Park City
Monday 21 February 2000

By now the start of day was a well worn ritual. Arrive about 10 minutes before the first lifts open (normally First Time and Three Kings) and struggle into cold boots. By the time we were booted up, lifts were running and we could take First Time to get enough height to have a choice of lifts to go further up the mountain, or Eagle to get straight up to King Con ridge. On this day we took the latter route.

In previous years, the level of the snow was up to 2 feet above the level of the car park. This year, snow levels were well below average and the snow was barely level with the car park. [The start of the season was delayed and the traditional World Cup race cancelled and even by February, snow conditions at the base area were only just acceptable].

[Map of groomed runs]  [List of groomed runs]

The view from King Con Ridge

There are great views down towards the top of the First Time lift and resort center from King Con ridge. The top photograph clearly shows the extent to which the First Time ridge run has been widened compared to previous years.

Pioneer lift and Blueslip bowl

However, any intermediate skier finding themselves at the top of the run will have an immediate panic attack. The top of the run is steep and very heavily mogulled. In fact the run is probably steeper and more difficult that almost any of the blacks around Thaynes lift.

Chris slipped near the top but apart from that we got down comfortably which gave us a lot of confidence.

From the lift it didn't look too steep. That was deceiving. After an easy traverse to get to the top of the bowl proper it was clear that it deserves its rating. The photographs give some indication of the slope, but don't really capture the challenge of the "first turn" after gave us confidence to ski the rest of the slope reasonably comfortably.

There was a long run out back to the lift and we lost John, who disappeared into the trees.

McConkey's Bowl

The top of McConkey's Bowl

All morning, we had virtually no waits for any of the lifts we were using. First Time was rather different, with all of the beginner lessons dependent on just the one lift. Even over lunch time, progress towards the front of the queue was frequently halted to let ski school in.

It was a glorious day, and we enjoyed two runs together down First Time and then one down Home Run to the resort center where Sue stopped for a rest. The boys and I headed back up the mountain with runs off Payday, Bonanza and Pioneer before once again returning to McConkey's.

We were gradually getting more adventurous and increasing the number of black runs.

Although shown as blue on the trail map, Buckeye, like Sunrise, is steep, ungroomed and covered in moguls.

Next run we ventured back into McConkey's Bowl, entering slightly higher up than earlier in the day. By the time we had finished, it was time to think about getting back to the bottom. (It wasn't closing time, but we were all getting rather tired, and the weather was taking a turn for the worse, with clouds and snow flurries).

For the run down to the bottom, I took Crescent and Waterfall, both with their share of moguls. Chris and John came down Crescent, but decided that their legs were not up to Waterfall as well.

Looking towards McConkey's bowl from the top of Pioneer