Deer Valley
Thursday 22 February 2001

Weather

Sunny in the morning, with just the occasional cloud. Clouded over after lunch with a few flurries of snow.

Conditions

Powder and packed powder.

The Story of the Day

Conditions were pretty nigh perfect in the morning, with blue skies, not a cloud in the sky and perfectly groomed snow. We didn't set out to break any records, but by the end of the day Chris and I had skied more vertical than any day before.


Flags at the base area


Carpenter Express Lift

 We started off with a run up Carpenter Express to the top of Bald Eagle Mountain and on down across the flat area at Silver Lake to the lifts on Flagstaff Mountain.
One run on the seriously slow Red Could lift took us across to Northside Express and its 5 runs facing into the morning sun and softening beautifully. Early in the morning, the area was almost deserted, so we were able to ski fast and get straight onto the lift at the bottom. Sidewinder was particularly good. With no-one around we were able to ski from top to bottom, treating it like a downhill run and just turning with the trail. By 10am, we had already clocked up 8300'.


Empire Canyon from Northside Express Lift


Trail signs at the top of Empire Canyon

Chris on the moguls of Domingo

View from the top of Lady Morgan Bowl

 Next to Empire Canyon, where we took four runs from the fast Empire lift. 
  • The first was relatively easy, cruising down Solace and Conviction
  • The second was more challenging, taking the moguls of Domingo
  • The third was a little easier, with the short challenge of Orion at the top.
  • The fourth took in the moguls and trees of Lady Morgan Bowl
Needing a quick rest stop, we headed back to the top of Flagstaff Mountain via Ruby lift and then took the long easy cruise taking in Ontario, Trump and Homeward Bound to down to the Silver Lake area.


The runs under Ruby Lift


The view towards Silver Lake Lodge from Mabob

 There was still time before lunch, so we squeezed in three runs from the Wasatch Express lift before heading down to the base to meet Sue for lunch. It was not all easy skiing; two of the three runs were black, Reward and Rattler.

By lunchtime the vertical was up to more than 18700'. Chris and I didn't day anything to each other, but I think we were both thinking about making this a big day.
After lunch we took a couple of gentle runs with Sue on Wide West. Deer Valley was great for Sue being able to do reports, but the skiing opportunities were very limited, just two lifts and to all intents and purposes just the one very wide easy run.

We left her to do a couple more runs and then headed off to clock up some more vertical, and visit all five summits in the process.


Sue skiing on Wide West

Chris and Sue                        Mike and Sue

Sue on Snowflake Lift



Views from Quincy lift

 Getting across to Empire Canyon involves one of two slow lifts on Flagstaff Mountain. Normally we chose the shorter of the two, Red Cloud, which meant taking Northside Express to the top of the mountain for the trail down towards Empire Canyon.

This time, we took the longer Quincy lift to right to the top and the cruise down Bandana, one of the more difficult green runs.
By this time, the weather was beginning to change. The view from the top of Empire Canyon showed clouds building up. This time we took three runs
  • A cruise down Orion
  • One run down  Lady Morgan Bowl, interesting with moguls at the top, bushes in the middle and a bumpy exit track through the trees
  • Finally a run down the moguls on Domingo under the lift

There were more moguls in Guardsman's Glade as we made our way back across Flagstaff Mountain.


The ridge at the top of Empire Canyon

Lady Morgan bowl


Sterling Lift on Bald Eagle Mountain

 We finished a hard day with some cruising.

For the first (and last) time in the week we took the slow Sterling lift to the top of Bald Eagle Mountain and then one run off Wasatch Express and then a cruise from the top of Little Baldy Peak to the bottom of the Jordanelle gondola.

When we got back to base, there was just time for one more run from Carpenter Express down Solid Muldoon to bring the total vertical up to almost 33500 feet.
On our trips to Park City, we always fit in one visit to Texas Red's barbecue on Main Street. Over the years it has gone down market, moving to paper plates, but the food is still good and it is always crowded.

It offers plenty of photo opportunities for Sue's teddy.




At Texas Red's


By the time we left Texas Red's it was snowing quite heavily, which augured well for the following day.

Runs

Lift Vertical Easy Runs Intermediate Runs Top Intermediate Runs Advanced Runs
Carpenter 1200 Trainer Silver Link
Red Cloud 800 Mountain Daisy Blue Bell
Northside 900 Lost Boulder
Northside 900 Blue Bell
Northside 900 Sidewinder
Northside 900 Sidewinder
Northside 900 Hawkeye
Northside 900 Lucky Star
Northside 900 Bandana
Empire 1227 Conviction, Solace
Empire 1227 Supreme Domingo
Empire 1227 Orion Orion
Empire 1227 Lady Morgan Bowl
Ruby 750 Ontario, Trump, Homeward Bound, McHenry
Wasatch 1400 Tycoon Reward
Wasatch 1400 Maybob
Wasatch 1400 Wizard Rattler
Crown Point 550 Rising Star Big Stick
Lunch
Snowflake 200 Wide West
Snowflake 200 Wide West
Burns 200 Wide West
Carpenter 1200 Trainer Silver Link
Quincy 1000 Bandana
Empire 1227 Orion Orion
Empire 1227 Supreme Lady Morgan Bowl
Empire 1227 Supreme Domingo
Ruby 750 Hawkeye Guardsman's Glade
Northside 900 Trump, Homeward Bound, Ontario
Sterling 1250 Nabob
Wasatch 1400 Wizard
Crown Point 550 Navigator, Deer Hollow Kimberley
Deer Crest 900 Jordanelle
Jordanelle 1350 Deer Hollow, Little Stick
Carpenter 1200 Solid Muldoon
Finish
Total vertical 33489

Last updated: 23/02/2001