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Deer Valley 2/7-2/11

Skrn

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Apr 24, 2018
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This is our 2nd trip to SLC this season. We used most of the Alta/Snowbird/Brighton days on Ikon in our last trip, so decided to try Deer Valley this time. Expectation wasn't very high as it's know for it's grooming. But the reality was much better than expectation.

First of all, we lucked out for weather. There were 4 feet of snow 72 hours before our first day, and 4 inches over night. And then we got 8" and 7" overnight before our 4th and 5th day. Basically, 3 of 5 days were powder days. Comparing to Alta/Snowbird, the majority of people coming to Deer Valley are intermediates who want to ski groomers. There were much less much competition for powder. We often found ourselves laying first powder tracks on 3-4 different trails before anyone else joining us. This would never happen at Alta.

Terrain wise, most black/double back trails are in upper mountains: Balt Mt, Empire Peak and Lady Morgan.

But you shouldn't overlook other peaks:
On a powder morning, you will have no competition on Little Baldy Peak for fresh snow on the 3 black trails here. Most people here are beginners. You can easily have 7-8 fresh powder runs if you'd like. Bald Eagle has even less expert terrain. And advance skiers don't stay here. Therefore, you can often find snow later in the powder day. We had luck finding Powder in the trees on the skier's lift side of little stick. Flagstaff Mt. normally have 3 trails ungroomed: Square Deal, Three Ply and Peeler. They tend to get skied off quickly. However, the trees between ThreePly and Peeler, as well as the trees between silver buck and Gemini holds snow much longer. We found a lot of powder there the day after a powder day.

Bald Mt has a lot of ungroomed trails. Overall, trails off Mayflower Lift are steeper, less busy and hold snow longer than trails off Sultan Express. Personally, I like all trails off Mayflower Lift. Mayflower Bowl and Chutes have nice pitch and are fun when the snow is good. But because they are exposed to wind, the condition could be crusty. Trees next to Narrow Gauge, trees next to Steinsway and triangle trees are all great. The latter two normally got skied out first.

Empire Mt has some really steep terrain. With some traverse, you can get to Daly Bowl and Daly Chutes, they normally holds more snow because of wind. During a day when 7" fell overnight, there was about 2 feet of snow in Daly Bowl. Some of the chutes are very steep. I got my ass kicked the first time I got into chute 4. Empire Bowl and Lady Morgan Bowl are fun but they got skied off by 11am. You can normally find more snow in anchor trees later in the day.

Lady Morgan Lift is a bit steeper than Empire with a wide open bowl. Powder got skied off by 11am as well. Centennial Trees are fun but a bit short. You can normally find powder in the after of a powder day.

That's it. We had a wonderful time and hope this helps who is going in the future.

One more thing, despite the fact that there is rarely lift line (if you spend more time in upper mountain). The lodges can get REALLY crowded. It is a war to get a table. I think this is the result of them using well spaced small tables instead of large tables. You have a lot of space when you sit down. But there is just not enough seats. This is quite a pain.
 

thetrailboss

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Good stuff. Glad you had the snow. My buddy had an icy day last Saturday.


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