Deer Valley
Friday 29 January 2010

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

I started just before 9:30. It was pretty cold (when we passed Kimble Junction the thermometer on our car was registering just 2°F) but the sun was shining, so there was every chance that the temperature would warm up considerably. Deer Valley was a lot busier than Park City on the previous day. I started by taking Carpenter and then a quick run down to Wasatch trying to find the side of the resort in the early morning sun.

09:34 Carpenter Lift	09:35 Carpenter Lift
09:40 The top of Carpenter Lift

Snow conditions were absolutely superb and by the time I started skiing down Stein's Way it didn't seem any colder than the previous day, so I was able to ski in my prescription glasses. Stein's Way down to the bottom of Mayflower lift is quite a long run, around 2000' vertical. It appeared to be blue on the grooming report .. it was definitely black on all the signs, but groomed all the way. Mayflower is a very slow triple lift, so provided plenty of recovery time. High clouds meant that there is not a lot of heat from a very watery sun.

(1400) : Star Stein's Way

09:49 Jordanelle Reservoir from Bald Mountain	09:49 The top of Stein's Run
09:49 The top of Stein's Run	09:50 The top of Stein's Run

From the top of  Mayflower  I took the double-blue groomed Perseverence run down to the bottom of Sultan. Although not a particularly difficult run, it was not very pleasant. Almost totally in shade, it was hard to see whether there were any problems with the surface. There weren't any, this was Deer Valley and this early in the day, the grooming was immaculate.

09:58 Mayflower Lift

Sultan Express is a long express lift. The bottom part was cold, in shade. The top was in bright sunshine. The rest of the resort seemed to be bathed in sunshine so one run down took me to Birdseye and the top of Flagstaff Mountain.

10:16 The top of Wasatch Express	10:16 The top of Sterling Express

I rode up Quincy Express with someone who lives in Florida in the summer and Park City in the winter. This seems the wrong way round, but I encountered several people who did the same. My plan was to take Sidewinder down to the bottom of Northside. It didn't work out that way. I started off on Sidewinder, but then decided to fit in a run on Silver Strike, cutting across a little bit of rough stuff onto Blue Bell and Gemini.

Silver Strike is a relatively new lift built to serve an area of condos, for some strange reason also called Silver Strike. This time I did take the gently winding Sidewinder down. When I was younger, I skied down this run fast enough to turn only with the curves of the run. I am now skiing a little more conservatively, so more turns are needed.

10:32 Silver Strike Express	10:32 Silver Strike Express
10:32 Silver Strike Express

A quick run up Northside and then down Bandana   towards the Empire Bowl area. I was tempted to stop for coffee and to warm-up, but decided to take another couple of runs first.

Heading up Empire Express, I once again had a private lift. IT was still chilly with just hazy sunshine and, in contrast to the base area earlier on, almost nobody on the slopes. My plan is to head off down Supreme and cut across Pearl and Webster to the bottom of the newest lift, Lady Morgan Express. This was a lovely cruise down. I was surprised by how much lower the bottom of Lady Morgan is that the Empire Canyon Lodge.

10:51 Empire Chutes	10:52 Empire Express Lift
10:55 View across Empire Bowl	10:56 View across Empire Bowl
10:56 View across Empire Bowl	10:56 Empire Bowl
10:56 Supreme run

Another private chair up Lady Morgan Express. In fact, there were four empty chairs in front of me, so no queues yet. The top of lift is right on the ridge above Park City, so there is plenty of scope for joint tickets at some stage in the future. Looking down to the bottom of the lift, the area is full of cranes building new condos. Now I was ready to stop for a coffee break and I discovered why the slopes were empty -- finding a seat was hard.

11:04 Lady Morgan Lift	11:05 Rock under Lady Morgan Lift
11:06 Ski Partrol at the top of Lady Morgan Lift	11:06 Flagstaff Mountain
11:06 Bald Mountain and Flagstaff Mountain	11:06 Empire Lodge
11:07 Empire Lodge

After a 15 minute break it was time to plan for rest of the morning. It is quite a hike across to Ruby Express from the lodge, so I decided to take another run up Lady Morgan Express and down Dakota and Supreme to get some momentum to reach the lift back to Flagstaff Mountain. There are more clouds around now, so the temperature is not going to climb much further. My plan didn't work, so I still had an energetic session of polling.

Just before 11:45, I was heading up Ruby Express and back towards the main part of Deer Valley. After a short lift ride, it was the long cruise down Ontario and Homeward Bound  back to Silver Lake Village. I stopped briefly where a little girl was lying flat out in the middle of the trail. It turned out she was resting, her parents were behind her in the trees.

11:46 Trees under Ruby Express	11:46 Ruby Express Lift
11:46 Ruby Express Lift

I was trying to use as many lifts as possible, so took a ride up Sterling Express to the top of Bald Mountain and Nabob down to the bottom of Crown Point lift.

11:58 Choice of runs at the top of Bald Mountain	11:59 Sterling Lift with Park City runs in the background

Crown Point is a very old twin chair up from the bottom of Wasatch up to the top of the original residential area. The slopes under the lift are in the sun for most of the day, so are a good indicator of the quality of the snow cover. When I rode the lift, there was deep snow cover on the bushes under the lift, showing the depth of recent snowfalls. To finish the day, I planned a number of runs from Little Baldy, the peak overlooking Snow Park lodge. Starting with Kimberley through the condos, I continued along Navigator and Deer Hollow to the bottom of Deer Crest lift passing the (to my mind) hideous slopeside St. Regis Hotel. This run afforded the most amazing panoramic views across Snow Park to the rest of Deer Valley and the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort.

12:04 Under Crown Point lift	12:04 Under Crown Point lift
12:04 Crown Point Lift	12:06 Shadow under Crown Point Lift
12:06 Shadow under Crown Point Lift	12:10 Snow Park area from Navigator
12:11 Snow Park area from Navigator	12:11 View from Navigator
12:11 Navigator run	12:12 St. Regis Deer Crest Resort

Deer Crest is a slow fixed quad chair up to Deer Crest on the peak of Little Baldy. At the top, I decided that my legs were good for at least one more run, so I skied straight down Jordanelle along the ridge above the Deer Crest condos down to the bottom of Jordanelle gondola. This was great fun, not particularly difficult and well-groomed. The run was almost deserted, so I could ski at my pace without having to pass anyone, or having anyone haring past me.

12:16 Deer Crest lift	12:21 View from Deer Crest
12:21 Deer Crest lift

I enjoyed the run down Jordanelle so much, that I did it again .. and again .. and a fourth time, only stopping because the time I agreed to meet Sue for lunch was approaching. The runs up the gondola were fascinating, showing the interlacing of roads and ski trails that mean that every condo has both road and ski-in, ski-out access.

12:45 Roads in Deer Crest	12:46 Private ski runs on Deer Crest
12:46 Condos and private ski runs on Deer Crest	12:47 Condos on Deer Crest

By the time I got back to Snow Park via  Deer Hollow, Little Stick and Solid Muldoon it was time for lunch. I could probably have done one or two more runs, but decided not to. What a great morning with beautiful snow conditions, good light, reasonable temperatures and an almost total absence of queues. Thank you Deer Valley!

13:06 St. Regis Deer Crest Resort	13:07 St. Regis Deer Crest Resort

Runs

Last updated: 22/02/2010