Picto Diary 25, 26, 27, 28 March 2021 - Ski Lift Anecdotes
Above: St. Regis Hotel funicular. Deer Valley. 25 March 2021
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Image: St. Regis Hotel. Funicular.
Skied with the Actuary. Bishop very privileged that superior skiers like The Actuary, Deer Valley's most enthusiastic employee, will hang with him.
Winter conditions. Cold. Good snow.
REFLECTIONS FROM THE LIFT: The other day while skiing on the Homeward Bound run-out from Ontario run to Silver Lake Village, I skied behind a skier wearing a stylish red parka with a Deer Valley logo.
Whaa...?, I thot! In my twenty years of skiing Deer Valley I had seen nothing but Lincoln Deer Valley Green on Deer Valley uniforms... from Bob Wheaton, General Manager, to the "lowest" liftie. In fact, if you didn't know who Wheaton was, he could have been a liftie as there was no discernable difference in the dress between the two.
This practice of all Deer Valley employees wearing the same uniform always impressed me. It carried a "I may be the boss, but, I don't need a fancy, differentiated uniform to declare my authority" message.
Has Deer Valley changed its practice, requiring members of management to wear color coded clothing? I have to find out more. Maybe there is a good reason for it.
Above: Sprinter. Deer Valley. 26 March 2021
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Image: Seemingly tight parking, but no problem since Sprinter has a sliding door. Locker/waiting room at ski resort is un anticipated application of Sprinter.
Skied with NH Cousin #1, 'Cake, and Daggett.
Late March winter ski conditions persist. 5 inches overnight snow. Skied 4 inches atop 1st grooming, first trax on Silver Buck. 2x Peeler at its best.
Above: Empire Lodge. Deer Valley, UT. 27 March 2021.
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Image; Looking West from Empire Lodge West Room...Coffee break.
Bluebird. No wind. Winter snow conditions. Glorious skiing..
Day of Steeps:
Tycoon
Steins Way/Star
Orient Express
Free Thinker
Steins Way
Magnet 3x
REFLECTIONS FROM THE LIFT: Singles Stories.
Sultan. Goldman guy. My friend left JP Morgan and I left Goldman. We bought a small manufacturing operation. I moved to McLean, VA, close to the manufacturing facility. Then, Covid hit. The business, specialized packaging manufacturing, took a dive. We have struggled to keep it afloat and are now seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
Lady Morgan. High School Junior (male). My home is in Brooklyn, NY. I attend a private school in Avon,, CT. I'm at Deer Valley for a week, during Spring Break. 85% of the kids are attending classes at my school. The rest do Zoom, often from out of state.
Lady Morgan. VC guy from NYC. I complement guy's Stockli Laser SC skis. "They turn really good," he said. He asked, "you live here?" Me: "Yes, twenty years. Retired" Him. "Whadja do?" Me: "Mostly consumer banking overseas for Citibank. Left Citi in '91 to become CEO of troubled Miami thrift, which we turned around and sold in 1995." Him: You must know Chris Flowers." Me: I certainly do. He was the Goldman banker that represented us in the sale of our bank!" Him: Do you know the Citi guy, Ray McGuire, who is running for Mayor of New York?" Me: "No, I left the bank in 1991, long before McGuire joined."
Lady Morgan. United guy. Him: "I work for United Airlines, based in Chicago. I've spent the year of coronavirus mostly working out of my second home, here in Park City. Its been great. I was able to do one, sometimes two, bike rides a day. Park City has been a great place to ride out the Coronavirus pandemic. Me: Are you an executive? A pilot? Him: I'm a Managing Director. I'm the quarterback of United Airlines Coronavirus response strategy." Me: "Ground zero at United, huh?" Him: "Yep."
Lady Morgan. Biologist. Because of a long lift line, and three singles waiting to go up, singly, on a chair, I asked the guy in front of me if he would take a passenger. He paused, and then said, "sure, I guess its OK to ride up with someone." I don't push for conversations on lift chairs. Many times, people don't want to talk. But, on getting seated, I always say, "Good morning," or some such. Most people reciprocate with a greeting. From that point, I say nothing. I wait for the other person to speak lest he/she wants to ride up sans conversation. Accordingly, the 28 to 32 year old "biologist" said hello and then remained mum... until half way up the lift he asked, "Do you live here?" Me: "Yes. Retired, lived in Park City for twenty years. What do you do?" Him: I work in the DV ski shop, fixing and adjusting skis. I like the job because I don't have to talk to anybody. I really don't like dealing with customers." Me: "What do you do in the summer?" Him: "I work for the National Parks Service. Last year I worked at Great Basin National Park as a biologist." Me: "Wow! one of my favorite places. Obscure. I love obscure locations in the American West. At Great Basin, I really like the two mile lateral walk, at ten thousand feet of elevation, to see the four thousand year old bristle cone pine trees!" Biologist turns to look at me, seemingly pleased that he was talking to someone with whom he shared something in common. Him: "I really love working at Great Basin. The only thing wrong with the job is when tourists approach me for questions. Its not my job to answer questions. There are rangers at the park for that. And the questions these people ask are so damn dumb." Me: "I hear you brother... I hear you."
Ruby: Forty something woman. Asked by liftie if we, the first two in the singles line, would ride up together, the forty something woman, in a black one piece ski suit and white helmet turns around and looks at me. Woman: "You can ride up with me, but, only if you raise your mask to cover your nostril." Unaware that my nostril was exposed I dutifully complied. Once we were on the lift, the woman started a friendly conversation. Woman: "Are you enjoying yourself?" Me: "Yes! Great day!" Yada yada. Mask admonition, ridiculous as it seemed to me, was not something about which to get my nose out of joint.
Above: TIMDT and Freddie. Bear River Greenway, Evanston, WY 27 March 2021.
Above: Moose. Bear River Greenway, Evanston, WY. 27 March 2021.
Above: Lift Line. Carpenter Lift. Snow Park Lodge. Deer Valley, UT. 28 March 2021
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Greeted on the mountain: Daggett, Bernie Niece, Comic Mom, Mo, and Comic Niece.
In mindset, I seem to be where I was last season at this time... in a zone. I feel good on the skis and always want to do one more run when time runs out. The snow, for late Spring skiing, has been more winter snow, at least before noon.
For the first time ever, in twenty years of skiing Deer Valley, I skied the run, Know You Don't, a black diamond off of the face at Snow Park. It is usually bumped up, but this year it has been groomed at least three times by Deer Valley's imaginative grooming crew. The snow wasn't winter snow, but my timing on the run was perfect as the hard crusty snow of the early AM had morphed into super smooth, edge gripping corn.
REFLECTIONS FROM THE LIFT: Empire Lift. Establish mutual French Connection with forty something woman of Danish origin who said she had lived in Park City for the last fifteen years. She: I did a two year Masters program at the Sorbonne. I lived in the Latin Quarter on the left bank of the Seine in Paris. Me: I lived for a while both in the Fourteenth and the Sixteenth arrondissements of Paris while fulfilling an LDS mission. Fifteen years ago I formed a coffee group at Wasatch Bagel named after a French cafe located in the Latin Quarter. Maybe you know of it. She, jumping in to interrupt: You're not talking about the Deux Magots coffee group in town are you? That was you? How do you get into that group?
Above: Tenth Ward Church. Salt Lake City, UT. 28 March 2021.
Freddie loves historic buildings.
TIMDT and Mwah (sic) walk from Trio Restaurant on 9th East and 7th South to Trolley Square. There, TIMDT beelines to Pottery Barn while I walk Freddie to Gilgal and Tenth Ward restoration.. We meet forty five minutes later at Trolley and walk back to Trio.
Spring is in the air. The outdoor temperature is 65 degrees, perfect for walking.
Addendum:
Somebody has a messiest desk than l have?!!
Academy Theater,
Salt Lake City, UT
Beautiful pictures. Where is Ivins?
Tom,
Aspen, CO
Incorporated west of, but contiguous to, St. George.
I remember Jim, PC motorcycle club had the best 😎😻😻🏍- The original founder and president was very cool guy
Mr. Z3
Oxnard, CA
Dear Steve and Margaret!
Holy heck - it wasn’t until we saw the photo of the Creamery in Beaver that we realized that we almost ran into you there! Did you go inside at all? We did on Monday the 29th as we were driving down to stay here in St. George for 10 days, using Southern Utah as our Florida. (We wouldn’t recommend the lunch we ate there - it was way too heavy, but we did buy some cheese which we brought with us.) Anyway we are amazed to hear that you are choosing to buy a second home here, not for the sunny clime but for the nearness to more skiing. You are so lucky to still be skiing at your age - bravo! We ancient people are reduced to swimming in the pool here at the Staybridge and a walk (I with a cane) in Snow Canyon this afternoon. Ken still tries to get out on the tennis court but he has a sore shoulder which prevents him from serving in the normal manner.
We’ve got some very important tips for you about food in St. George. You may already know about Crowshaw Pies on Bluff Street; they are the best in the state. And today we are having lunch out in Kayenta at the Xateka (I’ve got to look that spelling up) restaurant there which some people have rated as the best food in the state. There is also a wonderful gift shop there which carries local crafts. And of course Ken always visits the local Nielson’s Custard for great ice cream - this one being only one of three in the state. We very much appreciated learning from you about the First Watch Restaurant here which we intend to try soon.
We started coming down to St. George years ago when we lived in SLC for ten years at the beginning of Ken’s career. His distant cousin Ron Molen invited us down usually in March and we would stay at the Green Valley Spa. Last year we came down in January with our old friends Bob and Dixie Snow Huefner and Joan Kimball. You can tell by Dixie’s name that her father grew up near here in Pine Valley which is a place you will love to visit. We came in January just as the virus kicked up and we had to come before I had my knee replacement surgery. (That’s how old and creaky we are.) The history here continues to fascinate us and we know you will love visiting Santa Clara near Ivins where the old Jacob Hamlin home is and where there is a wonderful Swiss village all restored with lots of information about the original Swiss settlers there - names such as Staheli (I’m sure you remember Don Staheli who grew up in Hurricane). Knowing that we were coming here this year, our friend Mary Ann Morgan loaned us a book written by Juanita Brooks called On the Ragged Edge: The Life and Times of Dudley Leavitt which she wrote at the behest of her father about the man he claimed did more for this area than Jacob Hamlin ever did. I just finished reading it and I can’t recommend it highly enough. She writes so vividly of the life of the saints here at the very beginning and it is fascinating. Dudley was a polygamist and I have never read of such success in keeping 5 wives fairly happy and cooperative with each other. Of course little was known to Juanita at the time she wrote the book about the Mountain Meadows Massacre; she writes of it as if it had been an incident caused by a few Paiutes. Thank goodness her curiosity got the better of her and I need to re-read her book about this tragic time.
And just before we came down here our son Bill sent us a description of a terrible flood that occurred in Santa Clara in 1871 (I think). A student of his at USC had written about it! I will try to send that to you as soon as I finish this email. So all in all, there is a very rich history about this place in our unique state and you two will have a great time when you move here.
I have only one negative reaction to your post and it wasn’t from anything you wrote; rather it was from the highly romanticized opinion of one commentator who pined for the good old days when our deified founding fathers governed. Would he like go back to slavery? I think not.
Fondly,
Kate,
Salt Lake City, UT
Enjoy hearing about St. George and options there. Looking forward digging deeper!