Park City
Wednesday 18 February 1998

Weather

Conditions

Overall

A great day!

Chris had obviously recovered from whatever was ailing him the previous day and when I asked him what we wanted to do, there was no hesitation .. Jupiter Bowl.

The omens were not good. It was snowing as we left the restaurant after breakfast. Our usual first lift ride on First Time was cold and Sue decided that she would not ski until it warmed up a little.

Signs at the top of Turtle Trail	Sue at the top of First Time

Chris and I headed up Eagle, King Con and Silverlode to reach the Summit. [The new six-pack lifts to the Summit are very fast, but on the wrong day, seriously cold with no opportunity to warm up between them.] Temptation, the ungroomed face to the left of King Con and a run down Prospector warned us up somewhat and as clouds gathered even more thickly and snow fell we headed for Pioneer, Jupiter Access and finally Jupiter itself.

	A bit late for this sign .. there is nowhere else to go at the top of the lift!
Chris at the top of Jupiter lift	Mike at the top of Jupiter lift
The ridge leading to Jupiter peak	The West Face of Jupiter Bowl and Thaynes Canyon

The snow started to abate as we climbed to the top of the bowl for the first time and there was even a hint of sun. Taking advantage of the information gleaned from the tour the previous day, I led off towards the West Face. Quickly, I collided with a branch across what I thought was the traverse we took the previous day and Chris crashed into me from behind.

Once we got to the end of the traverse, it was clear that conditions were pretty well ideal, with enough new snow to provide fresh powder but no so much to make turning difficult or dangerous. I don't think I went quite as far as we did on the previous day and the slope we reached was rather steeper than I intended. We both fell a couple of times, but not heavily and Chris was ready for more when we got to the bottom.

Chris on the West Face of Jupiter Bowl	Mike on the West Face of Jupiter Bowl

The next trip up, we came down Shadow Ridge more or less under the lift line. This is probably the least steep way down, but is heavily mogulled at the top.

On the third run, we turned right from the top of the lift and traversed across to Portuguese Gap. The top part of this face, reached by hiking is a cornice. By traversing we started below this, where a quite broad slope funnels down into a narrow chute through trees. The run out to the lift involves crossing a frozen lake. Unfortunately, Chris fell in the middle and had a long walk to the next downhill stretch.

Chris with a long walk in front of him He fell on the long flat run out at the bottom of Scott's Bowl.	The base of Jupiter lift

Jupiter Bowl - The West Face

We managed three more runs before time (and our legs) gave out. To get down to the resort center, we cruised the whole length of Thaynes Valley to the King Con lift and then took Gotcha Cut-off down towards lunch. Chris did not fancy Ladies SL but we took it anyway and it turned out to be a really good run. The moguls were pretty regular, soft and forgiving and before we knew it we were down in the valley and the run down to the Resort Center.

After lunch we went for distance with a large number of high speed runs off King Con and Silverlode.

The bottom of King Con lift
	Gradually conditions worsened with low clouds and some snow flurries. Visibility was very flat and at times, the top of Silverlode lift and Prospector run were enveloped in fog. We milked every vertical foot we could out of the afternoon, including one extra run off Bonanza on the way back to the resort center. Even with the slow lift and challenging skiing of Jupiter Bowl in the morning we managed nearly 30,000 vertical feet in the day.
Prospector run and Silverlode chair shrouded in cloud

Vertical (feet)

Runs

Last updated: 21/02/00