Picto Diary - 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, January 2021 - Magnet
33 16 422 (4)
Above: Deer Valley, 17 January 2021
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Skied with Kessler
Silver Link
Tycoon
Wizard
Navigator
Fairview
Jordanelle
Silver Hill
Mountaineer
Gnat's Eye
Silver Link
Silver Buck
Hawkeye
Dakota
Star Gazer
Homestake Access
Big Stick
Above: Deer Valley, 18 January 2021
Above: Last Chance, Stein Eriksen Condos, Deer Valley, 19 January 2021
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Me and my shadow...
Looking NNW from Last Chance
Perfect Bluebird for a local...as in nobody here.
So weird skiing 1200 vertical foot Keno, all alone, from top to bottom. And, I was all alone skiing into the Wasatch lift.
With little new snow, icy patches develop rapidly. To avoid slipping, I speed up a bit, which I'm not always comfortable doing.
I skied ungroomed Roamer, which itself was one big ice patch. Unintentionally. I thot it was groomed. There was an inch of new on the ski surface which looked groomed underneath. Underneath, slick as snot. Got going too fast. Not fun.
I'm mastering the mask causing foggy glasses problem. I've stopped wearing glasses while skiing.
The mask kabuki continues apace. I comply. Its a nuisance, but not a big enough one to risk getting kicked off the mountain for refusal to comply. DV makes a big deal of it as you hear lifties admonishing out of compliance skiers all the time. "Sir, one of your nostrils is uncovered," Yada.
At the ski corral, you hand over a numbered plastic token to the attendant who retrieves your skis. The attendant will not accept the token. You must place it on the table separating you and the attendant. Procedure calls for the attendant never to touch the token. Either you are asked to put it in an adjacent box, or the attendant does so using a pair of tongs.
I get that the resort must be holier than thou, and willingly cooperate with their rules, but another generation will look back and marvel at the absurdity of many of these rules, many of which do nothing to attenuate disease transmission. The ski cohort is mostly young and fit, where most, in contracting the disease would suffer few or no symptoms.
Above: Mynduveroan and Baloo jumping. Midway, UT. 19 January 2021
Above: Stockli Lasar AX's. Deer Valley. 20 January 2021
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Skied with Stockli
Silver Link
Tycoon
Stein's Way
Wizard
Birdseye
Hawkeye
Magnet
Dakota
Magnet
Dakota
Stargazer
Homestake Access
Last Chance
Above: Timpanogas. American Fork, UT. 20 January 2021.
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Above: Deer Valley, 21 January 2021
37th day skiing this season
12 lifts today
478 lifts season to date
At (4) different resorts
Skied with 'Cake
Silver Link
Tycoon
Stein's Way
Keno
Birdseye
Hawkeye
Dakota
Silver Buck
Crown Point Access
Navagator
Jordanelle
Little Stick
Above: Empire Lodge. Deer Valley, 22 January 2021.
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Empire Lodge. Mid AM coffee break. Alone. Weird. Set up for service, but, no one here. Reservation requirement seems to deter customers. But, they'll take walk ins sans reservations. Table service to boot!
Skied hyper steep Magnet in falling snow. Up until now I would only ski Magnet when the sun is out. Breakthroughs always feel good at this stage of life.
.
Snowing. Nice, after a long respite of now snow, to experience smoothness of new fallen snow under skis. It's been long in coming. Worst snow year YTD in my 20 years of being here.
Notwithstanding, with tremendous snow making capacity, Deer Valley doing fabulous job of facilitating a great ski year.
Above: Freddie. Park City, UT. 23 January 2021.
Newfie paradise.
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Perfect Storm. Double Entendre intended.
First day in a month of any significant snowfall. 15 inches previous 24 hours. Ski day, Saturday.
So....
On arrival at 8:30 AM at Snow Park Lodge, lot 1 is already full, lot 2 is half full, but being held for vehicles carrying 3 or more passengers. Lot 3 is full! Lot 4 is for employees. Lot 5 had plenty of availability.
Rapidly filling parking wouldn't have been enough to scare me away, but as I glanced at the Carpenter and Silver Lake lift lines....hundreds of crazed skiers hoping for a chance at first trax, were lined up as far as the fifth stanchion of the Carpenter Lift. I knew I wouldn't be skiing at Deer Valley that day...or, at least that AM. The pent up demand for a true powder day had made itself manifest in full display. Still, I held open the idea that I could come back later in the day when the crowds had dissipated.
Which I did. I skied five solid runs (Carpenter 2x and Mountaineer 3x) between 2:30 PM and.3:30 PM. I skied in lots of pushed around snow, which demanded more turning effort and more frequent turns per run. Despite the truncated run total, therefore, I burned a disproportionate amount of calories.
Above: Deer Valley, UT. 23 January 2021