Picto Diary - 01, 02, 03, 04 March 2020 - Suppressant
Above: (57) Bishop's Office. Empire Lodge. Deer Valley. 01 March 2020.
First day (falling snow and variable fog) like this in two weeks.
Two inch wet layer atop 1st grooming...sticky, tricky. Skied Tycoon first thing and, due hard work and low visibility, stopped three times. Guy from Boston riding up Sultan with me, reported doing a face plant in the Tycoon narrows after hitting an unseen berm. He said he was waylaid for ten minutes until someone finally spotted his detached ski from 30 yards uphill.
This kind of skiing is good experience. Bluebird, groomed skiing, as fun as it is, is, let's face it, a dumbed down version of "the real thing."
Rode up Ruby with forty five something mom from Indianapolis. She, he husband and three kids ski at Deer Valley twice a year. Family goal is to retire here in fifteen years.
Above: (58) Deer Valley Ski Map. 02 March 2020.
Skied with Montage, KAT, 'Cake, Mrs. Driggs. Others seen on the mountain: Comic Mom and DOE.
Above: (59) Deer Valley Ski Map. 03 March 2020.
Skied with Montage. Stein's Way, Evergreen, Reward, Magnet
04 March 2020. LSDM, Wasatch Bagel.
Topic du jour: Wasatch Peaks; Antarctica
777 (Image taker)
The Actuary
Montage
Kenworth
Hartford
Ski Tsar
The Bishop — at Wasatch Bagel Café.
Above: (60) Mt. Nebo (in the notch). Image taken from atop Empire Lift, Deer Valley. 04 March 2020.
9200 feet of elevation, Image looks SSW
My favorite view in the Wasatch. Not the first time I have captured this image. Nebo, in the notch, to the right of Provo Peak, is 75 miles distant from this point. Nebo is the southern most, and highest of the Wasatch peaks. The mountain is located just east of Nephi, in Juab County, and stands just under 12K feet.
Skied the steeps off Bald with The Actuary from 9:00 AM until 10:00 AM. 19 runs total runs by 12:15 PM, with a half hour break at Empire Lodge in the Bishop's Office.
Runs included:
Tycoon
Stein's Way
Wizard
Peeler (2x)
Magnet (3x)
Big Stick
DV. Mountain notes:
Suppressant. Suppressant ripped by me, going 3/4 his speed potential, half way down Stein's Way. I was surprised, and pleased, to see that he waited for me and The Actuary at Sultan Lift base. We had good reminiscence discussion on the Sultan chair. Sometimes I see Suppressant exiting his truck in Lot One around 8:05 AM. Does he come in and join me for breakfast? No. He proceeds immediately to the Silver Lake Express Lift and waits, with his cronies, for lift opening at 8:45 AM. Back in the early naughts, I would join Suppressant, the Ski Geezers, TWO3, and Fred at the base of the Crescent lift (PCMR), a half hour before it started. I knew the routine. Passionate skiers want to be first on the mountain. Suppressant is one of those guys who put skiing lifestyle first and then figured out a way to support himself while doing it. He owns a fire extinguisher recharge business. Deer Valley is one of his big customers. He has five guys and five trucks working for him. Despite all this responsibility, running his business, Suppressant gets 90 days of skiing in a year. He broke a hip while skiing about seven years ago. He's not back to 100%, but at 90%, he outskies anybody else on the mountain on a given day. Since my retirement from being a suit twenty years ago, one of the joys of my life has been knowing guys, usually from motorcycling or skiing, like Suppressant, or as I call them, guys who live by their wits, usually self employed, entrepreneurial self starters... guys who know how to do stuff, guys you want to be around when the mud hits the fan.
Deer Valley Ski Patrol. I rode up the Lady Morgan lift with two Deer Valley ski patrollers, one male, the other female. I asked them what was the most common injury. I was intrigued by the response, affirmed by each one: Female, left knee injuries. I didn't get into the "whys and wherefores" of that, but, I look to learn more.
Palo Alto Lady. Took Carpenter up for my last run of the day. Forty something woman and I started conversing. On finding out she was a VC type from Palo Alto I told her that if everything wasn't shut down next month, TIMDT and Mwah (sic) would be going to Palo Alto. "Why," she asked. I told her that we were Hoover Institution donors and enjoyed attending the semi annual retreats where Hoover puts forward its rock star scholars as speakers: VDH, Condi Rice, Jim Mattis yada. She knew all about Hoover. Her best friend is the daughter of David Brady, Hoover Fellow and Stanford Professor. She wanted to know if I had read Black Rock CEO Larry Fink's treatise on climate change. I told her I hadn't, but was aware of it. I said that I believed in a medley of nuclear and natural gas power as the power engine of the future. Solar and wind are expensive, unreliable and environmentally damaging. She asked me if I was a nuclear guy. I said, no, but that I was an investor in some nuclear tech via a private equity fund. It would have been interesting to carry the conversation forward, but the Carpenter chair had arrived at the summit. I think she considered my comment on nuclear power outside of the Larry Fink catechism.
Addendum:
(Comments on my book report: "The Glass Cage," by Nicholas Carr
Excellent and interesting observations. At the least I agree with your views
DrummerJay
Lehi, UT
I think that there is something more insidious than just “dumbing down”. People are becoming more isolated as their world becomes just them and the electronic gizmo (smart phone, tablet) and the need to interact, and respect, other people becomes an optional activity (like directional signal usage in California). If we cease to cooperate, how much longer will we stay at the top of the food chain? Your comment about GPS units- they do have their uses (such as flat Florida landscapes) to keep you from getting too lost; but in mountainous areas they permit a certain level of lassitude and, therefore, a detachment from the surroundings.
Your first car a ’55 with a 4-speed? Must have been a retrofit as I remember that the 55s came with a VERY WEAK 3 speed column shift (or are you an unreformed hottroddre?).
Ahn Rhee
Larkspur, CA
I knew the 55 Chevy was a three speed. I just wanted to see if anyone caught the deliberate error (cough).