Picto Diary - 6, 7, 8 April 2016 - Crazy 'bout a Mercury

Above. Dentist on gold chair (one of around 120). Thaynes Lift. Park City Ski Area. 06 April 2016.

Iconic chair. Iconic lift. Maybe some good fortune in store?

Above: Stockli! Summit House. Park City Ski Area. 06 April 2016.

Iconic skier, skiing on iconic Fisher GS skis today. Booked for Portillo in August.

Above: Dentist on Mercury ski run. Park City Ski Area. 06 April 2016.

"Crazy 'bout a Mercury."

Ski note: Spring skiing. Snow much better than yesterday' hard pan. Bluebird day warming later to the 60's.

PC 93

Above: Uber dad and kids at opening game of Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Tampa, FL. 06 April 2016.

Image by Uber Grandma.

Above: Stockli at entrance to Peeler ski run. Deer Valley. 07 April 2016.

After two laps on Peeler, Stockli said, "this was the best ski run of the year." Mwah (sic) concurs.

10 AM to 10:20 AM. Peeler. Two laps. Groomed first trax. Like butter. Like powder. TIMDT and Mwah (sic) had the same ski experience a few days ago.

Above: Kids at play. Salt Lake City. 07 April 2016.

Image captured on an errand and lunch run to Salt Lake City.

Above: Kastle skis. Left. FX 94's; Right. MX 88's. Wasatch Lift. Deer Valley. 07 April 2016.

These wider skis were helpful in the softening, Spring, snow... not as helpful on the frozen, Spring, hardpan. We skied both today. Nabob, for example, wasn't pure ice. You could get a bit of an edge, and it seemed "safer" skiing faster. Conversely, lots of tight turns, at slower speed, in mashed potatoes on Dakota.

DV 94

Above: Quitting Time Ski Run. Park City Ski Area. 08 April 2016.

9:20 AM. Like butter. First trax. Nobody skis here because they think the lift ride back takes too long. Good... all for me.... and I've got time.

Above: Ski Bridge to Town Lift. Park City Ski Area. 08 April 2016.

Oh oh.... late season, unanticipated walk to the Town lift. Maybe 150 feet.

PC 95

Above: St. John. Crescent Lift. Park City Ski Area. 08 April 2016.

St. John and Mwah (sic) skied Crescent together. Perfect (best) Spring conditions. You never know what you are going to get in the Spring. A combination of night time temperatures, precip, day time temperatures, clouds or not, wind or not, can make the same run much different to ski from day to day. Today, the light freeze overnight, the grooming, the warmer temps (about 40 degrees at time of skiing), a light breeze, and the occluded sunlight, made for a perfect February like ski experience on Crescent. Earlier this week I skied Crescent at the same time as Mwah (sic) did today (around 10 AM) and it was like an ice rink. One of the fun challenges of Spring skiing is to try to find the best skiing depending on the current weather conditions and what the temperatures were the previous overnight.

Above: TWO 3, and Walter Reuther at McConkie Lift summit. Park City Ski Area. 08 April 2016.

The thee of us skied a couple of laps on Sun Dog, before going over to ski Single Jack.

Today is the birthday of TWO3's squeeze, I-Woman. She's 39. I mentioned this to TWO 3 while sitting on the McConkie chair. He said, "How did you know?" "She's a Facebook buddy," I said. "Facebook announces the birthdays of all your Facebook friends," I informed. Walter Reuther jumped into the conversation. He noted, "Tom's a secretive guy... he doesn't understand how others can know his secrets." "I know," I said. "When I first got to know TWO3 ten years ago, I figured, because of his private nature, he was probably a member of the Witness Protection Program.

I knew TWO3 had skied 140 days, year to date, at Park City Ski Area. I asked him how many vertical feet he had accomplished. "3.3MM and change," he replied. Whaaaaa! Three years ago I skied 135 days and notched up about 2.2 MM vertical. "Wow," I exclaimed, "You would have had to ski, with only pee/coffee breaks, until at least 1:30 PM to notch up those totals." "Yep," TWO3 replied. "That was my daily routine... to ski until 1:30 PM or 2:00 PM." Also, TWO skis reeeeeely fast. He probably gets in a couple of runs per hour more than I am able to accomplish in the same period.

TWO3 monitors his ski performance via Vail's Epic Mix App. With sensors at each lift, Vail/Park City can report to each holder of an Epic Pass her number (and name) of lifts, mileage, and vertical feet skied. You can also review your standing relative to other skiers. TWO3 says his vertical totals are currently number one, by a long shot.

Walter Reuther is running, as a Democrat, for Summit County Commission. He hopes a strong showing in population heavy, and Democrat heavy, Park City will get him into office. Walter Reuther walks his talk. He has headed up Habitat for Humanity and other charitable organizations. He was a forward air controller pilot in Vietnam. He is active in local Veterans organizations.

Above: Title stands at Kings Crown base. Park City Ski Area. 08 April 2016.

Today Title accomplished his 130th ski day for the season. He has skied about 1.9MM vertical feet 2015/2016 ski season to date. Title is the only person living to have held a season pass for Park City Ski Area for each of its 52 years of opening. Title loves skiing with other people... as long as they can keep up with him... which means he only skis with TWO3, Peterbilt, and Topaz.... or alone... most of the time. Title says, standing where this image is taken, that Kings Crown, just skied, was likely his last run for the season.... in which case, the above image would be his last ski image for 2015/2016 ski season. Notwithstanding, I'm holding out a bit of hope that he won't be able to resist coming up tomorrow, for at least one more ski day. And, also, maybe closing day, Sunday, 10 April 2016.

Addendum:

Thanks Steve. Love these reports and comments! Hope the good conditions run extra late!

Abacus, Miami, FL