Picto Diary - 12, 13, 14 March - OHL
(See Addendum note on Bill and the squirrels).
Above: (59). Ohl. Deer Valley. 12 March 2019.
One of the original Park City Ski Geezers, now EIGHTY-SIX YEARS OLD!!! Atop Lady Morgan lift.
Pre ski nosh with Golf at Snow park. Cottage cheese and fruit. Egg line too long. Waved at the Electrician on the other side of 2002.
Outside Snow Park, The Actuary gave me a question to pose Cheryl Fox, tomorrow's LSDM speaker. "Is city going to put the Osguthorpe barn property up for sale?" Cheryl, head of the Summit Land Conservancy, figures the Actuary, ought to be in a position to know the answer to what he says is a rumor he's been hearing.
My position on the "White Barn," for some time, has been to turn it into a Gilley's.
Ohl and Mwah (sic) skied our way over to Empire Lodge for mid morning coffee where we joined PGA and My Belle.
NC talk with PGA and My Belle triggered discussion of UNC basketball. Woe and behold, Ohl was pitcher to Dean Smith catcher on University of Kansas baseball team in 1952! Wow!!!
Is the IKON pass good for Deer Valley?
Golf, who likes to enjoy a premium beer post skiing at the Silver Lake "beach," says when he was there the other day, there were a bunch of IKON pass holders brown bagging it. Not good for a ski resort pushing a tony image, what?
A long standing DV season pass holder, standing at the base of the Mountaineer lift, was heard (by Mwah [sic]) to say, as he witnessed a cluster...at the lift entry, "Welcome to the IKON Zoo!"
Lets not get carried away. It has been great skiing at DV this season. Best snow in a decade. It's really too early to tell if the DV brand is being tarnished by the admission of IKON pass holders or the eye off the ball on detail, as perceived by myself and more than a few I have talked to.
To be sure, there are positive stories indicative of the fact that the vaunted DV service culture is alive and well. This AM at Wasatch Bagel, McHale recounted how, yesterday, when his wife lost her DV ski locker tag, and couldn't quickly locate her skis, the ski locker supervisor put her in a pair of borrowed skis and promised to locate the skis before lunch. Mission accomplished. Skis were found and "Mrs McHale" got her skiing in. Everybody happy. This story evidences the kind of top flight service culture, built in the Stern, Penski, Wheaton years that contributed to making Deer Valley America's top ski destination .
Interestingly, In the last two weeks, I've run I to the engaging, ex DV GM, Bob Wheaton a couple of times at DV as he walks around the Snow Park premises in DV uniform. He always has time for a chat. I haven't seen much of the new guy since I was introduced to him, as he remained seated, at Snow Park Lodge six weeks or so ago.
Speaking of paying attention to detail, could someone please fix the broken clock in the Snow Park Lodge Clock Room? — at Deer Valley Resort.
Above: Guy Webster album covers. 13 March 2019.
Guy Webster died today.
Above: CHERYL FOX, executive head of Summit Nature Conservancy, speaks to La Societe Deux Magots (LSDM). 13 March 2019.
There is a "plan" to meet the $14 million plus funding goal to buy a conservation easement on the Osguthorpe farm by the deadline of 31 March 2019.
Federal matching grant of $8 million will expire if $600K more private funds are not raised by deadline.
Still the achieving of the "plan" is not guaranteed.
Park City denizens who believe in open space preservation are urged to step up to help complete the purchase. — at Wasatch Bagel Café.
Above: (60). Mid morning break. Empire Lodge. Deer Valley, UT. 14 March 2019.
Montage, Ice Cream, PGA, Lynch, Burg, Stihl, and Golf join Bishop for convivial ski break.
Pre ski, Stihl, Golf, and the Actuary joined me and my eggs at Snow Park Lodge. Actuary was dressed to ski and said he might find us later... but, I think he had to do some work too. We never spotted him later. The Actuary, one of the more gregarious of the DV employees, is a fun ski companion.... apart from the fact that he is also an expert skier.
Pre break. Stihl and Golf let me hang with them. Most runs, by the time I reached the lip of the run, coming from the lift chair, Stihl and Golf were already 300 yards ahead of me.
Post break. Took three chairs with PGA, Lynch and Burg. Orion more of a challenge than usual due pushed around snow... but, in a good way.
Snow great. Light sometimes iffy. Altogether an agreeable day, ski wise and socially.
Some funny snow patterns over the last 24 hours. Alta reported 24 new inches over the last 24 hours. Deer Valley, only one inch. Great Salt Lake effect snow pounded the western slope of the Wasatch did not make it over the top of the range to the east side, where Park City and Deer Valley resorts are located. Notwithstanding, Deer Valley still stands with a mind popping 120 inch settled base. Todays light new layer gave the snow a freshness that approached epic conditions. No complaining. This will be a season to remember as having consistently great skiing. Few times have I experienced the scrapy runs oft experienced at Deer Valley in lower snow years. One for the ages.
Speaking of massive snowfalls, yesterday, Colorado was hammered with a record mega storm that missed Utah. PGA said his friend staying at Beaver Creek, had to stay indoors as the resort could not open.
— at Deer Valley Resort.
Addendum:
Wed, Mar 13, 2019 3:20 pm
To:you Details
Steve
You never told me you were a squirrel shooter. Or that Bill was a top sharpshooter.
(TIMDT has me looking into some of her genealogy)
F16, Park City, UT
On 09 October 2014 I left the Redneck Rendezvous motorcycle ride in Chattanooga, TN to make a 400 mile detour to Walnut Ridge, AR TIMDT's Mom, Dad, sister Peggy, and nephew Alex. I slabbed up to Nashville, rode to Jackson and veered to the northwest to Dyersburg, west of which is a new bridge over the Mississippi. From the other side of the bridge, I rode US 412 across the tiny Missouri panhandle, into Arkansas and directly to my in-laws' home in Imboden.
On arrival at Mom and Dad's home in Imboden, AR, I saw Mom and Alex. Mom said that Dad had been put in hospice care that very day. Before going to the Walnut Ridge care center to see Dad, I visited for a few minutes with sister-in-law, Peggy next door.
Dad, a WWII vet, has been failing fast... and I suspected that this would be the last time I would be able to see him.
Bill may have shown a sliver of responsiveness to my visit, but in the main, he was not responsive.
Notwithstanding, we had a one way conversation... we talked about the great Thanksgiving we had in McLean, VA at our home in 1986... attended by most of Margaret's siblings.
We talked about the fun we had shooting squirrels and then cooking and eating them after a hunt in northwestern CT back in the late 70's. I reminded Bill that TIMDT had his shooting medals... medals that signaled Bill, as lead member of the Air Force rifle team, as one of the best marksmen in America. I asked Bill if he still wore the BGD buckle TIMDT had made for him in the Philippines. Bill didn't respond.. and that was OK... it was a good conversation.
Bill was a Sergeant York kind of character out of back woods Arkansas. He learned to shoot Kentucky windage, but, I sat with him once and he took me through all the technical stuff that you taught us about at LSDM and up in Wyoming that day. He had since learned to shoot the "right way." TIMDT has a picture of him meeting Prince Phillip when the prince attended a military shooting competition in the UK.
Bill, I believe, was in all three of the military services at one point. Army, AF, and Navy. He joined the Navy underage. He was on a mine sweeper in one of the Philippine battles, Leyte Gulf???? This is just family lore. We need to do some family research. TIMDT attended his funeral in Arkansas which was rendered with military honors. Our family is proud of Bill Dickerson and the heritage of courage and patriotism he passed down to us.
Note: On the squirrels. I didn't shoot any, I never saw 'em. Bill and I would walk through the fields and he'd look over at a tree. "Steve," he'd say, "see that squirrel in that tree?" I couldn't see anything, no matter how much effort he made to point my eye to the squirrel. Then, he'd shoot and a squirrel would fall from the tree. Food.