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It’s not that often that the planets align. I find that they don’t give you much notice either. It just happens, and you either nail it or you miss out.

Yesterday’s post about skiing Snowbird and my subsequent exit from the office was perhaps one of those moments that the planets aligned. Then again, if you’ve been skiing in Utah this winter the planets have aligned far too many times than we likely deserve. So was it a good call? You can be the judge.

Evidence #1

Taken by Ski Utah’s Chris Pearson, this gem made Snowbird’s photo of the day.

Evidence #2

Evidence #3

And to top if off, the sunset looked absolutely awesome coming down the canyon late in the day

16″ of new at Snowbird and it’s May 1. MAY FIRST! Remember that “April showers bring May flowers” stuff? Well, the flowers aren’t blooming because it’s still snowing! I tried to tell myself that work was more important. Really, I did. But it’s too much, I can’t take it any longer. Mental anguish is setting in.

If you’re feeling much the same, there is a cure. Go to Snowbird now!!! Drop what you’re doing, start coughing, take a LONG lunch, whatever…just go! You can pull it off, I know you can! I’ve done it before, trust me.

Three reasons to ski have added up to tip the scales.

Reason #1

Reason #2

Reason #3

My cousin just called from the Peruvian Lift at Snowbird. The conversation was something like this:

“Dude, get out here! It’s awesome, regardless of what the calendar says. [hoots and hollers in the background] It’s skiing like 2″, thigh shots are the norm, the occasional face shot and it’s not nearly close to being tracked out…oh yea, and it’s still dumping. Hey, gotta go, my phone is getting snow all over it. Later”

I’m out!

Yes, just one last resort in Utah remains open.

With the closing of Snowbasin this past Sunday, Snowbird Resort is the last remaining lift served option for sliding on snow. Of course you could hike for some turns, like Jessica posted about from this past Friday, but when you can have the resort to yourself it’s pretty much a no brainer to hit Snowbird.

Speaking of Friday, they posted a video highlighting the powder from last Friday that you need to watch. (that’s your cue to click the link)

They’ve got some spring vacation’s starting at $79 per person that include lift tickets. Be sure that you indulge yourself in the Utah Spring Triathlon when you’re here in May. It’s tough to beat.

At 4:57 a.m. my cell phone rings, “Jessica, where are you? I am in your drive way.” Normal girls would be frightened by a phone call at that hour in the morning, but I knew that meant it was time for me to hustle. As I hurried to grab my skis and backcountry gear, I couldn’t help but feel a little hard core. Why was I leaving the house at 5:00 a.m.? I was headed out on a ritual practiced by passionate skiers with real jobs, a love for early morning light and a lust for powder called “dawn patrol.”

Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon received over 12 inches of snow the previous afternoon giving the snow time to settle and the clouds time to clear. Chris Pearson (a.k.a. Piercey) Ski Utah creative director, Nathan Rafferty Ski Utah president and I (Jessica Kunzer director of communications) headed out from the Alta Lodge parking lot at 5:30 a.m. Our original plan was a quick easy tour up Flagstaff. After some consideration, we realized that it was APRIL 25 and we had a foot of new snow and clear skies! This day deserved some real celebration. “I’ve always wanted to ski Mount Superior,” said Nathan. Chris immediately agreed. I bemoaned the idea of the longer hike but agreed that Superior would be worth it, and with that we headed off for our early morning hike.

The hike was strenuous but glorious under the rising sun. We reached the summit three hours later at 8:30 a.m. After some celebratory photos on the summit we decided to ski the ‘Pinball Alley’ line. We skirted down the ridge a little and examined our line. The snow was spring powder for sure, spongy and soft, releasing some slough with each turn on steep pitches. We danced our way down the peak and the conditions proved to be incredibly enjoyable. After all, it was April 25. Piercey, who happens to be an excellent photographer as well as skier, was able to capture some great pictures of the conquest.

Some backcountry lines stare you in the face and tempt you to trespass onto their sacred terrain. Superior is one of those lines. I am proud to say that the office staff of Ski Utah was well equipped for the challenge. Superior…..check!

A buddy of mine was looking for a new bed for his dog and came upon and article and interview that Glenn Close had written for fetchdog.com after a visit to Utah where she skied Sundance Resort. Wait a second. I knew she was an actress. But a skier, dog lover and a writer? You go girl, right on!

The article is about her experience while skiing Sundance with her husband David when she became acquainted with the avalanche dog Mick and his trainer Tracy Christensen who is on ski patrol. She and David had the chance to be in “a problem” for the avalanche dog. Of this experience she said:

Fascinated by Mick’s talents and by the amazing affection and trust we saw between Mick and Tracy, my husband, David, and I volunteered to participate in what the ski patrol calls “a problem.” They would carve out a coffin-sized hole on the side of the mountain and we would crawl into it and be buried for as long as it took Mick to find us. It was dark and scary in that hole, but around the 15-minute mark, we heard Mick barking above us and were “saved.”

From the arcitle Tracy speaks of how he chose Mick to be an avalanche dog

GC: How did Mick come into your life?
TC: I was amazed with avalanche dogs and how skilled the handlers and the dogs are. When Sundance had an open dog handler position, my ski patrol director gave me the “ok” to start the search for a good working dog. I looked around at several litters of dogs, there was just something about Mick - I knew he was it. I just had a feeling about this big-pawed clumsy puppy, and I just knew we were going to be a team.

The bulk of the article is an interesting inerview about Mick and Tracy but the video narrated by Glenn is worth watching so check it out on FetchDog.com

Many of the resorts that have closed are reflecting upon the season and this video is awesome for doing just that. Watching it is like reliving the great season that it was. Enjoy…

Check out The Canyons video page for more eye candy.

I’ve enjoyed skiing Park City Mountain Resort this past season. If there was one thing I’d change it would be to improve the uphill capacity from the base. They must have been reading my mind.

On Wednesday they announced $10.5 million in improvements for the 2008-09 winter season including a new high-speed chairlift, terrain enhancements and renovation of the Mid-Mountain Lodge.

The new high-speed quad chair lift, Crescent lift, will replace and realign the existing Ski Team fixed-grip double chairlift. Unlike the existing lift, which begins several hundred yards uphill from the main base area along the Homerun trail, the new lift will begin near the base of the ski resort and extend to Crescent Ridge, also known as Ski Team Ridge. The new lift will lessen the load on the PayDay high-speed six-pack lift during peak times, and provide increased access to the ski area’s front-side runs, which are some of the resort’s best advanced ski terrain. The new lift takes guests almost twice as far as the existing Ski Team lift and in less time. In addition, the new lift will provide access to a majority of the resort and direct access to lifts including Silverlode, Bonanza, King Con, PayDay, Town, Pioneer and McConkey’s.

I’m already looking forward to the first day of riding the Crescent lift next season!

Years ago, long before Deer Valley was the top rated ski resort that it is, miners sought treasures of gold, silver, copper, iron and other precious metals below what is now the various runs at Deer Valley like Tycoon, Legal Tender and Orion. The treasure I was seeking yesterday at Deer Valley was the white untracked kind of treasure and find it I did!

It’s funny when “hard core” skiers talk about Deer Valley, sometimes dismissing it almost immediately for lacking this or lacking that. While Deer Valley has it’s share of steeps including Daly Chutes, Daly Bowl, Mayflower Bowl, Lady Morgan area and Ontario Bowl those areas of the trail map aren’t reason enough to sway the Alta faithful or the Powder Mountain regulars away from their beloved hills. And that’s perfectly ok with me.

As a powder hungry skier, the real gem of Deer Valley are the trees. While I absolutely enjoy the impeccable groomed runs, particularly the steep ones like Steins Way, Wizard and Perseverance I get all giddy inside every time I ski there after a storm at what lies in the trees. Just a few feet away from those very runs I just listed lie hundreds of turns in untracked powder…just waiting to be skied.

Triangle Trees on the left, slivers of trees holding untracked powder on the right

So it was yesterday when skiing with my 9 year old son who earned a “get out of school for a powder day” card that we plundered the trees of Deer Valley which held 6-12″ of Utah’s finest.

What kid doesn’t love to search out jumps? Deer Valley has plenty!

We skied until our legs couldn’t ski any longer. When we weren’t hitting the trees off of Solid Muldoon we would rally down Success to the “ski luge” that is under the Carpenter Express. (Even big kids like me love a good tree trail like this one.) When taking a break from the Triangle Trees we’d carve down Tycoon going making big arcs as we had the run to ourselves.

Everywhere we went the powder was there for the taking. Lift lines were non-existent and many runs we skied were shared with one, perhaps two others at most. After skiing Keno to Legal Tender, quite likely one of the more popular areas on the entire mountain, McKinley turned to me mentioning that we had Deer Valley to ourselves. He was spot on.

From his 9 year old perspective, as a solid blue skier who is earning his black run courage one at a time, he couldn’t get enough of Deer Valley. From the lower mountain of Bald Eagle, to Bald Mountain, over to Flagstaff, and even a couple laps on Empire he ate it up.

Despite our pillaging of powder stash after powder stash in Deer Valley’s trees, an army of dad’s with their nine year old son’s couldn’t have gotten it all. But we tried, and along the way we both fell in love with Deer Valley once again.

It is a sad day indeed when I start reading this kind of news. Sorry to break it to you, but better to be in the know than up at the mountain with no place to go but back down to the valley.

Tentative resort closing dates are as follows:

Alta: 4/13 + 4/18-20
Brian Head: 4/13
Beaver Mountain: closed
Brighton: 4/20
Canyons: 4/13
Deer Valley: 4/13
Park City Mountain Resort: 4/13
Powder Mountain: 4/13
Snowbasin 4/20
Snowbird: 5/26 (Open Fri.-Sun. only after May 11)
Solitude: 4/13
Sundance: closed
Wolf Mountain: closed

I knew it was going to be good. When Alta reports 17″ in one day and Snowbird is showing 12″ on the Snow Cam by 1pm the only thing to do is to shut down the computer and take care of business. After seeing the Snow Cam yesterday I headed up for some late afternoon skiing under my own foot power, just down canyon from Snowbird in Scotty’s Bowl. Scotty’s has seen a lot of tracks this year since the White Pine gates at Snowbird have been open so much. But yesterday, it didn’t matter.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story. (click the images to see them in larger size)

Just as we got to the top the sun broke through and above the clouds.

One turn down, 400 more to go.

Hmmm, where to turn, where to turn?

Are you sure it’s April? I swear it feels like mid January.

With the forecast calling for another 6-10″ tomorrow there is not an acceptable excuse for missing out on this storm. CALL IN SICK, you’ll thank me later. And if you do miss it, you’ll regret doing so come July so save yourself the mental anguish by going skiing tomorrow or Thursday.

–photos by Matt Rink