This was not the greatest day of the week. For variety, we decided to go to Deer Valley for a day. The weather was pretty bad, with a combination of rain at resort level and wet snow at higher elevations giving pretty awful visibility.
Quincy lift had been replaced with a faster one, so instead of cutting across Flagstaff Mountain with the shorter Red Cloud, we went directly to the summit with Quincy, where we warmed up with a couple of fast runs down Sidewinder. Ski patrol were busy trying to extricate someone from the trees on a back-board which reminded us to be careful.
The trail down towards the new Empire Canyon area, Bandana was covered in fresh wet snow, which meant that we almost came to a complete stop on the flatter lower section.
We headed to the top of Empire Bowl. Visibility from the lift was dreadful. At the top we turned right and then dropped into the bowl. There was a layer of fresh snow on top of established moguls. The flat lighting meant that is as very difficult to see the terrain. At places the fresh snow was up to our knees and in others, just an inch or so on top of a hard mogul. We both fell a couple times and decided not to do that run again.
Ever gluttons for punishment, we cut across to the steep face of Buckeye. That was not much better.
Chris in Empire Bowl |
Snowy tree in Empire Bowl |
Orion |
Chris in Empire Bowl |
Poor visibility in Empire Bowl |
The view from Empire Lift |
We did two more runs from Empire, down the cruises around the bowl and then decided we were cold and wet and headed for the new lodge at the foot of the Empire Canyon area for a warm drink.
After coffee, we headed back towards the center of the resort. One run from the top of Wasatch Express was enough to convince us to head back down for an early lunch.
After lunch we joined Sue for a few runs on the green slopes at the Snow Park Lodge area, and then set off to tour all of the mountains in Deer Valley, taking easy routes down all the way. The weather was very variable, and the combination of wet snow and five day old wax made skiing unpredictable. We finished early for the only time in the week.
| Lift | Vertical | Easy Runs | Intermediate Runs | Top Intermediate Runs | Advanced Runs |
| Start of day | |||||
| Carpenter | 1200 | Silver Link | |||
| Quincy | 1000 | Sidewinder | |||
| Northside | 900 | Sidewinder | |||
| Northside | 900 | Bandana | |||
| Empire | 1227 | Orion | Empire Bowl, Buckeye | ||
| Empire | 1227 | Supreme | |||
| Empire | 1227 | Orion | |||
| Empire | 1227 | Supreme | Domingo | ||
| Coffee break | |||||
| Ruby | 750 | Ontario, Homeward Bound, McHenry | |||
| Wasatch | 1400 | Wizard | Rattler | ||
| Crown Point | 550 | Rising Sun | Big Stick | ||
| Lunch | |||||
| Burns | 200 | Wide West | |||
| Snowflake | 200 | Wide West | |||
| Snowflake | 200 | Wide West | |||
| Carpenter | 1200 | Silver Link | |||
| Quincy | 1000 | Bandana | Lost Boulder | ||
| Empire | 1227 | Supreme | |||
| Ruby | 750 | Trump, Homeward Bound, Ontario | |||
| Homestake | 300 | Deer Hollow | Roamer, Little Stick | ||
| Deer Crest | 900 | Deer Hollow, Little Stick | |||
| End of day | |||||
| Total vertical | 18485 |
Last updated: 30/01/04