Resort: Deer Valley, Utah
Date: April 12, 2015 (their Closing Day)
Conditions: VC/WS; Sunny with temps in the Upper 30's to upper 40's.
Report: Hard to believe that this is Deer Valley's last day of the season, but amazing that they made it as far as they did. Canyons was reporting a 32" base; Park City was reporting 24" base; Deer Valley was reporting 44" base. Their snowmaking runs that were not in the direct sun had good base indeed, but exposed and low areas are done...as in done for several weeks. There was a lot of bare ground on the exposures that see a lot of sun as you will see in the pictures. For me I wanted a change of pace from Alta/Bird and to use my last Deer Valley pass for the season. I was able to use all four of mine this year--one firm day and three on my pass. Even though this was a rough season for them, the folks have always been very nice there and they did their best. All groomed runs were in great shape...some thin spots showing in places, but overall it was quite good.
Started out right at 9am on Carpenter. The fresh cord on Success looked great and it deserved two fast runs to warm up. What a nice trail with some nice knolls left in place and edge-to-edge cord. Not a soul to be seen on a beautiful Sunday morning. I ducked onto Little Kate on the last run and the eastern aspects were getting baked. This trail would not last another week from what I saw.
I had heard some folks talking about their early morning runs yesterday at Empire and how the snow there softened fast due to the eastern aspect. I thought about that and it made sense. So I headed over there instead of working Bald Mountain first as I normally due. The upper mountains had an inch or so of new snow from the night before. From what I could see, it looked like dust on crust on Bald Mountain, so I moved on.
Bandana was perfect. Empire was grim; pretty much anything looker's left of the liftline was not only cooked, but completely gone. Supreme was pretty nice though...except for the flats right near Lady Morgan Bowl. Near the Empire Lift and Ore Cart the new snow sitting on top of the corn was odd....in some places it was nice, and in other places it was a bit tacky. I repeated Supreme before jumping onto Pearl/Webster to head to Lady Morgan. The run was Magnet and it lived up to its name. I must have skied it a good seven times--hitting it while it was fast and firm before it broke to perfect corn. Dakota also skied nicely but was very thin. Upper Magnet was just primo but there was a tricky transition right where Webster/Pearl merged into it. The runout to Lady Morgan was fast and cold.
After working Magnet and a couple spins on Supreme, I headed back to Flagstaff and worked the runs there starting with Bandana and then working the cruisers from one side to the other. At times I hit Tuna Speed....Mach Tuna at other times...although some slower retired folks and a few short kids would occasionally slow me down from time-to-time. Hawkeye, Lost Boulder, Lucky Star, and Sidewinder were very good. Hawkeye had a bit more ice and Blue Bell just did not soften and was very firm...or groomed ice. I had forgotten just how much fun Sidewinder was--they left some nice banks and turns on that trail that makes it a real joy and a nice change of pace from the straight and fast blues.
By now it was nearly noon and I needed to get home to relieve my wife from our daughter, but I had plenty of time to work some favorites on Bald Mountain. Birdseye was fast, firm, but edgeable. Hitting Bald Mountain last was a good call as the snow was by and large quite firm if not groomed ice with an inch of snow on top. Upper Keno was just this but it broke about 2/3 the way down offering nice soft hero snow. I decided to push the envelope and did Tycoon down to a very thin and empty Sultan. Tycoon was past perfect--nice corn up top but very wet down low. This area is limping since Stein's is completely gone--they were letting folks get to some parts of Perseverance by traversing in from under Sultan Lift at the top but I did not have the time or desire to do that....and not with my Tiger Sharks who prefer fast cord instead of off-trail nastiness.
Last run was down Wizard--which was perfect--to the bottom and then up Crown Point lift and down a very thin Kimberly and a deeply covered Big Stick (a main thoroughfare) to the bottom. The magic carpet lifts at the bottom were sitting about 2 feet above the surrounding snow--it was sad.
A nice final day at Deer Valley. They have a lot of pictures of good snow and good skiing on their FB page, but there is a lot of grass, dirt, and rock that they don't show. What was open was very good.
See them next season!
Pictures coming soon.
Date: April 12, 2015 (their Closing Day)
Conditions: VC/WS; Sunny with temps in the Upper 30's to upper 40's.
Report: Hard to believe that this is Deer Valley's last day of the season, but amazing that they made it as far as they did. Canyons was reporting a 32" base; Park City was reporting 24" base; Deer Valley was reporting 44" base. Their snowmaking runs that were not in the direct sun had good base indeed, but exposed and low areas are done...as in done for several weeks. There was a lot of bare ground on the exposures that see a lot of sun as you will see in the pictures. For me I wanted a change of pace from Alta/Bird and to use my last Deer Valley pass for the season. I was able to use all four of mine this year--one firm day and three on my pass. Even though this was a rough season for them, the folks have always been very nice there and they did their best. All groomed runs were in great shape...some thin spots showing in places, but overall it was quite good.
Started out right at 9am on Carpenter. The fresh cord on Success looked great and it deserved two fast runs to warm up. What a nice trail with some nice knolls left in place and edge-to-edge cord. Not a soul to be seen on a beautiful Sunday morning. I ducked onto Little Kate on the last run and the eastern aspects were getting baked. This trail would not last another week from what I saw.
I had heard some folks talking about their early morning runs yesterday at Empire and how the snow there softened fast due to the eastern aspect. I thought about that and it made sense. So I headed over there instead of working Bald Mountain first as I normally due. The upper mountains had an inch or so of new snow from the night before. From what I could see, it looked like dust on crust on Bald Mountain, so I moved on.
Bandana was perfect. Empire was grim; pretty much anything looker's left of the liftline was not only cooked, but completely gone. Supreme was pretty nice though...except for the flats right near Lady Morgan Bowl. Near the Empire Lift and Ore Cart the new snow sitting on top of the corn was odd....in some places it was nice, and in other places it was a bit tacky. I repeated Supreme before jumping onto Pearl/Webster to head to Lady Morgan. The run was Magnet and it lived up to its name. I must have skied it a good seven times--hitting it while it was fast and firm before it broke to perfect corn. Dakota also skied nicely but was very thin. Upper Magnet was just primo but there was a tricky transition right where Webster/Pearl merged into it. The runout to Lady Morgan was fast and cold.
After working Magnet and a couple spins on Supreme, I headed back to Flagstaff and worked the runs there starting with Bandana and then working the cruisers from one side to the other. At times I hit Tuna Speed....Mach Tuna at other times...although some slower retired folks and a few short kids would occasionally slow me down from time-to-time. Hawkeye, Lost Boulder, Lucky Star, and Sidewinder were very good. Hawkeye had a bit more ice and Blue Bell just did not soften and was very firm...or groomed ice. I had forgotten just how much fun Sidewinder was--they left some nice banks and turns on that trail that makes it a real joy and a nice change of pace from the straight and fast blues.
By now it was nearly noon and I needed to get home to relieve my wife from our daughter, but I had plenty of time to work some favorites on Bald Mountain. Birdseye was fast, firm, but edgeable. Hitting Bald Mountain last was a good call as the snow was by and large quite firm if not groomed ice with an inch of snow on top. Upper Keno was just this but it broke about 2/3 the way down offering nice soft hero snow. I decided to push the envelope and did Tycoon down to a very thin and empty Sultan. Tycoon was past perfect--nice corn up top but very wet down low. This area is limping since Stein's is completely gone--they were letting folks get to some parts of Perseverance by traversing in from under Sultan Lift at the top but I did not have the time or desire to do that....and not with my Tiger Sharks who prefer fast cord instead of off-trail nastiness.
Last run was down Wizard--which was perfect--to the bottom and then up Crown Point lift and down a very thin Kimberly and a deeply covered Big Stick (a main thoroughfare) to the bottom. The magic carpet lifts at the bottom were sitting about 2 feet above the surrounding snow--it was sad.
A nice final day at Deer Valley. They have a lot of pictures of good snow and good skiing on their FB page, but there is a lot of grass, dirt, and rock that they don't show. What was open was very good.
See them next season!
Pictures coming soon.
