Resort: Deer Valley Resort, Utah
Date: March 22, 2015
Conditions/Weather: MG/Spring Conditions; Sunny with temps rising into the low 50's
Report: Yesterday we had a barbecue in our backyard and basked in 70's and sun. So skiing was not on my wife's mind last night. Since we still have some white, I still ski. That's pretty much the only way to put a good spin on what has been a truly dismal season here in the west.
Original plan was a Sunday morning cruise at Snowbird....early Tram, Mineral Basin, Little Cloud, maybe some Gad II and back home. Given the temps and dearth of snow groomers were the order for the day. Then before my head hit the pillow I considered doing a Deer Valley day since I had two more days to use or lose and considering the warm temps. And if I was going to ski groomers, Deer Valley is pretty hard to beat. And recon from other friends from yesterday was that the groomers had gotten to things prematurely resulting in groomed ice.
When I awoke the thought was still in my head. Snowbird is going to be open a lot longer than Deer Valley and why go to Snowbird to ski marginal conditions when I could go to Deer Valley and pretty much be guaranteed good groomers softening up pretty quickly? My mind was made. I planned on banging out about 4 hours of non-stop skiing and pretty much following my instincts and knowledge of the resort to find the good snow. If an area sucked, move on...don't mope.
Readers of my TR's know that over the years I have come to learn that one cannot prejudge a place before skiing it. Way back in the day I used to ridicule Stratton because it was too elite. In 2006 I got a chance to ski it and I ate crow later...it is what it is and I enjoyed it. Pretty hard to hate a ski area. The same could be said for Deer Valley for me. In 2011 I was pretty turned off by the prices and what I perceived to be a snobby place to ski. After moving here, Snowmonster came out to visit and insisted that we ski there one day. I did my homework and kept an open mind. Since that day in March 2012 I have gone from critic to closet fan to groupie. I've spent now about 15 days skiing there over four seasons. The last two seasons I have been lucky to have free days to ski there on my Snowbird pass so that pretty much made it a no brainer. Before that I scored some nicely discounted vouchers. So my skiing now focuses on Alta, Deer Valley, and Snowbird and by choice.
The drive up was fast--about 30 minutes. Late season meant no traffic on the roads. I unloaded at the drop-off and then scored rockstar parking literally a few yards from the lodge entrance and at 8:30. Grabbed my ticket and was on Carpenter at 8:55.
Thanks to some homework and experience with the place, I have a good sense of how to ski it. As one ambassador told Snowmonster and me on our first visit, "a good strategy is to follow the sun." This means work the Bald Mountain and work to looker's right as conditions permit. I've found that I honestly prefer to focus on three main areas. First, Little Baldy Peak because Jordanelle is nice and long and the Mountaineer Express is always quiet. Plus the snow over here gets soft pretty quickly in the spring. Second area, and where I normally go first, is Bald Mountain working Wasatch and Sultan Express Lifts depending on the conditions. Third area is Empire and Lady Morgan for some crazy off-groomer fun in the chutes and glades where most folks don't ski. Flagstaff and Bald Eagle are largely waypoints in between my targets.
This morning's game plan was to do Bald Mountain and focus on the areas worked by the sun first (Sultan). But seeing groomers prowling Solid Muldoon literally minutes before opening led me to call an audible and enjoy the fresh grooming right out of the gate. Good choice with buttery soft corduroy that had some spring to it. Next was Bald Mountain and my eyes spied fresh, forgiving cord right on Wizard. It was a no brainer again. I screamed down it under empty chairs. Although the soft grooming firmed up considerably on the final pitch....along with some flat light.
I decided to move over a couple trees and ski Birdseye, which was still pretty firm except for the far side that had gotten some sun.
By now I figured that Stein's and Sultan would be in good shape, so I hit Tycoon staying on the sunnyside of the street before making the turn into the sun where the snow immediately softened. From Sultan I could see that the groomed portion of Perseverance looked ready to go. Stein's Way was great most of the way down. Perseverance was off the hook and got about four quick runs before I decided to move on. Love that view over the reservoir. Only downside over here was that the groomers had tilled up some rocks in Upper Stein's that made things a bit tricky and I got a few scruffs on my skis.
I headed Nabob, that still was firm, to Silver Lake for a bathroom stop before heading over to Flagstaff. By and large the runs over here were not softening....and not going to for a while. I did Sidewinder and Silver Buck before heading back to Silver Lake intent on going to Little Baldy and doing a few gondi runs where I knew it would be primo spring conditions. -Roamer was pretty much Jekyll and Hyde--iced over on right and soft on the left. Mountaineer, surprisingly, had a line but I snuck on pretty quickly before banging out two enjoyably long, soft runs on Jordanelle past empty mansions. Jordanelle had a sign at the top reading "Experts Only" and "Thin Cover." Both were pretty accurate...for Deer Valley the cover was pretty thin on the second pitch. There is enough snow for them to farm and push around for maybe another week or two at most for this area if things don't warm up much more, but it was pretty sad.
After these two deliciously soft runs, even if there was a thin spot or two, I wrapped up on Mountaineer doing the namesake trail before calling it quits just after noon or so.
A very nice morning of skiing soft groomers and spring snow. Very relaxing and fun. If you are going to ski Deer Valley this season, better get there soon. Judging by what I saw from 80, I'd say most of the lower parts of Canyons are just done. Doc's Run appeared to be grass.
Pics soon.
Date: March 22, 2015
Conditions/Weather: MG/Spring Conditions; Sunny with temps rising into the low 50's
Report: Yesterday we had a barbecue in our backyard and basked in 70's and sun. So skiing was not on my wife's mind last night. Since we still have some white, I still ski. That's pretty much the only way to put a good spin on what has been a truly dismal season here in the west.
Original plan was a Sunday morning cruise at Snowbird....early Tram, Mineral Basin, Little Cloud, maybe some Gad II and back home. Given the temps and dearth of snow groomers were the order for the day. Then before my head hit the pillow I considered doing a Deer Valley day since I had two more days to use or lose and considering the warm temps. And if I was going to ski groomers, Deer Valley is pretty hard to beat. And recon from other friends from yesterday was that the groomers had gotten to things prematurely resulting in groomed ice.
When I awoke the thought was still in my head. Snowbird is going to be open a lot longer than Deer Valley and why go to Snowbird to ski marginal conditions when I could go to Deer Valley and pretty much be guaranteed good groomers softening up pretty quickly? My mind was made. I planned on banging out about 4 hours of non-stop skiing and pretty much following my instincts and knowledge of the resort to find the good snow. If an area sucked, move on...don't mope.
Readers of my TR's know that over the years I have come to learn that one cannot prejudge a place before skiing it. Way back in the day I used to ridicule Stratton because it was too elite. In 2006 I got a chance to ski it and I ate crow later...it is what it is and I enjoyed it. Pretty hard to hate a ski area. The same could be said for Deer Valley for me. In 2011 I was pretty turned off by the prices and what I perceived to be a snobby place to ski. After moving here, Snowmonster came out to visit and insisted that we ski there one day. I did my homework and kept an open mind. Since that day in March 2012 I have gone from critic to closet fan to groupie. I've spent now about 15 days skiing there over four seasons. The last two seasons I have been lucky to have free days to ski there on my Snowbird pass so that pretty much made it a no brainer. Before that I scored some nicely discounted vouchers. So my skiing now focuses on Alta, Deer Valley, and Snowbird and by choice.
The drive up was fast--about 30 minutes. Late season meant no traffic on the roads. I unloaded at the drop-off and then scored rockstar parking literally a few yards from the lodge entrance and at 8:30. Grabbed my ticket and was on Carpenter at 8:55.
Thanks to some homework and experience with the place, I have a good sense of how to ski it. As one ambassador told Snowmonster and me on our first visit, "a good strategy is to follow the sun." This means work the Bald Mountain and work to looker's right as conditions permit. I've found that I honestly prefer to focus on three main areas. First, Little Baldy Peak because Jordanelle is nice and long and the Mountaineer Express is always quiet. Plus the snow over here gets soft pretty quickly in the spring. Second area, and where I normally go first, is Bald Mountain working Wasatch and Sultan Express Lifts depending on the conditions. Third area is Empire and Lady Morgan for some crazy off-groomer fun in the chutes and glades where most folks don't ski. Flagstaff and Bald Eagle are largely waypoints in between my targets.
This morning's game plan was to do Bald Mountain and focus on the areas worked by the sun first (Sultan). But seeing groomers prowling Solid Muldoon literally minutes before opening led me to call an audible and enjoy the fresh grooming right out of the gate. Good choice with buttery soft corduroy that had some spring to it. Next was Bald Mountain and my eyes spied fresh, forgiving cord right on Wizard. It was a no brainer again. I screamed down it under empty chairs. Although the soft grooming firmed up considerably on the final pitch....along with some flat light.
I decided to move over a couple trees and ski Birdseye, which was still pretty firm except for the far side that had gotten some sun.
By now I figured that Stein's and Sultan would be in good shape, so I hit Tycoon staying on the sunnyside of the street before making the turn into the sun where the snow immediately softened. From Sultan I could see that the groomed portion of Perseverance looked ready to go. Stein's Way was great most of the way down. Perseverance was off the hook and got about four quick runs before I decided to move on. Love that view over the reservoir. Only downside over here was that the groomers had tilled up some rocks in Upper Stein's that made things a bit tricky and I got a few scruffs on my skis.
I headed Nabob, that still was firm, to Silver Lake for a bathroom stop before heading over to Flagstaff. By and large the runs over here were not softening....and not going to for a while. I did Sidewinder and Silver Buck before heading back to Silver Lake intent on going to Little Baldy and doing a few gondi runs where I knew it would be primo spring conditions. -Roamer was pretty much Jekyll and Hyde--iced over on right and soft on the left. Mountaineer, surprisingly, had a line but I snuck on pretty quickly before banging out two enjoyably long, soft runs on Jordanelle past empty mansions. Jordanelle had a sign at the top reading "Experts Only" and "Thin Cover." Both were pretty accurate...for Deer Valley the cover was pretty thin on the second pitch. There is enough snow for them to farm and push around for maybe another week or two at most for this area if things don't warm up much more, but it was pretty sad.
After these two deliciously soft runs, even if there was a thin spot or two, I wrapped up on Mountaineer doing the namesake trail before calling it quits just after noon or so.
A very nice morning of skiing soft groomers and spring snow. Very relaxing and fun. If you are going to ski Deer Valley this season, better get there soon. Judging by what I saw from 80, I'd say most of the lower parts of Canyons are just done. Doc's Run appeared to be grass.
Pics soon.
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