Picto Diary - 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 April 2016 - Ski Day 100
Above: Last Snow our yard. 2015/2016 winter season. Park City, UT. 11 April 2016.
There may be more snowfall... but, nothing that will accumulate. The snow pictured here is the last of a yard full of four foot deep snow that had accumulated since December 2015.
No skiing today. Caught up with stuff in home home office.
Above: 'Cake post break. Through window outside Moonbeam Lodge. Solitude Ski Resort. Utah. 12 April 2016.
Pre break runs on Apex, Eagle, Moonbeam lifts. Snow variable from hard (but not icy) to "like butter."
Sol 98
Above: 'Cake and Bishop. Summit of Summit Lift (altitude 10K and change feet). Solitude Ski Resort. Utah. 12 April 2016.
Summit lift is new this year. Must be one of the reasons Deer Valley bought Solitude Resort last year. Spectacular scenery and DV, Orion like, run coming down... only longer, and more varied. Great snow on descent.
Above: 'Cake at India House restaurant. 8600 South State Street, Sandy, UT.
Our annual, "let's go to a restaurant that our wives would never frequent" lunch. Not bad. A buffet lunch for about $13. Usual food for a strip mall Indian restaurant buffet.
Above: Summit Lift. Solitude Ski Area. Utah. 13 April 2016.
New, and newly iconic, Summit Lift criss crosses gnarly, granite facings of the Wasatch Range.
My private ski area. There may have been a half dozen skiers skiing this lift when I skied this lift first thing this AM. Perfect, groomed, soft snow. Despite softness, snow stayed intact (as opposed to cut up) considering few skiers were out. Uh.... ummm.... er..... "like butter."
Sol 99
Above: Buddy Rich at Little League baseball tryouts. Basin Recreation. Park City, UT. 13 April 2016.
Good swing. Not afraid to address the ball. Out of eight machine pitches, three solid hits, two foul tips, and three fans. Not bad... about 50th percentile of the kids I watched...there's a base to build on if he wants to work at it. But, then... I don't know. He says, "Drums is taking over my life!"
Dad was in Atlanta and Mom was with Mynduveroan at soccer. Mwah (sic) kept both parents posted with periodic text reports (like the above) on how he was doing. He seemed to be having fun... liked being there.
Saw this film with TIMDT, 'Cake, and Maui at the Park City Film Institute, Park City Library, Park City, UT 14 April 2016.
Informative, if alarmist in tone, move. Well edited and photographed.
My top five learnings:
1. Songbirds migrate at night due risk of daytime predators.
2. Ortolan Bunting cooked in Cognac a "to die for" meal.
3. Pesticide coating on seeds kills insects sans having to spray crops.
4. Canada's boreal forest is largest intact forest on earth with around 3MM square km. largely undisturbed by roads, cities and industrial development. Good habitat for birds.
5. Paint bucket with plastic cone apparatus inside is effective microphone to amplify bird calls.
Conclusion (not the movies'... mine): Having survived four major extinctions in the last billion years, birds will be around long after humans become extinct or depart the planet. There is little mankind can do to eradicate the ever adapting and evolving bird populations.
Note: A good enhancement to the movie would have been to note the names of the birds being shown, say, in one of the lower corners of the screen.
Note: Dinner after at Bangkok Thai, Park City, UT.
Above: Stockli pointing at sign indicating ski conditions. Solitude Ski Resort. Big Cottonwood Canyon. Utah. 15 April 2016.
"USE CAUTION. MANY BARE SPOTS EXIST"
Sign was for yesterday's conditions... before 8 inches of new snow fall in last 24 hours.
Notwithstanding, today's conditions were "Springtime Variable." Sometimes the overnight new snow did not accumulate on the east facings giving rise to conditions where one could be skiing soft new snow and then, suddenly, find himself on hard, underlying snow. Also, the light was flat, so a skier would come upon the harder, icier surfaces without warning. Flat light also "hid" occasional "grooming hazards," unseen bumps left by lazy overnight grooming operations.
Notwithstanding, any day out doors on skis is better than staying home. We had a good time. Skied the Summit Lift early, twice.
After two hours of skiing, Stockli and Mwah (sic), went to lunch at "Over the Counter," on 33rd South, Salt Lake City.
https://www.zomato.com/salt-lake-city/over-the-counter-cafe-salt-lake-city
Sol 100
Addendum:
very nice thank you
Hand,
San Jose, CA
Hi Steve, Thanks for generously sharing your experiences in such an artful way.
LaPsy,
Los Angeles, CA
Hi Steve,
How did it happen that I never got to ski with you? Next year I will be in residence in Park City. Then we’ll see….
Cheers,
Mrs. Driggs,
Salt Lake City, UT
Looking forward to next year!