Park City
Thursday 28 January 2010

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

I started to Ski at around 9:45 am. It was pretty cold and with no preparation at all, I was curious to find out how well my legs and knees would stand up to skiing. I started with a brief run down Homerun from the top of First Time. 

09:50 Under First Time

09:50 Eagle and the race hill

Turns still worked on the short run down from First Time, so the next run was on Crescent with the intention of skiing down to the bottom of Claimjumper. There was just a hint of sunshine at the top of Crescent, but Claimjumper down to the botton of Silverlode lift was back down in the clouds.

09:54 Crescent	09:54 Alpine coaster
09:59 Crescent lift (still in the mist)	10:02 The top of Crescent lift and just a hint of sunshine

In fact, I didn't stop at the bottom of Claimjumper but carried on down Broadway to the bottom of King Consolidated. Snow conditions were superb, there was clearly a lot of fresh snow and powder off the groomed trails. The groomed slopes had hardly been skiied on. By now, clouds had started to thin out giving some hope of a little bit of warmth later on. A quick run straight down King Con face took me to Silverlode.

10:11 Almost deserted slopes under King Con

10:11 King Con

With no queue at all for Silverlode, I got a private six pack. Although still cloudy at the bottom, there was sunlight and deep blue skies at the summit, and turned back under the lift for a quick run down Parley's Park and Prospector. When we first started coming to Park City, Prospector face was a black, it has now been downgraded to a double blue and is groomed most days. The cloud level was obvious in the valley.

10:19 Silverlode	10:19 Silverlode
10:23 In the sun above the clouds at the top of Silverlode	10:23 In the sun above the clouds at the top of Silverlode
10:26 Prospector relegated to double blue	10:26 Prospector relegated to double blue

There was still no queue for Silverlode, so once again I got a private six-pack. This time I headed down towards Mid Mountain and the bottom of McConkey's lift, using a new gladed run, Mid Mountain Meadows.

McConkeys was also deserted. The view from the top was, as usual, very impressive, with lots of clouds at lower levels. Looking for an easy day, I took the groomed Georgeanna run down to Woodside, the flatish run down to the bottom of the lift. Georgeanna tracks the top of the ridge that separates Park City from Deer Valley and then snakes back through the trees before the trail steepens.

10:39 The bottom of McConkey's	10:45 From the ridge above McConkey's Bowl
10:45 From the ridge above McConkey's Bowl	10:47 Georgeanna run

My plan for the day involved skiing as many different lifts as possible. First of all the long slow Pioneer triple lift, for the first time fitted with restraining bars. By now the weather was really clear with bright sunlight everywhere. I switched from goggles to sunglasses. Pioneer gains enough height to allow me to take Keystone down to Thaynes Canyon. Usually groomed, Keystone is the easiest run on the backside of the ridge.

10:53 Mid Mountain	10:53 The bottom of McConkey's
10:53 The bottom of McConkey's	11:01 Pioneer
11:01 McConkey's Bowl	11:01 Jupiter Peak
11:02 The top of Pioneer	11:02 The top of Pioneer

Time to head down to meet Sue for coffee. Thaynes is slow but relatively short. Silver Queen, originally a narrow black is now much wider and downgraded to double-blue. This time is marked the transition from sunlight into fog, which still blanketed the base area.

11:10 Sun through the trees from Thaynes	11:17 Dropping into the mist on Silver Queen
11:18 Dropping into the mist on Silver Queen

I stopped for about 15 minutes for coffee at the base area. My legs still felt OK, so I left Sue with a promise to meet her sometime between 1:00 and 1:30pm.

This time, I took the popular route vie Payday and Bonanza up to the summit, breaking through into the sun again at the bottom of Bonanza. Looking to ride another lift, Parley's Park and Sunnyside took me to the bottom of Motherlode.

11:48 Still overcast at the base

11:48 Still overcast at the base

12:01 Emerging from the mist on Bonanza

12:02 Emerging from the mist on Bonanza

Motherlode is a very slow lift, providing plenty of recovery time as it crosses almost all of the runs on the backside of the ridge. From the top of the lift I took the easy route down to the bottom of McConkey's lift.

12:12 Thaynes Canyon from Motherlode

12:16 Jupiter Bowl

This time, from the top of McConkeys, I took the slightly more challenging route down Tycoon, steeper than Georgeanna and not groomed in the last 24 hours.

12:35 Looking across the top of McConkey's Bowl

My legs are getting tired, so the long slow ride up Pioneer provides recovery time. This lift was installed in 1984, so has not changed in a 1/4 of a century. Getting close to the end of the day, I wanted to get to the bottom of Eagle chair, so took Homerun and Silver Queen.

12:42 Bumps under the bottom of Pioneer

As I start to ride Eagle it is around 1pm, so I have just half an hour before I am due to meet Sue for lunch. By now, the cloud has lifted even at resort level. A run down Temptation took me to the bottom of King Consolidated. The slopes are still almost deserted and there is no queue for the lift.

13:03 Freestyle hill and half pipe under Eagle

13:03 Half pipe under Eagle

The view from King Con Ridge towards the Resort Center doesn't change much from year to year. I took Gotcha Cut-Off  almost all the way down and took the bottom of Ladies SL.

13:19 The base area from King Con Ridge

13:19 The base area from King Con Ridge

By the time I got to the base area, I had had enough. Almost 17000' of vertical .. a respectable first day of the season.

Runs

Last updated: 03/02/2010