Well getting there was harsh, not necessarily High Rustler itself. The High T was bad as usual this year. It wasn’t frozen and you didn’t feel like you were going to slide for life all the way to the bottom of West Rustler, but it was dang rocky. Rode some old Volkl fat skis (white wizard exsplosivs) namely because they’re a little smaller than the Gotamas and in fact a lot more responsive then the haggered Gotamas I have mounted. I have a sparkly clean new pair but haven’t dared mount them up this season yet for obvious reasons.

Skied a handful of Groomers with Johnny B and Jesse. Johnny and I also paid the price twice on Highboy. When those guys left I had more of an itch so I went back and skied three more Highboy’s in a row solo. Last three runs I went into Windy Point and knocked some snow over the rocks. It was…ok. The best part about skiing yesterday was the workout. BUT Cottonwood Canyons’ snow report says 7 last night, 2-5 today and possible 7-11 tonight so we’re looking up.

I figured I’d add a category to document ski days to my SBP blog. The description in the WordPress admin I used for this category is ‘Personal diary of skiing days and observations’. Each time I ski-ride; whether it’s a skin up the hill from our cabin house in Timberlakes, a backcountry expedition or a day riding chair lifts, I always ALWAYS have reflection. I think back to my favorite run of the day, wildlife I see, details of the snowpak, where the wind blew, cool formations in the clouds, the cold snow-smoke swirling in the air…whatever. Moving forward I’m going to try and make the habit of coming home, sitting down with a nice authentic Margarita (my favorite is a silver Tequila with at least an ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice) and documenting my experience for the day.

I kinda started already in the Nature of The Turn post when I mention the carving madness that took place at Deer Valley. The majority of my dispatches, I’m sure, will be from ski days at Alta. I’ll have to share the posts here with my rants on the AltaCam skiing forum! If it’s a big pow day and I’m on the hill bell-to-bell, I may not get the post added until the next morning but that’s ok…no one’s reading my blog yet this winter, anyway (are you?). Oh and once the snow melts I am going to start the “Pedal Summaries” category as well. After pushing your body all day long it’s good to exercise the mind a little as well

Before I moved to Utah in 1998 I ’skied’ back east in New York at places like Greek Peak and Swain, but I didn’t become a ’skier’ until I had around 80 days under my belt in Little Cottonwood Canyon. And let me add, looking back, I am glad I survived those first 80 ski days! I was chasing around Fish Solo and Jim Jack just trying my best to keep them in sight. The first time I climbed up to Eddie’s with the crew I let them all go first. Then when I dropped in, I lost a ski. I never found it, but Darren Marshall did; three months later in a duct taped bundle of single skis next to the Deep Powder House. Getting down from Eddie’s on a powder day with one ski was perhaps the best workout I have ever had in Alta to this day!!

At any rate, I never really learned to carve and understand the true nature of the turn until my 3rd or 4th season in the Wasatch. I was a good athlete and I could get down the hill safely (cough), but it was all about charging and challenging my instincts. In the last five years, however, I’ve slowed it down in my head, committed to the turn and finally arrived full circle to the spiritual aspect of sweat and tears that follow a top-to-bottom Highboy on a blower pow day. Ahh…just the thought makes me grin with content.

I still like to push limits, feel myself in the air and billy goat around technical terrain…but there’s nothing like the turn. In fact, last weekend we went to Deer Valley, and the first thing I did was hit the Rossi demo yurt and get myself some 170 Rossi carve/race skis. I proceeded to arc massive 40 mph turns on wide, perfectly groomed, people-free runs and I had the time of my life! Yep, we love powder. But if it doesn’t return this season as we know it I’ll be back at DV carvin’ it up, and lovin’ it!

What do Utah powder skiers do to pass the time when there’s high pressure dominating? Yep. Snow mountain biking. You’re probably curious about what type of gear it takes and where in the Park City winter landscape you can ride your bike. Well, the answers are straightforward.

Gear: Your mountain bike and your helmet. Terrain: Any packed down walking trail or ski run.

When it doesn’t snow the trails get so packed from walking traffic, that it’s often easier to pedal up hill then it is on the same trail in the summer (in summer you’re fighting boulder gravel and dry, dusty durt). This photo is of Kris Gray, taken this morning by K.C. Gaudet of The Pedal Wrench.

K.C. tells me that yesterday they got escorted off a main run at Park City Mountain Resort by ski patrol, while everyone on the chair lift was cheering for them. He mentioned the patroller was a nice guy, but that the management of the resort didn’t want bikes on the ski hills. WTF!?

I haven’t been out snow mountain biking with these guys yet but I think it might be time to pull the AS-X out of the crawl space and join them for some early morning snow biking around PC!

I am a little hesitant to write this post because I don’t want to jinx a predicted change in the weather taking place in and around the Western US. From what I understand, we’ve had a high pressure ridge sitting over California/Nevada/Utah for the past 45 days…effectively blocking any Pacific storms that may have in years past unleashed on Alta. I can’t remember where I heard this info but I think it was from one of the fine meteorologists at the National Weather Service - Salt Lake City.

At any rate, the report mentioned that this ridge should start to breakdown later this week. The first storm lining up on us is warm, with a Southwest flow, so it’s not the best of storms…but at least it’s from the Pacific and not the arctic North. The good news is, if this huge high pressure system that has frigged things up all winter is gone, then the gates are open for the goods to make their way in from the Pacific Northwest for the remainder for our winter. We hope..

I’ve been a huge Wasatch advocate this winter, not a Wasatch Wussie -haha: I’ve focused on making the best of my skiing days this year no matter what the snow stake reads. Fortunately, I’ve been around Alta long enough to know where I can get at least a few good turns even 10 days after it snows. Plus we moved to Timberlakes in the Uintas, so it’s quite a drive and I don’t get to LCC as much. Perhaps that’s why I’ve managed to keep a good attitude about it. I also have haggered Volkl Gotamas that I don’t mind trying to destroy Maybe if I still lived in Sandy at The Old Man’s house I would be a little more bitter.

Keep an eye on the Alta Snow Report. I truly believe Little Cottonwood can and will deliver this winter, still!

Now this is good to see! As I mentioned in the Lee Cohen Interview post the other day, Johnny B has been producing some killer AltaCam-exclusive podcasts with living legends in and around Alta. Powder Magazine Editor Derek Taylor caught wind of what JB was up to and had him interview Rob ‘To The Wall or Not At All’ Rowley for a Powdermag.com feature. As of the time of this post, Johnny’s interview of Rob was FEATURED ON THE HOMEPAGE of the Powdermag.com website. Nothing like listening to a couple of good friends talk shop about skiing and life experiences in Little Cottonwood Canyon. These are two of the most well-known and unique personalities at Alta. Turn your volume up, sit back and enjoy this podcast!

“Most Alta locals have a good luck charm that is guaranteed to bring snow. Many times, this charm is a person. It’s not uncommon to hear normally sane people (or sometimes obviously insane ones) use phrases like, “It’s going to snow next week. Uncle Leo is coming to town.” Rob Rowley is one of those people…”

Listen to the entire MP3 interview: Rob Rowley: The Fresh Prince Of Alta

Side note: ‘To The Wall or Not At All’ is our nickname for Rob. That’s because dude will side-step ‘to the wall’ on Devil’s Castle no less then a few times a day when the skiing’s good. In fact, he’s done it six times in a day. Anyone that knows this side-step is thinking ‘WTF are you kidding me?!’ right now. Oh, and he’ll wait at the gate for hours in the morning for that fresh, spiritual wall shot he wants.