Thursday turns at Deer Valley. The snow in Utah is at epic levels right now. The latest snowstorm dumped upwards of 73 inches in the mountains. It wasn't the pristine Utah fluff but it wasn't Sierra cement either. Deer Valley had plenty of it and still soft crud with the trees having untracked thigh deep powder. I apologize for the lack of photo's on these post but I'm skiing not taking a lot of pics.
Thursday was a bluebird day after 3-4 days of dumpage. I made it to the Jordanelle gondola later than I wanted to but still found a parking stall. Rode the shuttle to the base and picked up my Ski Utah Yeti pass and loaded the Gondola for a day of adventure.
Today is the first time I have skied Deer Valley. I have wanted to for a long time but couldn't afford it, but the Yeti pass made it possible. Background, in college me and a few other students at CEU decided to create a ski club and we set up our first trip to Park City in 1981 and we stayed at the Homestead in Midway Utah. Upon arriving we checked in and two other gentlemen were trying to check in as well. One spoke broken English and the other not a word of English. We learned that they were there to meet with their life long friend Stein Erickson, who had just created Deer Valley. They were there to look over and help finance the buying of and building of the area called Mayflower. The homestead was filled and they arrived a night earlier than planned and we had just taken the last open rooms with our reservation. We talked with them and the desk clerk and gave them one of our rooms for the night and we would double up in one of ours. Great decision, these gentlemen treated us to a greater weekend than planned. They bought our dinner and all we could drink. They met us that evening at the famed hot tubs and the one that couldn't speak English introduced us to snow diving. He hopped out of the hot tub, ran outside and dove into the snow bank, returned and jumped back into the hot tub. His partner explained that it's a tradition in their country, so we all had to give it a try, with many screams and yelps we all dove into the snow bank and back into the hot tub. The girls that were with us thought we were nuts, but we convinced them to do it and it was great hearing them hit the snow and back into the hot tub with screams. We had a great evening learning of traditions and sharing what stories we could between us. That next morning they met us for breakfast and again paid for us, and invited us to meet them for dinner that evening after our ski day. They took care of us again that evening after their meeting with Stein Erickson. They didn't stay and eat with us just left an open tab for us! Great weekend for poor college students.
Thursday was epic and I learned that the resort is huge and it takes you a couple hours to cover it from east to west. The only bummer was by the time I made it back to where I started I was exhausted and my legs were fried, so I didn't make it to the famed Mayflower lift. One more reason I am focusing on my conditioning from here on out so I can make more runs every day. The folks at Deer Valley and friendly and very helpful. There were no lift lines to speak of I waited maybe 3 minutes in one liftline. The Expressway lifts are all detachable quads and fast to the top. That being said there isn't much rest time riding the lifts between runs, hence the reason I was toasted quickly. The groomed runs were spectacular, non-groomed runs were good and steep with soft bumps. They have courtesy cabins all over the mountain and beautiful lodges. I will make a return trip and ski Mayflower, shoot I may put in an application and work there next season. Miles of trails to ski that I didn't get to. Keep your tips up and ski on!!
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