Deer Valley
Tuesday 22 February 2000

Apart from a few low clouds in the valley the skies were clear and with a few inches of fresh snow overnight conditions looked promising.

We arrived in plenty of time at Deer Valley [map of groomed runs, list of groomed runs] and signed up for the Double Black Diamond Tour, and started off with a couple of easy warm up runs off the Carpenter express quad.

The first run was something of a test. White Owl is shown as double blue on the map. In fact it was largely frozen and mogulled. The first run down it was something of a test. We were all declared competent enough to proceed. "You will all cope with where we are going, but you WILL fall."

If we thought that was challenging, the next run was harder. We started off fine, heading down the double-blue but groomed Tycoon. Part way down, our guide stopped. "Trust me and follow he said", aiming for a narrow track between trees on the left side of the run. He stopped once turned right and carried on along a similar track eventually stopping where the trees opened up a little and the terrain steepened considerably. "In your own time", he said, "turn right onto the cat-track at the bottom and head for the lift". There was fresh powder well over a foot deep, and trees to avoid. Every one in the group fell at least twice going down, but we all had very wide grins on our faces when we got to the bottom. Challenging, but not dangerous and not impossible.

Going up Sultan, I dropped a glove, so we all had a high speed cruise down Tycoon back to the bottom.

Back up Sultan to the summit of Bald Mountain, we headed down Paradise, a rather cruddy run that did not live up to its name. We were given the opportunity to bale out half way down, but stubbornness set in!

Mayflower took us part way back towards the top of Bald Mountain again. A quick cruise down the steep but groomed Steins Way led to the short mogul field Finis. This was in excellent condition, with well formed soft bumps. Some of the group took an easier by-pass, but Chris and I skied easily through the bumps - a delightful run.

Sultan again took us to the top of the mountain. This time, we headed back towards Silver Lake and the base. Heading into Emerald, a broad ungroomed field, the guide warned us to be careful of a rut near the top. I wasn't careful enough and fell. The rest of the run was pretty good. At the bottom of Emerald, we turned off into the trees of Sunset Glade. Right in the middle is a pretty steep heap of spoils from the old days of silver mining. Time was up on tour, so we headed back to Snow Park lodge and lunch.

After lunch, John wanted to do another guided tour. Chris and I were too tired, so we left John at the meeting point in Silver Lake and headed off towards parts that we had not skied yet.

At the top of Red Cloud the plan was to head for the bottom of Northside Express. Chris took the cruise; while I headed for the trees of Oompa Loompa Land, turned the wrong way and ended up back at the bottom of Red Cloud. This time I took Mountain Daisy, the easy run and Chris was still waiting. We took Northside Express and headed for the new area of Empire Canyon, the area which touches Park City.

We turned left at the top of the lift for the first two runs and followed Orion down. On the second run, we ventured down the moguls of Buckeye.

For our final run from Empire, we turned right and skied by feel through the fog on Domingo and then headed back towards Snow Park to meet up at the end of the day.