My month long Utah excursion is coming to a close. Thus, today was the last ski day in Deer Valley. Of course, I decided to go out with a bang.
First, Shane and I decided that we would do the NASTAR race today. I remember doing the NASTAR races when I was a kid in ski school and thinking they were so much fun. I had a skier troll that my mom had given me and decorated it with all my NASTAR pins. I had medal pins in bronze, gold, and silver. Ultimately, the NASTAR medal-ed troll got relegated to a box in the basement, but I think I will have to take him out of toy storage land when I get home because I earned a bronze medal on the NASTAR course!
I remember when I was kid I thought the NASTAR race was very long and steep and super duper fast. Today, I realized it's actually not that steep, not that long, and it's pretty hard to go that fast. Mom says it's because I grew but I think it's because the mountains shrunk...
Mom took a video of Shane and I earning our bronze medals, which we were very pleased to receive. However, my technologically challenged mom rotated the camera so that the videos all appear sideways. So I won't be posting them here, unless I get in comments that you all want to see the sideways videos.
Mom also embraced her inner child when noticing the lift operators snowmobile was smiling... She is being brainwashed by American Express commercials.
In videos we can actually view without turning our computers sideways, Shane took a video of me skiing one of my favorite runs at Deer Vally, Wizard on Bald Mountain. I love this run because I can go really fast at the beginning and there is rarely ever anybody on it.
Shane also captured one of Mom coming down after me. She didn't know she was being videoed but she was still excited about it. Can you believe my mom had never seen herself skiing on video until this trip? Oh the generation gap...
Since we were kids, Shane and I (and I'm sure other ski schoolers) were obsessed with being on chair number one on the chair lifts. The best time to be on chair number 1 is when you don't plan it and it just happens. That is exactly what happened to us today.
Shane on Chair #1 on Lady Morgan Express
Finally, our most amazing feat yet... drum-roll please... Shane and I skied just over FIVE MILES in vertical feet with a total vertical feet of 26,790vf which is 5.07 miles to be exact. Not only did we ski five vertical miles, but we did so on five of the six peaks at Deer Valley! And, we didn't even start our first run until 11:00am or so. Now, this didn't just happen this way. When we realized how much we were skiing we decided to overtly try to hit five vertical miles. We did so by completely ditching Mom after lunch and going up and down the Northside lift on Flagstaff mountain until the lift closed. At that point, we were only 810vf away from reaching our goal. Knowing that the Carpenter lift at the base stayed open until 4:15, we headed that way to ensure that we would be able to accomplish our goal. On the way down we ran into Mom who gladly joined us on the Carpenter lift and took our last run with us. It was a great way to end the day and this season's time at Deer Valley.
I will miss Deer Valley, really I will, and I plan on returning as often as possible. I'm even considering applying for a mountain host position. After all, I do know the mountain backwards and forwards, and I like to think I am a pretty personable character. But, I am speculating too far into the future.
Tomorrow we are going to Park City where we will finish up the remainder of our skiing here in Utah. I highly doubt we'll be able to ski five vertical miles there. Until then...
Two of the most gorgeous houses visible from the slopes in Deer Valley.
Variety is a good thing, especially when vacationing in one place for an entire month. To add some spice to our lives, we decided to go to Snowbird today, another ski resort in the Wasatch Mountains just 12 miles from our condo. If you look at the map of Utah ski resorts, you will find they are all quite close together. In fact, from Park City Mountain you can see Deer Valley. Snowbird and Alta share a mountain, only they are on opposite sides. It's quite incredible really. And, if you think about it, with so many mountains for skiers to chose from, there is always something "new" and the mountains don't get as crowded. It's quite brilliant. Thank you Mother Nature for creating such ski conducive mountains so close together.
Unfortunately, Snowbird is not easily accessible from Park City via public transportation. To do so, one would have to take a shuttle from Park City to Salt Lake City airport and then transfer there to another bus heading to Snowbird. Being people who dance to our own drum, we decided to rent a car for the day, easy peasy. We rented online with Enterprise last week anticipating our Snowbird trip. The great thing about Enterprise is the door to door pickup. They picked us up at our condo (albeit an hour late) and took us to the rental car center. When we got there, Shane (who was driving) signed some forms, they gave us the keys, and we were off! Shane brought Mom's Garmin from home so we were able to have GPS in the car, even though it was quite easy to get to Snowbird from Park City.
To get to Snowbird from Park City, one must first go down the mountain and into Cottonwood Canyon, then back up to Snowbird. The view is absolutely breathtaking. Coming from a flat island, it always amazes me how spectacular mountain ranges are, even though I've seen them quite often in my life.
The GPS announced our arrival at Snowbird and we parked the car in the free lot and walked to Snowbird Center where there are lockers, shops, restaurants, a pharmacy, and a mini grocery store. We headed up to the top floor balcony to get Mom's ticket (we already had two discount tickets purchased from Canyon Sports) and then headed to the waiting area for the Aerial Tram which holds up to 125 people, has a vertical rise of 2,900ft (my ears popped on the way up), and is 8,935ft in length. The tram these days isn't much needed because of the added tunnel and Mineral Basin Express lift, but it's still a treat just the same. I've had my fair share of tram rides in my life. Of course I rode the tram in Jackson Hole, Wyoming last year and for the two years I lived on Roosevelt Island in NYC, I rode the tram there on a frequent basis. You might remember the Roosevelt Island tram from Spiderman 2... maybe?
Video of the two trams crossing, one goes up the other goes down.
As we were waiting for the tram I spotted a family that I recognized from the previous day at Deer Valley. Creepy? Maybe. But I distinctly remembered the two children's ski outfits because they were a glorious color of green. The "green girls" totally stuck out in a crowd, so I said "Hi" to them and we got to chatting. Then of course Mom got to chatting with them. All the chatting on the tram led to a huge photo shoot on the top of Hidden Peak at 11,000ft elevation.
The family on top of Hidden Peak
Panoramic from the top of Hidden Peak
We opted to first go down a short ways on Peruvian Gulch and then catch the "magic carpet" through the tunnel to Mineral Basin on the other side of the mountain.
Shane in the tunnel.
Riding the Magic Carpet
The tunnel is relatively new with it's completion in 2006. Mineral Basin, the "back bowl" of Snowbird is also relatively new with it's opening in 2000 just two years before the Olympics came to Salt Lake City. After we rode the magic carpet to Mineral Basin, we skied to the bottom blindly, not because of visibility, it was in fact a perfectly sunny and warm day, but because of the lack of signs and postings telling skiers where the trails were. Alas, we think we missed the run we intended to do (this happened a few times throughout the day) but all is well. We mostly wanted to explore the mountain and sample a little bit of everything. And let me say, the sampling has got me wanting more. I fully intend to spend multiple consecutive days in Snowbird in the future.
Snowbird is unlike any mountain I have ever visited. Everything is wide open, the complete opposite of The Canyons I'd like to point out. The front AND back of the mountain are in "bowl" formations, and multiple ones at that. The expanse of Snowbird is huge with 2,500 acres of ski-able terrain. One of the unique features of Snowbird is their 40 year old chair lifts. For those of you who don't ski or snowboard, this might not mean that much to you, but for those of you that do ski or snowboard, appreciate those comfortable chair lifts! Two of the lifts I rode today, Little Cloud and Gad 2, were 40 year old two seater chair lifts with seats that literally resembled beach chairs. The seats were plastic slats on a thin metal frame that had teeny tiny armrests and a completely awkward footrest (but at least it had a footrest). I actually got anxiety on these chair lifts, especially when Gad 2 stopped for 5 minutes over a huge bowl. I'm a complete wuss when it comes to chairlifts, it is true. However, I survived the chair lifts enough to continue skiing. And ski I did! We skied a total of 14,756 vertical feet. Not bad considering how much time we spent taking pictures and videos and just staring in awe at the expanse of the mountain.
Me in awe of the mountain, babbling of course.
My favorite thing about Snowbird, however, is their dedication to safety. The trail map for Snowbird is called a "Trail Map and Safety Guide". They have a poster at every lift stating the Skier Responsibility Code. Upon entering Snowbird Center there is a ticker screen ticking off the Code as well. On the tram ride, the operator announcement references the Code as well. This is my kind of mountain! And my observations proved that skiers and riders at Snowbird take the Code to heart. I only once got passed by a fast skier, but that was on a super narrow run. And, since Snowbird has many catwalks cutting through expert terrain, it is especially important to follow the rules of the Code including yield to downhill skiers and observing slow zone regulations.
After out day of skiing came to a close, we headed back to the car to journey back to the condo. Of course, this journey included a requisite stop to 7-Eleven (our favorite convenience store - in fact, on the February 21st episode of Undercover Boss, you can see me in the turquoise sweater purchasing coffee at our local 7-Eleven). Mom and I were overjoyed to learn the 7-Eleven we stopped at had steamed milk, a staple in the perfect cup of coffee. The employees were even nice enough to make us a fresh pot of hazelnut coffee, our favorite. When we questioned the employees about steamed milk (because not all 7-Eleven's have steamed milk much to our dismay), they mentioned that it's mostly people from the East who get the steamed milk. Well, that makes sense! Almost all the 7-Eleven's where we live have steamed milk and hardly any when we travel have it. Go figure. East Coasters sure know how to drink their cheap coffee.
For dinner, we ordered take out Japanese from Shoyu right near where we got our nails done that one time. I learned while waiting to pick up the order that Reef's used to be in that location. This is significant because Reef's was a restaurant we were told to go to because our very close family friend's son's friend's parents owned Reef's. Got that? Well, we weren't able to eat at Reef's because it's not there anymore, but at least we were able to pay it homage by getting take out from the restaurant that occupies it's former space.
After our Japanese food, Mom decided she wanted popcorn... Well, needless to say I gave mom the incorrect microwave cooking time for the popcorn and it started to smoke, heavily I might add, all throughout the apartment. Mom and I were fanning the front and garage doors open trying to get the smoke out while Shane busted open the sliding glass doors in the living room. So, E and R, if you smell any residual burnt popcorn, don't fret... we got it all under control...
Tomorrow it's our last day at Deer Valley. After Shane returns the car to Enterprise and hitches a ride home from them, we're heading the mountain early (why am I awake?). Shane and I want to be sure to hit up the NASTAR race track like we did when we were kids. It will be our fun memory from this trip, that is assuming I don't crash and burn like I did when I was a kid. Until then...
Today we only did a half day of skiing at Deer Vally. I must say once again that the accessiblity at Deer Valley is pheonomenal. We got on the first lift at 12:20 and got to the base of the mountain at 3:55 for a grant total of three hours and thirty five minutes on the mountain. Figure in our 30 minute "brownie" break and 95 minutes waiting for and on lifts, we only actually skied for about an hour and a half. But, in that hour and a half I skied 17,920 vertical feet. To continue our math lesson, that comes out to almost 12,000 vertical feet an hour. I skied more today in a half day than I did on other full days. That's pretty impressive if you ask me.
We opted not to have lunch on the mountain since we only skied a half day, so instead we went to Cushing's Cabin at the top of Flagstaff Mountain. It's a small eatery stocked with baked good and coffee all day. For lunch they make sure to have chilli on hand, something usefull to know if we don't wan't to head to one of the bigger eateries.
Me and Shane outside Cushing's Cabin
Like I said before, we got to the base of the mountain at 3:55, which coincidentally is only three minutes before the bus leaves! It's either three minutes or 33 minutes. We decided NOT to wait for 33 minutes and rushed instead of slothed. Mom and Shane carried the skis and left the poles for me while I scurried down the stairs to the locker room to get mine and Mom's cat-tracks then back up the stairs to get the poles and dash across oncoming traffic to get to the bus stop. But you know what, I made it! I suggest never running in ski boots, it's quite difficult.
All in all it was a good day. We didn't work too hard (hence the half day) because we are going to Snowbird tomorrow, which is going to be quite an adventure. Until then...
I failed to include in yesterday's post what happened AFTER The Canyons. Please backtrack with me a little bit.
Last night the three of us went out to dinner in Old Town Park City at Cafe Terigo. Mom had eaten here before on previous trips to Park City and liked it so much she wanted to share the experience with me and Shane. The 22 year old restaurant resides in a brick building right on Main Street. The menu boats both French and Italian cuisine. I consider Cafe Terigo a fine dining establishment without the fuss. Families are welcome here, as is casual dress. I enjoyed the artichoke appetizer and the lamb chop entree, Mom had the Utah trout which she thought was delicious, and Shane had the chicken fettuccine which was good enough to doggy bag. When my glass of wine came with dinner, I immediately appreciated the big full glasses of wine I get back in New York. Silly Utah drinking laws.
Skiing in Deer Valley today was the polar opposite of The Canyons yesterday. As you all know by now, I am a big fan of Deer Valley. The comfort level is fantastic. Every chair lift has a foot rest, there are multiple tissue boxes on every lift line, the food is amazing, the accessibility is superb, just to name a few. It is safe to say that Shane's first experience of Deer Valley was a good one, and luckily for him there were no fires in any lodges.
After skiing both Deer Valley and Park City many times in the past few weeks, I have discovered what I like about skiing each of them. Deer Valley always grooms runs rated green circle, blue square, and double blue square. There is usually one single black diamond (not including Stein's Way which is always groomed) that is groomed (today there were two, Evergreen and Oriental Express). At Deer Valley I can either ski an easy cruising run or a difficult bump run, but not much in-between since blacks are rarely groomed and blues are rarely left ungroomed. I can't get a steep cruiser or a not steep bump run.
At Park City, the grooming report every day is wildly different. There are groomed runs, day old groomed runs, not groomed since last century runs; blue, double blue, black, Park City doesn't discriminate with it's grooming process which means I can get a less steep bump run and a steep cruiser, which I rarely get at Deer Valley. I can also ski less steep groomers and steep bump runs at Park City in addition to Deer Valley. The variety in types of runs at Park City can't be beat. But, the snowboardless wonderousness (sorry snowboarder friends, I still love you) of Deer Valley is unparalleled. In fact, there are only three snowboardless mountains in the entire USA; Deer Valley, Alta (also in Utah's Wasatch Mountains), and Mad River Glen in Vermont. The lack of snowboarders makes the snow less scraped and the noise level lower. And let me defend myself here and say that I have nothing against snowboarders in general, just the bad ones who don't know how to turn and scrape off all the snow who are also oblivious to the people around them (and yes, there are skiers like this too).
Today's 21,390 vertical feet was the perfect amount to ski. I wasn't so exhausted that I was not functional upon returning to the condo, yet I definitely felt worked out. When I returned to the condo I spent a seriously long time in the hot tub, then took a bubble bath, then a shower. My skin seriously misses hydration. It could be that time in the trip where I start to miss things back home (humidity, for example). My plane leaves in 6 days and I am going to enjoy my time in Utah all 6 of those days.
Tomorrow it's back to Deer Valley to stay away from the Park City weekend crowd. Until then...
Me, Mom, Shane at the top of Bald Mountain on Stein's Way
Mom and I woke up early enough to get on an 8:45am bus. Yes, believe it. Knowing that fresh snow was headed our way, we decided that getting up early today would be a wise decision, especially since tomorrow is a day off and we can sleep late. When we were going up the chairlift after our second run, the time was 10:15am. I said, "Mom, it's the time we are usually getting on the bus and we've already skied two runs!" The lift operator thought that was funny.
Since it had snowed (the whole reason we were up and at 'em early), we were ready to make fresh tracks in some powder! Skiing the same resort two days in a row is a great way to do this. Why? Because we know what was groomed yesterday and was wasn't groomed today! Groomers have less powder, even though the snow is still great, and day old groomers are still usually smooth AND have fresh powder, a winning combination.
Getting to the mountain earlier than usual meant that we were hungrier earlier than usual, and a good thing too. We got to Silver Lake Lodge at 11:30 for lunch. Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we both got too much food, but we likely wouldn't have been able to finish it anyway. At the end of our meal, we were warming our feet by the fire to get toasty toes, I was still bootless, and the fire alarm went off! We had to evacuate the building! I grabbed my mittens and neck warmer from the fireside, put on my boots as quickly as possible, and grabbed my jacket and helmet as I ran out the door. Some idiots had pushed out their chairs in front of the door making it so no one could get out, so of course, the lifeguard in me removed the chairs on my way out. We exited the building from the second floor and entered into a flurry of white flakes; it was snowing again!
Knowing that my friend Daniel (who I met on my recent Birthright Israel trip who lives in San Fransisco) and his brother Pasha were coming to Utah, I had coordinated with him to meet up and ski together. Today, their last day here in Utah, they came to Deer Valley to ski with me. We met up after Mom and I evacuated the burning lodge (the fire department came and everything is fine) to ski the afternoon together. I've never skied with friends before, in all my years of skiing, let alone two very strong guys! They kept me working all afternoon. Because I've spent so much time at Deer Valley, I am a regular mountain guide. I know what's been groomed, where the "good" runs are, what time the lifts close, and how to get around in general. Dan and Pasha had it good, because they didn't even need to think about where they were going, they just asked me what was next. Dan said, "Fantastic day. Thanks for automated, real time, voice navigated, turn by turn ski instruction. You rock." Now that's a compliment if I've ever heard one. Maybe I should become a Deer Valley Mountain Host...
Me and Dan on top of Flagstaff, his favorite.
After skiing 25,170 vertical feet today, 14,490vf with Dan and Pasha, I decided to have my first Apres Ski experience of my life. The three of us went to the EBS Lounge in Snow Park Lodge to have a drink. We were surprised to find that the lounge has live music for apres ski! Utah has a funny law about drinking, in that you have to order food in conjunction with alcohol. There is also a maximum amount of 1.5oz of alcohol in a cocktail and 5oz of wine in a glass; it's all written right there on the menu. Regardless, I had a deliciously delicious Hot Buttered Rum. It warmed me all the way down to my freezing cold toes. I think it also helped thaw out the icicle in my hair.
The guys loved Deer Valley and were so glad to have had the chance to ski there on their short trip to Utah. Quoting Pasha, "Skiing in skiers only resort in Utah is like clubbing with hot people only, nobody is in your way sitting on their ass, love it!" I'm glad you both had such a great time! I had a blast as well.
When I got back to the condo, I hopped right into the hot tub. All that skiing really took it out of me. Then, while I was watching the Olympics I started falling asleep on the couch in front of the fire, but woke up when I realized I had to write this blog. And look how much I wrote! Much better than the last time I skied this much.
Tomorrow my brother gets here! I am so excited to see him. Fly safe, Shane! Until then...
One of the most uncomfortable things that can happen to a skier is getting cold feet. No, I don't mean getting nervous about going down a difficult run (although I'm sure that could happen). I mean physically cold feet. Mom and I had the unfortanate experience of cold feet today.
It was cold today, brrrr. We dried out boots out last night and this morning and put them on before dashing out the door to catch the bus to Deer Valley. While we were on the bus, not yet half-way to Deer Valley, Mom mentions that her feet are cold. My feet were feeling cold as well, but I know better than to bring up cold extremities around my mom. For some reason she gets colder hearing me talk about being cold. When I said that my feet were cold too, we knew something wasn't right.
We headed to our super secret bench at Snow Park Lodge to take off our cat-tracks, tighten up our boots, and put on all our gear before heading up the lift. I took my foot out of my boot, felt around inside with my hand, and determined that my boot was still wet from the day before! Cue the "ew, Tamara, your feet are sweaty" comments. Mom's boot, unfortunately, was wet as well. There is a Cole Sport in Deer Valley at the Silver Lake Lodge, up a lift ride from Snow Park Lodge, so we decided to head up there and have the boot technicians heat our boots up for us.
At Cole Sport, Mike took our boots and placed them on his handy dandy boot heater for 5 minutes each. While we were talking to him, we discovered that his wife's good friend lives in our town! We don't know her, but it was fun to talk about the places he had been and agree that Beacon is the best restaurant in the world.
When Mike gave us back our boots, putting them back on was like heaven, and that is hard to say about ski boots. They were so warm and toasty! We thanked him and headed back outside, where it was now snowing!
The snow was falling fast and in huge fluffy flakes. Perfect snow. Luckily, it continued to snow all throughout the day. Even though our noses, thumbs, and toes got cold, we relished in the falling flakes. The snow conditions were getting better and better by the minute. The lift operators even had to start sweeping snow off of the chairs becuase it was accumulating so fast!
After our delicious lunch at Silver Lake Lodge where we also warmed up our toes by the fire, Mom and I practiced what we learned from our lesson yesterday; "little toe to the snow" and "slither". We did a couple of a bump runs and let our little toes guide us through the new fallen powder. All 12,070 vertical feet we skied today were in glorious conditions. I hope that the conditions tomorrow are even better! After the glorious grooming at Deer Valley and the powder on top of it... I almost can't contain myself. Until then...
I. Am. Tired. Exhausted. Pooped. Can I go to sleep now, please?
Today, I blew yesterday away and skied 25,430 vertical feet. Am I insane? Possibly. I calculated that I rode up a chairlift 23 times, skied over 18 different trails (many multiple times), and fell asleep on the bus ride home twice. Today is the "do or die" day. I can stop now, and be happy, but if I keep going and push through the tired and the pain, I will become a better skier, and that is the ultimate goal. I impressed myself today; I skied more vertical feet, but skied slower because I was working on my technique. I almost fear the day I get to 30,000 vertical feet.
Because I'm so tired/exhausted/pooped and don't really have the energy, eye, or finger strength to keep typing, I am going to leave you with a video I took a couple of days ago. It's a walk through virtual tour of our condo. I really love our condo, and now you can see why.
Tomorrow it's over to Park City. I wonder what it will be like after 3 consecutive days at Deer Valley. Until then...
Thank you George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, two of the USA's greatest leaders, for having birthdays so close together thus causing the creation of President's Day, a national holiday in the middle of prime ski season. Do you know what that means? Lift lines, for the entire long weekend.
Yesterday wasn't as bad as today, probably because some people were still traveling, and tomorrow probably won't be as bad as today because some people will be traveling back home. But today... I'm officially proclaiming my spoiled-ness. I haven't had to wait more than 30 seconds on a lift line before today. I'm estimating that I waited for about an hour on lift lines today. But, that is the reality of skiing, you can't go down unless you go up, and there's not as many choices for up as there are for down. Darn Newton and his law of gravity!
Needless to say, I am glad Mom had the brilliant idea of skiing at Deer Valley this entire long weekend as opposed to Park City. Deer Valley has a limit to how many tickets they sell on any given day. Knowing this, we got on the "early" bus at 9:15am and were at the mountain by 10:00am. We were lucky we got to the mountain "early" because Deer Valley reached capacity today. After taking off our boot protecting cat tracks and waiting on two lift lines to get up to the top of Bald Mountain, it was 10:30 by the time we started our first run, Tycoon to the Sultan Express lift. After we came back up the lift we decided to go down Stein's Way, a black diamond (!), the top of which is along the ridge of Bald Mountain. All I can say is, what a view! It took my breath away. See for yourself.
Mom and I even successfully got another Mother/Daughter combo to take a picture of us along the ridge with the gorgeous view in the background!
Mom and I decided that on this beautiful sunny day (we've been getting a lot of those) we would head over to Lady Morgan and sample the groomed run of the day, Magnet, another black diamond (look at us go!). After Lady Morgan we ventured to Empire, Flagstaff, and finally Bald Eagle Mountain to get us back to the lodge. We hit five out of six of Deer Valley's peaks today! We were moving all over the mountain, and it all flowed seamlessly.
Because we started our day earlier than we have been, and because I skied until 4:20 (Mom stopped earlier), I was able to ski enough that I reached my goal of 20,000 vertical feet in a day! 23,250ft to be exact! Getting up early was totally worth it. For the record, my legs/ankles/back are tired! To celebrate my accomplishment, Mom and I relaxed for 30 minutes in the hot tub overlooking the nature preserve at our condo. What a great way to end Valentine's Day, with my original Valentine, my mom.
Tomorrow it's back to Deer Valley to steer clear of the Park City crowds. Until then...
Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated by icicles. Not the tiny little ones you sometimes see, but the humongous ones that make you feel like you're in a winter wonderland.
Today, Mom and I stumbled across the most amazing icicles. We decided to head over to Little Baldy Peak in Deer Valley to try a double blue called Jordanelle to take us to the gondola. While the run was a total dud (another glorified catwalk), the view from the gondola was pretty nice. Deer Valley has lots of luxury private homes all over the mountain, and you can see a bunch of them from the gondola. But, unless you're parking at the gondola, there is really no reason to take it. The runs worth skiing on Little Baldy Peak are accessible from the Deer Crest chair lift, and you can see the luxury homes in other parts of the mountain.
Some of the houses.
Once we headed out of the catwalks of Little Baldy Peak, we headed over to Bald Mountain and skied down 5 times. After lunch at the Silver Lake Lodge, we skied down Flagstaff Mountain 5 times. When we got to the base at the end of the day, we decided to go up Carpenter again to take us to our last run; Big Stick, a great double blue with perfect long bumps and soft snow. Today's total vertical feet was 18,730ft. I'm still trying to make it to 20,000ft, so I guess I'll have to wake up earlier (I thought this was a vacation). Until then...
I got my first taste of Deer Valley today, and it was sweet. Deer Valley Mountain Resort is like no other mountain resort that I have ever been to. Certain elements make Deer Valley unlike any other in Utah, the Wasatch Range, the USA, and maybe even the world.
First, Deer Valley has an excellent grooming standard. All green, blue, and double blue trails are groomed every night totaling about 1/2 of the mountain. But, the snow is not just rolled over by a CAT to be made into "corduroy" (so named because of the appearance of groomed snow), it is chopped up deeper than the surface and then groomed over to be made into what Mom aptly calls, "velvet corduroy". I didn't get to the mountain early enough to experience a freshly groomed trail, but I can attest to the fact that the snow was still great at the end of the day, something that is not necessarily that easy to find.
Second, Deer Valley has the most incredibly accessible mountain. Deer Valley is privately owned (as opposed to being leased from the US Forest Service). It's owner and creator Edgar Stern sought to create a luxury ski resort. I think he certainly succeeded. The aforementioned snow grooming and the mountain accessibility certainly make Deer Valley a pleasant place to ski, and a place that affluent skiers would be more likely to spend money because of the numerous services provided. On most mountains you will find yourself taking the "catwalk" to get across the mountain to other lifts and sections of the mountain. Deer Valley does no such thing! There are lifts to get to other lifts! I never once today found myself on a catwalk shuffling over to the other side of the mountain. With it's six mountain peaks, one would think traveling between the six would be a difficult task. Deer Valley makes it so easy to get from mountain to mountain that one can ski the entire mountain in a day! I skied four mountains today, Bald Mountain (elevation 9,400ft), Bald Eagle Mountain (elevation 8,400ft), Flagstaff Mountain (elevation 9,100ft), and Empire (elevation 9,570). Granted on some mountains I only skied one run, but the sheer fact that I was able to access four mountain peaks is quite impressive, especially considering I was only at Deer Valley for 5 hours.
Third, the food at Deer Valley is top notch. Since Deer Valley is catering (pun intended) to a more affluent crowd that is more accustomed to the finer things in life, Deer Valley has to make sure it's food is "good enough to eat". Mom and I dined at the Empire Canyon Grill at the bottom of the Ruby and Empire Express lifts. We each had chili, con carne for me and turkey for her. It was served in real flatware (not paper or plastic) and with real silverware. The cornbread with paprika sprinkled on top served on the side was to die for. It hit the spot after skiing out on the cold side of the mountain. We dined by the fire on the second story loft which was also a great place to warm our gloves. Also, the bathrooms were the nicest public bathrooms I have used in a long time. The hardware was gold... colored, not real gold obviously (or was it?). There was also a coat rack and shelf conveniently located at the entrance to the restroom so I was able to hang up my coat and leave my mittens outside of the stall, because no one wants their mitten to fall into a toilet bowl.
Fourth, the customer service at Deer Valley is outstanding. The customer service was actually the first thing I noticed. At every large scale map located on the mountain (usually at the tops of lifts) a "Mountain Host" was present to help skiers negotiate the mountain. We asked multiple mountain hosts questions like, "Where is the sunniest trail? Which double blue do you recommend? and How do we get to X lift?" They always had the answer, and were so pleasant upon answering. We were never steered in the wrong direction. The lift attendants were so friendly, always saying "Good morning/afternoon" and asking us how our day was going. When we had questions they answered enthusiastically. The servers and bussers at the Empire Canyon Grill were also very friendly and courteous. But, my favorite customer service experience was when we were leaving Empire Canyon Grill to head up the Ruby Express lift, which is very flat terrain to ski across, especially while trying to dodge skiers coming downhill from three directions. A gentleman wearing the signature Deer Valley green jacket was asking my mom how she liked her skis (Volkl Aura's) while she was putting them on outside, so they were chatting for a bit. Then he asked us where we were going and we told him to the Ruby Express lift. Then, he grabbed hold of our poles and gave us a tow across the flat terrain and whipped us into the lift line. It was so fun, and a perfect example of the amazing customer service at Deer Valley.
Mom said I would love Deer Valley, and I did. I fully intend to go back there on a day when I am not so tired (third day leg muscle soreness was kicking in) so that I can go earlier to experience the "velvet corduroy" and because I can ski so much of the mountain due to the accessibility. Today I skied 16,130 vertical feet, which is over 4,000 feet than I skied yesterday. Deer Valley definitely exceeded my expectations for a ski resort, but I know better than to expect it from all ski resorts, and because of that I will look forward to my days at Deer Valley with eagerness.
This video was taken at the top of Empire Express, the mountain peak all the way to skiers left.
This video was taken at the top of Bald Mountain where the Sultan, Wasatch, and Sterling Express lifts converge. Weren't we blessed with the most gorgeous day?!
This final video, is me "interviewing" Mom about our lunch. She is so cute.
Mom also embraced her inner child when noticing the lift operators snowmobile was smiling... She is being brainwashed by American Express commercials.
Since we were kids, Shane and I (and I'm sure other ski schoolers) were obsessed with being on chair number one on the chair lifts. The best time to be on chair number 1 is when you don't plan it and it just happens. That is exactly what happened to us today.
