Skiing Sundance

The initial plan for the trip was to ski during each of the six full days Dad and I spent in Park City: two at Park City Resort, two at Deer Valley, and two at the Canyons. To my muscles' and joints' relief, Dad pre-purchased only one day at Deer Valley, not two, and so we ended up with only five days, an error we chose not to correct in order to relax and watch films during our final day. We enjoyed some unbelievable scenery and perfect snow, but the weather wasn't always great and I was so exhausted by the end of Day Five I was ready to call it quits.

My collection of lift tickets

Note two things: a) the beautiful scenery, and b) the empty runs beneath the chair

 Park City - Park City is a great resort. It was the closest of the three to our condo, and we skied our first and last days there. We had beautiful weather the first day, and not-so-beautiful weather the second day (see picture below). I've done most of my skiing over the past few years at Sierra Summit, a resort near Visalia that has four or five chairs, so it was sort of a strange, but very welcome, scenario when I found myself having to constantly check the map to plan a route. It's pretty hard to get lost at Sierra Summit, but not so at Park City. There were friendly ski patrol people with pointers stationed under each of the large maps who would offer to help if you when you stopped to check. Between the high-speed quads and six-packs (really fast chairs that can hold four or six people respectively) that would get us to the top of runs lickety-split and the near-total lack of lift lines, we got in tons of skiing, at Park City and at the other two resorts. Apparently the mountains are always pretty empty during Sundance.

Whiteout at Park City

The storm that got the best of me at Deer Valle

Deer Valley - Deer Valley is my dad's favorite of the three resorts, and just one terrible day there was enough to convince me that he is right. Even though the weather was abysmal (again, see picture), I was totally sold by the great customer service, swanky lodges, and delectable food Deer Vally offers even before the day cleared up enough for me to enjoy their unbelievable runs. Deer Valley does not allow snowboarders, and the clientele were well-dressed and seemed to appreciate the finer things in life (which was a bit odd to encounter on a ski slope, but there you go). One older gentleman with whom we shared a table while seeking shelter from the storm said that he used to ski Park City until he got tired of the food. Honestly, who thinks about that when picking a place to ski? The food at Deer Valley really is something to get exited about, though. There were antipasti plates and smoked salmon all over the place. I got a grilled cheese sandwich that bordered on sublime and Dad got a bratwurst that looked and smelled so good I almost renounced vegetarianism then and there.

Dad and I use the "warming hut" machine to dry our stuff. You fit whatever's wet over the ends of these pipes and push a button, and warm air blows out. Nothing quite like putting on a newly warmed hat on a chilly day,

I did not use the bathroom at Deer Valley. I lounged.

 Luckily for us, the storm blew itself out around 2:00, leaving us 2 1/2 hours of frantic skiing as we tried to get in as many runs as we could. The sky cleared and we enjoyed some of the best runs I've ever skied, all dusted with fresh powder. Mmmmmm.

Squinty in the gondola that took us to The Canyons

The Canyons - If you love chutes and catwalks, The Canyons is for you. I love neither of those things, but we had the best weather of our trip during our two days at The Canyons, so despite the fact that it was my least favorite of the three, I spent the most time skiing there. My biggest complaints were that the runs were, for the most part, just narrow chutes, and that the mountain was really spread out so that getting from one place to another required lots of forward planning and lots of poling across nearly flat catwalks before getting to the next chairlift on the agenda. It's harder to turn while going down the narrow chutes, which was a bit of a pain, but my biggest annoyances were when I'd get stuck behind a hesitant skier and have no way to get around them. Dad and I did find a chair that I really liked a lot though, one that took us to the top of the mountain to ski a series of black and double-black diamond runs that we had almost entirely to ourselves and provided lots of practice tree and mogul skiing (sometimes on the same run!). The biggest thing The Canyons has going for it, in my opinion is the Orange Bubble Express chair.

 I tend to get pretty cold and therefore pretty miserable when I ski. If I'm going down a run with moguls or something that's steep or has choppy snow I heat up in a hurry because I'm working so hard to keep myself from rolling the rest of the way down the hill. All of that warmth vanishes, however, during the ten minutes I sit motionless on the chair back up the mountain. By the time I reach the top I'm usually freezing and crabby. Enter the bubble chairs.

This glorious lift features chairs that protect the riders in a snug orange bubble, complete with footrest, for the duration of the ride. Unfortunately, Dad and I didn't like any of the runs it led to, so we rode it just once for the experience. 

Shot through the orange bubble

My favorite chair at The Canyons

Entrance to the ladies' room at The Canyons, a sight which caused my Dad to murmur, "Toto, we're not at Deer Valley anymore."

 I had a great time skiing the huge resorts in Park City. The snow was fantastic and the variety of runs available a real treat. I feel like I really improved after all the practice I got in. I've got two ski trips in the works for February, both here on the east coast. Now that I'm hopelessly spoiled, I'm not much looking forward to seeing how the other half lives.