Picto Diary - 01 to 10 January 2025 - Talkin' with Todd

Above: Mojave Desert Joshua Tree Road Back Country By-way. 01 January 2025
Out and about in the 392.
TIMDT and Mwah (sic) got a pizza slice at Sbarro, T/A, Littlefield, AZ before returning to Ivins via I-15, Virgin River Gorge.

Above: Home Office, 5:00 PM. Iron Canyon, Park City, UT. 04 January 2025
21-18-2027 (at Deer Valley this AM)

Great ski day at DV today. Availed of DV's 8:00 AM early start. Two or three inches of overnight snow and light snow throughout the time I skied. 18 runs. Overall fabulous snow conditions with not the best lighting. On limited visibility ski days like this, skiing runs with defined tree lines is a good idea.

I skied three Carpenter runs before shifting to do three runs at Mountaineer and four runs at Flagstaff. Off Carpenter, I was alone on Dew Drop twice. Dew Drop is a composite run. Start on Solid Muldoon, cross Success to Dew Drop, ski onto a section of Last Chance before taking Little Kate back to Carpenter. Greens and blues (steep blues at the top of Solid and down Little Kate at the end). Tunnels. Trees. Kinda like an F1 road track compared to a NASCAR oval. I also skied Last Chance off of Carpenter.

At 10:00 AM, after skiing for two hours, I took a break at Empire Lodge. Dagget and Bernie-niece were there, and we chatted about LSDM speakers for ten minutes until friends I was expecting arrived.
Dagget is setting up LSDM talks for individuals seeking to replace Kera Birkeland who resigned, citing family reasons, from her seat in the Utah State Legislature.

I met my friend Espresso's scions, Chronicle (daughter) and Latham (son-in-law), and their two little boys, B and b, at Empire Lodge at 10:15AM. We skied three or four runs off of Flagstaff then moved over to Mountaineer via Judge Lift and Crown Point Lift. Those boys, B and b, about eight and five, are fearless. They can - and do - ski anything, and their intrepid parents follow right behind them. When they're skiing something tricky, I meet them further down the mountain when they reenter the groomed run where I am skiing. Note: Chronicle derives her moniker from her editorship of her college newspaper.

I enjoyed my lift rides with Latham. He's a DC based lawyer with eponymous named Los Angeles headquartered firm. We talked about the Ski Patroller strike at PCMR, where he and his family had been skiing during the inter-holiday week. He acknowledged that the situation at PCMR hadn't been the best. One time the family was at Tombstone base and Tombstone Lift was closed. The only way out was via Over-and-Out ski lift where lines were backed up all the way to the Timberline Lift (bad situation for those who don't know the terrain!). The other way out from Tombstone area is via the Red Pine trail at the top of the Tombstone Lift, but as I said, Latham reported that the Tombstone lift was closed. Not a good look for the ski resort operator.

Latham said, "Look, my natural inclination is pro-union. Vail could have done a much better job with a back-up plan to handle a strike situation. As it is, their approach was reactionary." I haven't skied at PCMR for two weeks, so I don't have firsthand knowledge of Vail's supposed holiday SNAFU, but Latham's comment about Vail lacking in preparation for a strike situation seemed reasonable to me.

I asked Latham if DC was in the throes of apprehension about the arrival of a new presidential administration. There is apprehension he said. He noted that most of his customers were corporations - he works with national real estate firms, REITS, and RE private equity companies. He didn't expect any disruption to his own business flow.

I said I was happy to see businesspeople occupy some of the more senior positions in the new Trump administration: Trump, Musk, Burgum, Sacks, and Ramaswamy are all high achieving businesspeople. People with business experience would have experience rationalizing expenditures in business they had run. Using those skills to reduce US government expenditures makes sense to me. The US government now spends 40% more than it takes in in tax revenue. The rest is borrowed. That trend, which gives rise to ever growing indebtedness, is not sustainable.

Latham said the Pub squabble on H-1B visas could mar DJT's start. I agreed. I said there is no question but what we need more talent to come into the US. I am 100% behind the Musk faction which wants to amp up the H-1B visa program. Also, I am on the side of those who believe that a Green Card should be attached to the diploma of any foreign student obtaining a technical PhD from a US university. Latham agreed. I said that DJT, Musk et al must pull out all the stops to educate immigration resistant MAGAs to the need for more talent.

Latham, the loquacious eight-year-old B and Mwah (sic) rode up the Crown Point Lift together. B pointed out some ski poles that had been dropped from the lift. I said to B, "if you ski down from the top of the lift and bring me back those ski poles, I'll give you $100. The area is out of bounds, and you might lose your ski pass, but then, you might walk away with $100." The ordinarily talkative B was mum. Finally, his dad said, "B has been taught not to break rules." Jokingly, I throw out challenges to friends like the one I gave to B all of the time. I don't expect anyone to take me up on the challenges because assessing the likelihood of their acceptance I set an amount of reward that I'm sure they won't take. I have one friend who once took me up on a crazy challenge and I have since avoided giving him new opportunities. I realized that making a crazy challenge like that to an eight-year old might not have been the best idea. I was very impressed about how B's dad put closure to the crazy challenge discussion.

I departed company with my ski companions at noon. After their lunch at Snow Park Lodge, Latham wanted to ski over to the new East Village base. I haven't been over there yet. I'll wait for a slow low attendance day to do it.

Above: Empire Lodge, Deer Valley, UT. 05 January 2025.
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Ski rack.

Above: Striking ski patrollers. Park City Mountain, Canyons 06 January 2025.
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Striking Park City Mountain ski patrollers man the picket lines. Bishop 'n Espresso cross the picket lines at Canyons side. Saddleback crowded; Tombstone closed; not enough time for Iron Mountain; so, 5x very nice loops on Echo via the Orange Bubble. Kudos to Vail for keeping the resort running through strike. Vail has dumped a lot of investment into Park City which has redounded to benefit of all Park City constituencies. Here's wishing for a quick resolution of current labor issues.

Above: Assessment Ski Run. Park City Mountain. Park City, UT. 07 January 2025.
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I had a fabulous time skiing at Park City Mountain today. Crispy temperatures and an inch layer of fresh overnight snow melded with the sunlight to make for nirvana skiing conditions.

Image (above) of Espresso (80) and my shadow (79) on Assessment proves that geezers can still ski bumps! There is no walk back from this point as shown in the image! I told Espresso, "All you have to know is how to turn!" No other skiers in the image, as most skiers are intimidated by runs of this difficulty (heh heh).

Starting at Orange Bubble, we skied Echo down to Sun Peak. From Sun Peak we skied all the way to Timberline via Chicane. This was my best experience on Chicane in some time. It was early, not crowded and there was quite a bit of corduroy left.

Across on Timberline... up Iron Mountain and down to the Quicksilver Gondola. Over to Siverlode base and Miner's Camp for a break.

The Quicksilver gondola is an engineering marvel. As I looked over the beautiful Wasatch Mountain landscape from the gondola car, I couldn't help but appreciate the Quicksilver gondola and significant additional capital improvements Vail Corporation, owner of Park City Mountain, has made to the resort since it purchased Park City Mountain ten years ago. I've been skiing Park City Mountain on a regular basis for twenty-five years. Vail has markedly enhanced the ski experience beyond what the former ownership had accomplished, while simultaneously, with its EPIC pass, lowering the cost of an annual ski pass. And, for this contribution, as a skier and a shareholder I am much appreciative. My guess is, that Park City merchants and hotels are also grateful for the increased ski traffic Park City Mountain has brought to the resort during the ten years of its resort ownership.

This ski season, a low snowfall early period and a ski patroller strike have slowed opening the mountain to its full capacity. Lots of bad stories about resort performance emerged during the holiday period. Somebody told me this AM that for circa 230 ski patroller positions at Park City, there are 2000 applicants. If this is true, the law of supply and demand would suggest that Vail's resistance to offering more pay, despite ongoing resort struggle using scab ski patrollers unfamiliar with Park City Mountain, is a bet worth taking (?). Vail has a business to run and constituencies who benefit their contribution to Park City want to see them sustain corporate viability by effectively managing costs even as they pour even more improvements into the ski mountain.

Since knowing, 25 years ago, then PCMR ski patrol head Mitzi DeLeon, I have been impressed with the professionalism of the Park City Mountain ski patrollers. It's an elite group, especially considering how so many would be members have to be turned away from being in its employ. Park City Mountain is getting the best of the best. I hope they can resolve their labor dispute successfully.

Unions can be a good thing, but in this case, with so many people willing to replace Park City's unionized ski patrollers as scabs, the striking ski patrollers need to understand the strength - or weakness - of whatever bargaining power they have. Vail, an enormous corporation, has the capacity to bring the mountain up to snuff with nonunion ski patrollers if that's what they deem is in their best economic interest. Vail also has to deal with the Park City ski patroller union in the broad context of the many other resorts they own.

The striking air traffic controllers during the Reagan presidency learned a hard lesson about striking while outstripping their supply lines. Vail isn't the US government, but the analogy still works. As to bad PR hurting Vail? People forget. When, down the road, the resort is firing on all eight, skiers will be up there skiing... at least that is the bet that Vail is making.

I feel badly that many holiday visitors had a bad experience skiing at Park City Mountain. Speaking for myself, though, today, I had a fabulous time skiing there. I hope that Vail and Park City Mountain can successfully resolve its labor problems before the President's Day weekend. And I hope for more snow!

Above: Deer Valley, UT. File image. 08 January 2025.
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Above: My Office, Empire Lodge, Deer Valley, UT. 09 January 2025.
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Image: Rolex, PGA, Daggett, Bishop.

Above: Looking NNW from Bald Mountain Summit. Deer Valley, UT. 10 January 2025.
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Snow Park Lodge. This AM, coincidentally I found myself standing alone with Todd Bennett, President and CEO of Deer Valley, at the order station of the breakfast grill. While we waited for our food to be prepared (me: fried over hard and side of sausage links), I introduced myself.

Me: "You're the head honcho here! My name is Steve Taylor. I'm a 25-year Deer Valley season pass holder. I'd like to say, you guys are doing a great job this year, a low snow year so far, in making the resort run effectively. In addition to preparation of skiable terrain, the attitude of the employees is excellent. I love those J-1 visa kids over at Empire Lodge... Kara from Ecuador, Camilla from Columbia, and Marco from Mexico to name three. Everybody, from lifties, to maze management people, to ski locker staff, to food service employees, has a smile on their face and is eager to help." I've skied four days over at Park City, most recently two days ago, and they don't have nearly the number of skiable options as Deer Valley."

Todd smiled. Why wouldn't he smile after my slathering praise of this season's Deer Valley operations? Todd engaged with me easily. "Yeah," Todd said. "I went over to Park City yesterday to ski just to see what's going on. I agree there is more open terrain at Deer Valley right now. I'm proud of our snow making. We've used 500 million gallons of water to make snow, so far, and we're still making it. Nabob (an important ski run on Bald Mountain) has a four-foot-deep base. By comparison, Alta has used 40 million gallons of water for snow making. Our average annual snow making water usage is 250 million gallons. Have you been to the new East Village base yet? You have to try the Keetly six pack lift... its state of the art. "

"No," I replied, "it's my intent to ski over to the East Village base today after I take my mid-morning break at 10:30 AM at Empire Lodge. Answer me this, Todd. I see you are blowing snow on the upper access run, off of Homeward Bound, to East Village. It seems to me that, as a south facing slope, you are going to have a hard time keeping snow there."

"Wrong," replies Todd. "That's a high elevation spot. Snow will take longer to melt up there than you might think We're going to blow enough snow there to keep it skiable through the rest of the season. By the way, we're opening Lady Morgan Lift today. You should go over and check that out."

Todd's breakfast order was delivered, and I could see my eggs leaving the frying pan to a plate garnished with an orange peel and a strawberry. I told Todd, "Hey, Todd, it was good talking to you. Keep up the good work." Todd smiled He said he was glad to have met me and went on his way.

At 9:00 AM the head maze manager lady notified those of us waiting to mount the Carpenter lift that its start might be delayed. She said she didn't think it would be a long wait. Impatient as I am, I shuffled over to the Silver Lake Express lift, rode it to Silver Lake, skied down to Crown Point, and from there to Mountaineer Lift. I did a turn on Jordanelle/Keetly. When I returned to the Mountaineer lift, I heard a shout, "Steve!" PGA, skiing with Page and Rolex, invited me to join his group. We did another (for me) turn on Jordanelle, this time to the gondola base, and then headed, at my invitation, over to my office, West Wing, Empire Lodge for a pit stop/coffee break. On the way, we stopped at the upper elevation entry point to get to the new east side area that I had been talking to Todd about. Sure enough, consistent with Todd's claim this AM, snowmaking was operating on "all eight" there. I would expect that new access route to East Village, off of Homeward Bound, will be open this weekend.

After a coffee break at Empire Lodge, the four of us skied what is now the longest run at Deer Valley: Ruby summit to East Village base: Ontario, Home Run, McHenry's. PGA said the run would take eleven minutes. My three companions might have skied the run in eleven minutes. It took me at least thirteen minutes, with unwanted lactic leg pain kicking in three quarters of the way down. Much of the new east side ski area is yet to open, but from what I saw, all the way down McHenry run, a green with a couple of blue sections, to the East Village base along with riding the new Keetly Express six pack lift, I realized that Todd's challenge this year getting Deer Valley up and running, was much more significant than I had realized.

I meant every world I said. In my exchange with him this AM, Todd seemed very much in charge of the Deer Valley operation and for me, having skied here for 25 years, seeing is believing. Bob Wheaton, to most people the gold standard in ski resort management, left Deer Valley in 2019. After Bob's departure, new resort owner Alterra had an on an off two or three years in running Deer Valley at the Wheaton level. I can say, unequivocally, that today, Todd Bennett may or may not have Deer Valley at the Wheaton level, but he's clearly getting close.

Addendum:

I hope you had a merry Christmas with all your family, Steve. Thanks for sharing all your photos. The motorcycle story cracks me up. My dad once bought himself an Italian sports car without consulting with my mom. She responded by purchasing herself a mink coat.
Happy New Year to you!
Yours,

Survival,
Hatch, UT

Steve, do you write/type your messages or dictate?
The Archbishop,
Naples, FL

Keyboard.

Steve

Skiing at 8:00 AM in Deer Valley is a great way to start the year. I am glad you had such a great day and that you reinforced your table at the Empire Lodge.

Happy New Year

The Pope,
Naples, FL

Sounds like you had a terrific day 😎🇺🇸✅
Thanks, Markco

La Quinta,
CA