It looks like you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Telemark skiing has come such a long way from the leather lace up boots that I learned on during the winter of ‘92 to today’s equipment like the new Black Diamond tele boots which aren’t far from alpine boots made by Rossignol or other manufacturers. So it only makes sense that more and more people are trying telemark skiing. But those that are trying it aren’t limited to the granola munching tree hugging adult crowd. Kids are getting in on the action too.

With the snow finally falling hard the Tele Tribe – Park City’s local youth telemark ski club – is in full swing. This past Saturday, club organizers Hank Keil and Jaimie Atlas along with The Canyons Resort athlete, Shaun Raskin took to the slopes with an energetic group of young skiers and guest coaches for their fourth weekend this season. The group worked on technique, all-mountain skiing and even showed off a few tricks in the terrain park.

The Tele Tribe meets each Sunday at noon at The Canyons Resort’s Red Pine Lodge. All abilities and ages are welcome but they say that grades 6 to 9 have been the most strongly represented. Never tried tele? No problem as never-evers are welcome but you should contact the Tele Tribe in advance. Cost is $30 dollars per Sunday plus a seasonal insurance fee. Discounted equipment rentals available at White Pine Touring in Park City.

For more info: info [AT] pctelemark DOT org
www.pctelemark.org.

Tomorrow is the start of the SuperFly Open at Powder Mountain.  Don’t know what the SuperFly open is?

I’m talking about kiteboarding!  Still confused?

As an intro, kiteboarding is the generic term for any sport where a colorful kite is strapped to an athlete on surfboard, snowboard, skis, skateboard, etc. It’s a fast growing sport that has found a home here in Utah for those that slide on snow.  But it’s also catching on world wide.  Case in point. 

When the “Google Guys” do anything, the world seems to take notice. It’s a fact - Google’s founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are avid Kite Surfers, which they happen to enjoy mostly in the Pacific ocean of Northern California. 

Can’t relate to the Google Guys?  Ok, so I have a friend who skied powder inbounds and out of bounds every day for years.  After living and skiing in Utah for over a decade he up and moved to the Gulf of Mexico full time solely because he can kiteboard every day. Once in a while he’ll make his way to the mountains but in his words he said, “skiing powder has nothing on kiteboarding”. 

If you’ve ever watched hot air balloons launching, imagine someone on a pair of skis or snowboard ripping across the horizon using a special parachute and you’ll have some inkling of the intrigue of this sport.

Head up to Powder Mountain Friday-Sunday this weekend to catch a glimpse of this new sport.  Powder Mountain is the only ski area in Utah that offers a specific day pass for snow kiters, which provides access to the Sunrise Poma lift that accesses ideal terrain and winds for Snowkiting

There will be introductory kite clinics and you can watch some of the best snow kiters in the world showcase their talent. Powder Mountain’s grooming team has been busy building some fantastic “snow features.” (With over 12 feet of natural snow so far this year, there’s plenty of snow to mold into some EXCITING features!)

Check out www.superflyopen.com for the schedule and other info. 

If you missed my SICK day alert yesterday I hope that you didn’t miss taking a sick day today as it was SICK in the good sense.

I remember my first winter living in Park City during the 96-97 season. During the month of January there was a string of 18 powder days in a row. After anywhere from 6″-18″ overnight, most days dawned bluebird. Sometime after noon it would begin to cloud up and start to snow through the night until the next morning when it would bluebird again. It was like Christmas every day.

After about day 10 it was absolutely absurd to be honest with you. Days blurred together, deep powder runs were obscured in the grey mater by the shear volume of them and every local who dared call himself a local came out of the woodwork to participate in this once in a lifetime event. Little did we know that it would happen a mere 11 years later.

It was while driving to Solitude this morning that I remembered those bluebird days of January 1997. When I hit the sack last night there was no way I could have imagined it dawning bluebird. Solitude had reported 11″ yesterday and another 14″ overnight. It’s like I had traveled back in time.

Honeycomb didn’t open but it wasn’t necessary. A couple of laps off Powder Horn and the Headwall of the Summit Lift got us started. Upon arriving at the top of Summit Nick turned to me saying, “Feel like going to church today?” and I knew it was time to head to the Cathedral for worship. After that, the morning was a blur of untracked lines and cliff hucks. I wish you knew how good Solitude was today, but I’m kinda glad you don’t.

Evidence:

I feel a sick day *cough, cough* day coming on for tomorrow. The flow was initially from the Southwest which generally favors Sundance, Deer Valley/Park City and sometimes Big Cottonwood but Sundance reported zero overnight. Anyone know if that’s not the case?

Now it’s coming in from the Northwest which can favor spots up north like Powder Mountain as well as the Little Cottonwood areas.

Park City managed 9″ and with 11″ overnight at Brighton and Solitude I think Big Cottonwood Canyon will be on the menu for tomorrow.   The “winner” from last night was Brian Head down south with 12″ and it looks like they are getting more today as well.

I’ll let you figure out if it’ll be a sick day based on the doppler radar image I just snagged off of weather.com.

Deer Valley Resort will host the Visa Freestyle International on February 1st and 2nd, 2008. This year’s event will include Aerials, Dual Moguls and for the first time ever in North America at a World Cup level, a Ski Cross competition. Live entertainment will be held on-snow in the venue area each evening with fireworks wrapping up events. All events are free to the public.  Check out Deer Valley’s website for more information and the schedule.  I have been to these events in past years and have had a great time; see you on the mountain.

Saturday was yet another great day spent skiing at Deer Valley. I met up with a couple of my best friends, Todd and Scott, at the bottom of Sultan Express. The weather was a bit windy as Utah prepares for yet another snow storm, but our smiles were ever present with the blue skies and great snow conditions. After taking a few runs on Bald Mountain we decided to head over to the other side of the resort and we spent the remainder of the morning skiing the Empire Express lift. In my opinion, the runs serviced by the Empire Express are some of the most enjoyable runs anywhere. The trees near the Daly Bowl are perfectly spaced for a guaranteed good time with great snow.

After charging hard all morning, it was time to refuel at the Silver Lake Lodge. Deer Valley has easily the best mountain food I have ever tasted. For those who have never eaten food at Deer Valley I highly recommend the turkey chili. Besides the amazing food options, I also enjoy talking to many of the fine staff in the lodges and running the lifts. Deer Valley hires a number of seasonal workers from South America (Brazil, Peru, and Argentina) who are always extremely happy and helpful. Many of these workers are college students on summer break and are more than willing to help. Next time you are up at Deer Valley take some time to talk with these great people.

The varying options of culinary delight can make it difficult for many skiers to return back to the slopes after lunch. Fine by me as the crowds definitely thin out in the afternoon. We spent the remainder of our day on Flagstaff Mountain and Ontario Bowl with very few people competing for space on the runs.

Next time you are considering a place to ski give Deer Valley a chance to impress; you won’t be disappointed.

I was over at the Park City blog and saw that last week was National Safety Awareness Week. Were you safe? Were you even aware?

I remember my first ski instructor job at Timberline, Oregon and it was part of the hiring for us to recite the key points of the “Your Responsibility Code“. I doubt I can recite all of it’s key points today but I’m certain that a lot of the code is a part of how I ski and what I’m hopefully teaching to my kids who are in their first few years of skiing.

Park City posted a few PSA videos from the National Ski Patrol, one of which I’ve x-posted here. Remember, it’s supposed to be fun but it’s no fun when you’re wreck yourself.

Wednesday was the definition of a Bluebird day. Mike (photographer) and I escaped from the depressing smog of the city by driving 26 miles up to Big Cottonwood Canyon’s Solitude Resort. With 17 inches of powder left from Monday’s storm, blue skies, and an empty parking lot, our experience was as heavenly as the name implies.

Not only is Solitude known for its peaceful serenity, but it also has a reputation for its meticulously groomed runs, abundance of tree skiing, its wide open bowls. We spent our first two runs on Parachute and Milk Run which we accessed from the Powder Horn lift. These runs are where incredibly steep slopes, cliffs, and an ancient forest combine to hide deep powder pockets for days after a storm.

After that, we headed over to the famous Honeycomb Canyon via Summit lift. We didn’t need to go far to find open bowl powder skiing. The first run off the Summit lift, Black Bess, produced amazing results and after my second turn I was beginning to chock on a mouthful of the finest Utah powder. Two-thousand vertical feet later we were at the bottom of the Eagle Express lift with nothing but two big smiles to show for the endeavor.

Solitude has the convenience of being right by the city, but gives you the feeling that your not. It is a unique place in the world of skiing, with stellar views and fun runs, not to mention the untracked powder that lasts for days.

Parks, pipe, and powder. Three words starting with the letter P for which Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) is well know for. It’s been awhile since I’ve skied over at PCMR and my excitement only multiplied when I arrived a little after opening in the parking lot to find hardly anyone else present. How can this be I thought? Then it dawned on me- Sundance Film Festival. Probably one of the most popular times of the year to be in Park City, UT is obviously one of the least popular times to be skiing or snowboarding in Park City, UT. Fine by me. As I collected turn after turn, my satisfaction grew. During my full day of skiing rarely did I have a traveling companion on the myriad of quads and six-seaters which PCMR has to offer.

It had been a few days since the last storm, but I was still able to find secret stashes of powder. Secret is a very lose term here as I did not have to look too hard to find the powder. That secret stash of powder might just be off one of PCMR’s Signature Runs waiting to be found by you. If powder isn’t your thing and you’d rather head into the parks and pipes, PCMR is the best place in America for that. With four different parks and one super pipe, feel free to display all the tricks that you have up your sleeve.

I learned my lesson. Next year I’ll be back at PCMR and just maybe it’ll be during the Sundance Film Festival.

On Tuesday, January 22 I sat at lunch and heard the news that local pro skier Billy Poole had been in a terrible ski accident. Tuesday was a perfect blue bird powder day, the kind that every skier dreams of. At 1:00p.m. the clouds moved in unexpectedly and the snow began to fall. My lunch companions and I noticed that the snow wasn’t really falling, but rather floating and hovering in the air. At 1:30 p.m. Billy passed away.

Billy was a great friend of mine, but more than that, he was a friend and inspiration to many in the ski community. His infectious laughter, bright spirit, flaming red hair and piercing blue eyes captivated everyone he met. On Thursday, January 24 several hundred of Billy’s friends and family members gathered at the Gold Miner’s Daughter at Alta to remember Billy and honor how he touched our lives. His mother urged us all to “stay positive” as that is what Billy would have wanted.

It is always hard to see any skier injured in an accident. It is especially hard when it happens to those we love. As skiers, we are aware of the inherit risks that we take every time we go to the mountains. As skiers, we bond with others who appreciate snow, sun, life and love in the same way we do. Billy loved his life, his friends and his family. He died doing what he loved, on the perfect day to be doing it.

Next time you are out on a sunny powder day let a laugh, or a hoop, or a holler out for Billy. I am sure he is skiing everyday in that gigantic powder bowl above the clouds and he wants to know that you are too!