Picto Diary - 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 January 2020 - First Trax at Park City Mountain
Above: (34) Helmetless skier. Deer Valley. 27 January 2020.
Sleepless in Seattle. Helmetless in Deer Valley (not that there's anything wrong with either one).
NFPD (No friends on a powder day). I worked hard to stay forward in four inches of new, heavy, and later, tracked up powder.
Best work out runs:
Nabob
Hidden Treasure
Peeler
Star Gazer/Gemini
Mountain Musings.
Wisconsin. Saw her for the first time in a couple of years at Snow Park. She said she was staying with her son, Maverick, and was now permanently located in St. George. She was skiing with Mrs. Dopplemayer. She looked great!
Lucille. Rode up the Carpenter with Lucille and her friend Bonnie. It was a fine time to see Lucille again. She and her husband divide their time between Midway, UT and Port Charlotte, FL. She was skiing her 45th day at DV this season. Lucille was chipper. She seemed to be enjoying life after Snake Creek Grill. She looked great.
Greensboro. Mid AM break. Joined at my Empire Lodge Office by PGA, My Belle, The Mayor, Stem Kristi, Sock and Pittsburgh. PGA/My Belle new business doing well. Three new products to show at Las Vegas trade convention next month.
Icarus. Parsing, on a razor's edge, the difference between befriending an individual with skills, and self proclaimed issues, and, avoiding a jerk.
Silver Hill. Extra run because I was enjoying skiing more than the exigency of getting home at the normal hour.
Above: TIMDT and Stihl. Pats Barbeque. Salt Lake City, UT. 27 January 2020.
We parked at Barnes and Nobel in Sugar House and did a round trip in the homeless trolley for our rendezvous with Stihl at Pats. They should at least check for tickets... which they don't ... at least in a dozen times or more I've ridden the Sugarhouse trolley.
Above: (35) Bishop's Office. Exterior. Empire Lodge. Deer Valley. 28 January 2020.
Pre Break Runs:
Silver Link
Reward
Tycoon
Orient Express
Stein's Way
'Gazer
North Star
Hawkeye
Dakota
Post Break Runs:
Webster
Dakota
Orion
'Treasure
Homestake Access
Roamer/Big Stick
Solid'/Success/Dew Drop/Little Kate
Greeted on the Mountain:
Baseball Mitt
EMT
Suppressant
The Electrician
Cindy
Chip
Above: (36) Fenway, KAT, and Boston Legal. Stein Eriksen Lodge. Deer Valley. 29 January 2020
Post break ski companions.
Skied mostly runs bordered by trees to enhance visibility in foggy and flat light conditions. An inch of new snow gives rise to fabulous snow conditions.
Above: Kir, Kri, TIMDT and Bishop. Hearth and Home Restaurant. Park City, UT. 29 January 2020.
Out with friends eating fru fru fude. Mwah (sic)? Falafel. Good company and good time, but, where's Ruth Fertel when you need her?
Learning a lot about South Korea.
Above: (37) Bishop and Delhi PJ's. Park City Mountain. 30 January 2020.
Ran into uber ski instructor Delhi PJ's, brother of Stihl and Golf, already famous on these pages, just before attending KPCW Broadcaster's Club post First Trax ski breakfast at Park City Mountain.
Delhi PJ's, who cites downhill skiing as a thrill second only to riding on the roof of Indian Railways train cars, reports full recovery from life threatening head injury suffered in a 2016 ski accident. Hyper strong, hyper family support contributed to recovery.
Delhi PJ's reports he passed his eight month down time studying brain injury and brain function. He now works part time, in addition to being ski instructor, coaching other injury victims.
Today was my first experience first trax skiing between 7:30 AM and 9:00 AM. Also my first skiing this year at Park City Mountain. Note: You don't know how hard it is to put your boots on at the running board of an F350 in a dark parking lot.
Most fun of the day was watching losers like TWO3 and Title mount the Crescent Lift at 9:00 AM knowing they'd find only runs already marred/muffed up by... Mwah (sic).
Great runs with really good skiers, led by 66 year old Oz ski instructor, Adam. Adam knew my all time favorite ski instructor, Oz, Ed Martin (circa 2006). I've had other great instructors, but none who fought in Timor with Oz Army special forces. I doubled Ed's tip because of his military contribution to Western Culture.
Runs included,
Newport
Prospector
Assessment
Hidden Splendor
Phil's Hill
It's been two years since I've skied Park City. Runs then that then seemed intimidating (Newport, Prospector) were surprisingly straightforward today. More support for the fact that a 40 pound weight loss and improved technique have made big difference in my skiing
Met some nice people today...Eric, Ann, Lee, Howard and several others. KPCW CEO Renai Bodley Miller greeted the group. Jennifer Kimball-Bailey did a great job organizing the event.
TIMDT and Mwah (sic) proud to support KPCW, Summit County's independent radio voice, backed up by NPR and BBC.
Above: (38) Bald Mountain. Deer Valley. File image. 31 January 2020.
Skied with KAT and The Actuary. Light was a bit flat not unlike in the file image shown here. So, stayed away from the long steep runs. Greeted Comic Mom at Deer Crest.
Addendum:
Steve –
Your weight loss is
showing in your photos. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! It’s not easy.
Meanwhile I’ve gone with a Chinese medicine guy (if he was close to Park City, (you’d definitely want to hear from Bob Doane at LSDM) and lost 30 pounds since October. My goal is to lose 15 more to get to my 225# (“fighting weight”). Allegedly I’m also getting my arteries cleaned out by consuming Chinese herbs every day (which is the main goal of this effort).
Best wishes,
Billy Barker,
Poulsbo, WA