The Final Day - 22,584 Vertical Feet

Tomorrow is going to be a great powder day at Park City Mountain. I would be excited, except that today was my last day of skiing in Utah for the season and I am boarding an airplane back to New York tomorrow. However, I can't complain because I did get 23 great days of skiing in at four different mountains during my stay here.



Today started very early with Shane and I waking up at 7:00am for the power clinic. Now, for those of you who know me, you know I am not in any way, shape, or form a morning person, at all, ever, no way. Me and mornings don't get along, but if there is a reason to greet the early morning, I will. The power clinic at Park City Mountain starts at 8:45am, 15 minutes before the lifts even officially open. It lasts for two hours, until 10:45am, which is about the time more people start to get on the mountain. At $45 a person, the power clinic is a great option for advanced skiers to get helpful pointers from an instructor without paying for an adult group class ($90/person) that lasts only an hour longer and is usually more crowded, even though the lessons max out at five participants per instructor.

Allen Woods was our instructor today. Shane and I were two of three people in the class. The third person was a young woman just a few years older than Shane, so the vibe of the group was young even though our instructor was 78 years old! Yes, you read that right, he is 78 and still skiing. Allen from Stowe, VT is a very interesting guy. He was the head of ski school at Stowe for 30 years and came to Park City 10 years ago. He has multiple ski instructor certifications, including certifications that allow him to certify others. But, the most interesting thing I learned about Allen was that he was the first American ski instructor to be permitted to take the Austrian ski instructor exam. Pretty cool, right? Allen gave me some great pointers for carving on ice because I mentioned to him that I was headed to Stowe in 2 weeks. Stowe, and other mountains in the East, are notorious for having icy conditions all winter long. Allen wanted to make sure I was ready. If you are ever skiing at Park City I highly suggest waking up early and taking the power clinic with Allen Tuesday through Friday. He is a very neat person and I am glad that I had the opportunity to spend some time with him.

Mom met us at Cole Sport after the lesson. While in Cole Sport, I was introduced to charismatic Cindy, a competitor in the Special Olympics. I had the opportunity to ask Cindy some questions, which she was very excited to answer because she wanted to be on the blog! Cindy is a downhill skier because she thinks that cross country skiing is too difficult. She began skiing a couple of years ago and loves it (me too, Cindy, me too). Cindy was also a regular fashionista wearing her Sundance Film Festival jacket which she was proud to show off. And, she is a very big Lilly Tomlin fan. You can watch Cindy in the following video.



Shane and I led Mom down some trails that we went on with Allen during the power clinic. It was nice to change up our routine a bit. It had already begun snowing when we headed up with Mom, but during the time skied together it started snowing much harder. And then it got really windy. It very quickly became a "snowy and blowy" day, Mom's LEAST favorite kind of ski conditions. In order to protect ourselves from the blustering wind we opted to ride the Motherlode lift the majority of the time, even though it is a frightfully long lift with no footrest. We got bored while on the lift so Mom started singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall". I then joined in and we belted out the song, getting down to 55 bottles of beer before we got off the lift. Mom must have been influenced by going to the brewery last night.

It got too windy for our liking and the snowflakes hitting our faces actually started to hurt, so we headed back to the base around 3:00pm, about an hour earlier than we usually do, after 22,584 vertical feet of skiing, 5,792vf of which were accumulated during the power clinic. We needed to get back to the condo anyway to pack up.

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go." I can't believe this amazing adventure is coming to an end. I am so glad that I got to experience "mountain life" first hand, improve my skiing, and spend time with my family. I am sad to leave Utah, but at the same time I am excited to go home. I know that I will come back to Utah though, so it's really not "good bye" but "see you later".

Thanks to E and R for renting us their condo. It was the perfect space for my family and we felt like we were staying at a friend's place instead of just renting. I know that we have made life-long friends in you.

Also, thanks to Vic, Kyle, and the rest of the team at Cole sport including Ryan, Brett, Will, Mike, and all those whose names I didn't mention. Your expertise, good attitude, and apres ski conversations made our time here that much more fun.

Special thanks to my mom, Judy for making this trip possible and for being the best mom that anyone could ever ask for. You will never know how much this trip has meant to me and I am so glad that I got to spend all of it with you.

Stay tuned for upcoming travels to Stowe, VT and St. Louis, MO. Until then...

Birthday Pie etc. - 15,161 Vertical Feet

Yesterdays five vertical miles skied really took a lot out of me. I didn't want to wake up today. I would have been perfectly content to burrow under the sheets for as long as I wanted. But, with tomorrow being the last day, I knew I had to take advantage of situation.

The day stared with the three of us heading into Cole Sport with a surprise for Vic and Kyle, two of our favorite "ski bums" who work there. This past week it was both of their birthdays, Vic turning 25 and Kyle turning 20. In our family, we have a "birthday pie" tradition that started with, of course, me. I am not to keen on cake, and my mom makes the world's best apple pie, so one year I asked for birthday pie instead of birthday cake. I got a pie with my age worked into the pie crust, I think the first pie was the year I turned 20. Anyways, we decided that we would give birthday pies to Vic and Kyle that they could share with the rest of the crew at Cole Sport. We did, however, refrain from singing happy birthday because my mom can't carry a tune if it had handles on it. They were so appreciative of their birthday pies, and when we got back to the shop at the end of the day they said they enjoyed them very much. Well, who doesn't like a birthday pie?!

Vic, Mom, Kyle, Me and birthday pie!


After presenting the guys with the pies (I'm a poet and I don't even know it), we headed up the Payday lift to start our second to last day at Park City Mountain. Little to our knowledge, it had snowed four inches that morning, so we were able to get some nice fresh, soft, buttery snow. Our warm up run on Sunrise off of McConkey's lift was absolutely perfect.

The weather alternated between snowing and sunshine all day. It was mildly schizophrenic. Sometimes the snowflakes were so big and wet that we needed "windshield wipers" for our goggles. Sometimes the snow was like pellets flying at us. Other times the sun shone down on us. But, you can't worry about the weather because the weather doesn't worry about you.

Riding the Pioneer lift in the falling snow.


After skiing 15,161 vertical feet, Shane and I were feeling pretty beat up from the insanity of the previous day, so we ended a little earlier than usual. Mom was very pleased with herself that she outlasted her young energetic children. Point for Mom.

When we got back to the condo, we decided that Albert the shopping cart should be returned to the parking lot before we left to go back home. I did promise that we would return him. But, of course we couldn't resist having a photo shoot with Albert! He is quite photogenic if I do say so myself.

I went to return Albert and then of course I got sidetracked and ended up in the TJ Maxx in Redstone. I have a SERIOUS weakness for TJ Maxx like you can't even believe. I ended up with a few new purchases, one of which is a bottle of Ahava lotion from the Dead Sea in Israel. We couldn't find matzoh ball soup mix in Smith's but I found Israeli lotion in the TJ Maxx. Some things never cease to amaze me.

On the way to dinner we stopped into Jupiter Bowl, a brand spankin' new bowling alley named for the bowl at Park City Mountain that is deemed experts only. I don't think you need to be an expert bowler to go to Jupiter Bowl though. Jupiter Bowl had not only bowling lanes, but a full bar, a video arcade complete with Dance Dance Revolution, air hockey, and a photo booth (we did take a strip of photos!), pool tables, lots of TVs playing sports games, and a sit down restaurant. I definitely want to hit up Jupiter Bowl the next time I come to Park City.

For dinner we headed to the Red Rock Brewery. When we got there it was very busy with families, but the exposed ceiling and open kitchen made it feel less crowded. We got a table in the corner and enjoyed our time there without feeling like there were too many people around. But most importantly, the food at Red Rock is AMAZING. We split an order of spicy buffalo wings to start with that were finger licking good. They were even so spicy that Shane, the king of spicy, had to drink water while eating them. Mom ordered the pink trout which was so flavorful and tender. Shane ordered the chicken schnitzel. I ordered the sweet potato cannelloni. Um... YUM! It's a good thing there were only two cannellonis, because I would have kept eating them. I also ordered a Honey Wheat beer which was delicious. It gave John Harvards and Southampton Publick House brews a run for their money! Mom and Shane each ordered a Red Rock homemade cream soda which I have to admit, was ridiculously good. Mom, the queen of cream soda, said it was the best cream soda she had ever had. Now, that's saying something. I highly recommend eating at Red Rock Brewery because the food is delicious, the drinks are thirst quenching, and the price is oh so good. Dinner and drinks for the three of us cost under $70!

Shane, Mom, and Me at Red Rock Brewery.


When we returned to the condo after dinner, we walked into the garage and were upset by the absence of Albert... I guess he is with his family of other shopping carts now.

Tomorrow it's back to Park City for our last day. Shane and I are being crazies and waking up for the 8:45am Power Clinic. I don't think I'll survive very long after that. Until then...

Snowbird and Burning Popcorn - 14,756 Vertical Feet

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...

Snowboardless Wonderousness - 21,390 Vertical Feet

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

Wacky Weather and Playful Powder - 14,692 Vertical Feet

The weather today was like an indecisive woman in a shoe store.

First the weather was snowy with zero visibility (I want the Christian Louboutin sparkly platform peep toe stilettos).
Then the weather was sunny and clear (I want the Lilly Pulitzer sandal wedges).
Then the weather was cloudy with flat light (I want the silver Tory Burch flats).
Then the weather was sunny and clear again (I want the Lilly Pulitzer sandals but in red).

Seriously weather, make up your mind! Now I know how men feel when accompanying women on shoe shopping excursions, though I don't know many men who would willingly participate in such an activity.

Mom, who was feeling much better today after her convenient sick day yesterday, and I arrived at the mountain at around noon (whoops) after Shane had already been there for 3 hours. He woke up early to attend the Power Clinic to get in some fresh powder tracks. Oh, did I mention it snowed about 10 inches last night?! Yes, there was powder all over the mountain, and it was glorious. Unfortunately, my late arrival to the mountain didn't enable me to make any serious fresh tracks for myself.

Let me tell you what I forgot about powder. It. Is. Heavy! Snow flakes are so light and fluffy when they are falling to the Earth from the sky, but when they all accumulate on the ground, they get quite weighty. Factor in skis and snowboards mushing the snow up down and all around and it's a regular mess. But a good, hot mess!

I pushed through and glided over the best powder I can ever remember skiing in my life. OK, except that time when I was 13 and in ski school in Vail and we went powder hunting through the trees. However, I'm not counting that because I can't remember if it was trail powder of just tree powder. Regardless, today was a powder day!

Being in the powder made me act like a child. Seriously. I found myself skiing up on the banks of catwalks in order to get some fresh pow and even going out of my way onto flat land to see my skis buried inches under the snow. I even made "snow cookies" in the powder... Mom rolled her eyes at that one. Snow cookies are the pieces of snow that are formed when the powder is broken. I also am a fan of making sand cookies in hard sand. Yes, I know, I'm weird. Powder makes me playful, what can I say?

Because of my late start, the powder slowing me down (yes, it does that), and Mom missing a turn off long before Shane and I noticed (whoops), I only skied 14,692 vertical feet today. I'm happy with that though. I can feel my knees burning at this moment from all the "driving" they did today.

Tomorrow we are going to The Canyons, a new mountain to all of us. It's a massive mountain so Mom has already been studying the map trying to figure out the best places to ski. Suggestions? Until then...

Shane's lovely helmet hair at lunch made ma laugh out loud.

Up and Down - 18,885 Vertical Feet

If yesterday was perfect than today was far from it weather wise.

Shane and I skied just the two of us today because Mom is sick (get well soon, Mom). We skied very "up and down" as I like to call it. Going up the lift, deciding where we'll go next while on the lift, getting off the lift, skiing down, rinse and repeat. This was the way it HAD to be today because it was so "snowy and blowy" as my mom likes to say. This is Mom's least favorite kind of weather, so a good day for her to be sick if she had to be sick at all. It was snowing a very wet snow and the wind was howling making chair lift rides excruciatingly uncomfortable. It wasn't that cold temperature wise (27F at the base), but factor in the wind chill and lack of sunshine, it felt super brr brr chilly.

Shane and I went "up and down" from 10:00am to 2:30pm (with an hour for lunch) and skied a total of 18,885 vertical feet. We ended early in hopes that Mom would feel better when we got back to the condo and we all would go out to dinner in Old Town Park City, not to mention my right foot was terribly cold. Unfortunately, Mom wasn't feeling any better so we stayed in and ate left over mac and cheese (it's even amazing reheated!) for dinner while my foot warmed up and while Mom watched some more of her defensive driving video. I'm quite certain it put her to sleep at some point.

I hope Mom is better by tomorrow because there is supposedly going to be up to 16 inches of powder tomorrow. The pagan in me is praying to the snow gods and the get well soon gods for powder and a healthy Mom. Tomorrow we are heading back to Park City for the last time this week. Until then...

PS - I booked my tickets to St. Louis today, so look forward to St. Louis travel entries in late March and early April! Happy birthday to Kyle at Cole Sport. There are no pictures or videos in this post because it was too chilly to unmitten my digits. Do you forgive me?

Goal Accomplished - Blue Slip Bowl - Quintuple Day - 19,642 Vertical Feet

Perfect packed powder. ✓
Bright and shiny sunshine. ✓
Windless wonder. ✓
Terrifically warm temperature. ✓
Big beautiful bluebird sky. ✓

A quintuple day. Five elements of skiing (snow, sun, wind temperature, aesthetics), all perfect. There are other kinds of perfect days as well, but this is my favorite kind. My mom's favorite is powder conditions. To each his or her own.

Shane, Mom, and I all skied together today for the first time this season. Lucky Shane got to experience the GPS that is Tamara. Usually in our family, Shane is the directions and map guy, but since he hasn't been here for the first two weeks, that role fell upon me, and it turns out I am actually pretty good at it and I actually kind of like it... For the ski slopes, not for the roads (give me GPS any day when I'm in a car).

There were a few runs we did today that were new to me and Mom; a black diamond (BD)off Pioneer called Sampson (did not like), a BD off Silverlode called Newport (liked better than Sampson, but did not love), a BD off Motherlode called Double Jack (loved), a BD off King Con called Combustion (loved, mostly because it meant we didn't have to take blue Hot Spot), and finally off of Pioneer a BD called Pioneer accessed by DOUBLE BD Blue Slip Bowl!

Yes, my faithful readers, I have accomplished my second goal, skiing Blue Slip Bowl to get to the lovely Pioneer trail. And not only did I accomplish this goal, I killed it. I skied Blue Slip Bowl THREE times today I loved it so much. It was utter perfection; groomed, steep, empty, and in the sunshine! Two weeks ago this run seemed daunting. Today it was nothing but fun. I find it absolutely amazing how much stronger my legs have gotten. The first few days a blue and double blue runs were hard on my legs, now I am breezing through black diamonds and even getting excited for double black diamonds. Look at me go!

Shane and me skiing Blue Slip Bowl


Mom skiing Blue Slip Bowl, isn't she gorgeous?


Shane certainly got a workout on his first day with all the black diamond runs, but he can handle it. However, for the first time in family skiing history, Mom and I wore Shane out! He was yawning at the end of the day and even opted not to go up the Payday lift one last time with me before getting off the mountain. I was shocked! This means that I skied more vertical feet than he did for the first time; me at 19,642 vertical feet and Shane at 18,364vf. Although, I have to hand it to him. He hasn't been skiing for two weeks straight like Mom and I, and he flew in yesterday. I remember how exhausted I was the day after I flew in, I didn't even ski the next day. GO, SHANE!

Tomorrow it's back to Park City. Let's see if Shane can keep up with me tomorrow. Until then...

Also, you can read my brother's blog, The Rabbit Hole, for his perspective of his stay in Utah.

I have Goggle Tan - Shane Arrives and Meets Albert

Today was a day off because my brother, Shane was arriving from New York. But before I get to him...

This morning, me legs were still uber tired from all the skiing I did yesterday with Dan and Pasha. It pained me just to walk up the stairs, prompting me to stay in one place (mainly my bed) for extended periods of time. Other than feeling sore, I noticed another physical difference; I have goggle tan!

Goggle tan is one of the dreaded consequences of tearing it up mountain style for too long. It's when the bottom, exposed part of one's face gets tan, and the top, unexposed part of one's face stays pale. It's like Winter and Summer on your face at the same time. Oh, bother. Dan had mentioned to me yesterday that I had goggle tan. I reassured him it was wind burn. Today, he proved me wrong. Thanks, Dan!

But, goggle tan or no goggle tan, life must go on. My brother arrived early in the afternoon. I greeted him at the garage door and got a huge hug. Shane proceeded to unpack things and stash them in "my" closet, as he's staying in the loft where there isn't one. He's lucky I haven't gone shopping at TJ Maxx yet. Then he proceeded to have a huge snack of cheese, salami, and crackers. He didn't get to finish them though because I realized the bus was coming in five minutes and we needed to head to Cole Sport at Park City Mountain to get his ski and boot rentals.

We scurried out of the condo and made the bus by one minute. When we got to Cole Sport, I'm pretty sure Kyle and Vic didn't recognize me since I wasn't in all my ski gear. It even felt weird for me to be in there in normal clothes, with my hair down, and mascara on! Kyle helped Shane get his boots and skis set up in a flash and we were back at the bus stop just a minute before the bus came. We headed to Fresh Market (the old Albertsons) to pick up the greatest frozen turkey meatballs on the planet since they aren't carried at Smith's. Because I'm now a master at the bus schedule, we only waited two minutes for the bus at Fresh Market before heading back to the condo. When we got back to the condo we had to run more errands, poor Shane, he was so exhausted. I introduced Shane to Albert the Shopping Cart and they bonded while we went to Smith's to pick up the rest of our groceries. It was quite a romantic scene.

Finally, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of Mom's famous macaroni and cheese (I'm sure some of you reading are drooling right now). It would have been a great way to end the night, but then Mom started freaking out about how Shane would get down the stairs in the middle of the night. Where are the nightlights!? She is too funny. We moved some nightlights around so Shane could see the bottom of the stairs, problem solved.



Tomorrow it's off to Park City for the first day of all three of us skiing together since last year in Jackson Hole. Maybe, just maybe, this time Mom and I will be able to keep up with Shane. Until then...

Memory Lane - Be Cool, Go to Ski School! - 9,182 Vertical Feet

One of my favorite memories from going on ski vacations as a child was attending ski school. I LOVED ski school.

Let's take a trip down Memory Lane...

I remember being a three year old "snow puppy" and riding the chair lift in Aspen Highlands to the bunny slope. At the end of the lift was a Big Bird from Sesame Street cutout reminding the snow puppies to keep their tips up and to get off the lift safely. I also remember falling asleep on the same chairlift and awakening when my little legs hit the wand that tells you you've gone too far. I also remember being lifted out of the chair by a lift operator after waking up. Honestly, these are some of the first memories I have from my life.

I remember having an instructor named Carol Carroll (seriously, her married name, not sure if I'm spelling it right) who loved sucking on Atomic Fireball candy in the gondola. She also taught me a riddle that I still stump people with today. "Whoever makes it, sells it. Whoever buys it, doesn't use it for himself. Whoever uses it, doesn't know he's using it. What is it?"

I loved ski school so much that I attended ski school at every mountain we visited (Aspen, Aspen Highlands, Snowmass, Vail, and Steamboat) until I was 14. Unfortunately, we all got too busy to go on family ski vacations after that.

Last year when Mom, Shane (my brother), and I went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, we took a half day private lesson with Sloane. Mom, being the ultimate mom, had worked out with Sloane, little to Shane's and my knowledge, that Mom would ditch the class at the end and Sloane would take my brother and me to the Hobacks. The Hobacks are an area of Jackson that are completely filled with moguls, trees, double fall lines, and general awesomeness. Shane and I had been working toward skiing the Hobacks our entire time in Jackson. We had such a blast with Sloane. I don't ever remember skiing such difficult terrain for so long in my life. It was hard, but it was so worth it. My brother and I tore it up, and we'll both remember it forever.

This video is a snippet of my skiing the ginormous moguls in the Hobacks. The "I told you so" at the end was directed towards certain individuals who did not believe I could ski bumps.


Today, Mom and I went to ski school! We had originally thought of attending the morning power clinic, but when we learned that it started at 8:45am, we quickly ruled that out. Mom and I are usually putzing around in our long underwear eating breakfast at that time. There is no way we would ever make it to a lesson that early in the morning. We opted to participate in the skiers workshop instead. Skiers workshop is for adult skiers who are a level five or above. At the meeting area, three instructors asked us questions about our ability and what we wanted from the lesson. Then, the 13 people who showed up skied down a short run and the instructors split us up into three groups. The "still learning" skiers, the "I know everything but I want to perfect it" skiers, and the "I don't want to learn anything I just want to tear it up" skiers. Mom and I were in the group who wanted to perfect, of course.

The reason I wanted to take a lesson was so that I could improve my technique on steeper groomers and to learn how to better ski some bumps! Our instructor, Clark, showed me exactly how to do both of those things. Score. The main focus on groomers is "little toe to the snow". Let me explain, or try to (I'm not as good explaining ski technique as Clark is). When you ski, your skis are parallel to each other (or at least they should be). When you go into your turn, your skis stay parallel. You achieve the turn by shifting your weight. The way to shift your weight is by guiding your downhill little toe down the mountain ("little toe to the snow"). When you do this, the other foot will follow, and you will have a beautiful, round, speed controlled turn. It worked for me at least! I'm already a convert.

For the bumps, Clark was also able to explain how to ski them without losing control and getting jostled around. First, DO NOT EDGE! This was so counteractive to the way I think about skiing that it blew my mind. Don't edge? Seriously? OK, Clark, if you say so. Instead of edging, "slither" down the run, meaning don't edge and keep your skis flat. By not edging you will have more control over the speed and direction of your skis. To begin your "slither", pick a bump, ski to the top of it, pivot your skis, and then "little toe to the snow" and let your skis "slither" to the next bump. Get on top of the bump and repeat. Think about the bumps one at a time, and not about the entire run; then you won't get overwhelmed by all the bumps looming ahead of you. If you encounter a bump you don't like, slide down it and move on the next one. Don't put up with bumps you don't like, because you don't have to. It's not like you're competing for a gold medal in the Olympics!

n.b. When Clark first began the class he spoke about how to ski safely. And guess how he ended the class? How to ski safely. My kind of guy. However, that didn't prevent an out of control arrogrant snowboarder with no manners or mountain courtesy from crashing into and knocking my mom down at the end of the day. Le sigh. Unfortunately, you can't control others on the mountain, only yourself.

Even though we only skied 9,182 vertical feet, I feel muscle soreness that I haven't felt before in 11 days of skiing, probably from Clark's techinical tinkering. Now equipped with my new techniques for groomers and bumps, I feel confident that I can really tear up the mountain with Shane when he arrives in three days. I can't wait! Tomorrow Mom and I are going to Deer Valley to practive our newly aquired ski knowledge. Until then...

15,037 Vertical Feet - Be An Optimist

Everything seemed to be going not so right today. I got up late. I locked Mom's neck warmer in the one time use locker. I got half-way to the lift with my skis and mine and Mom's poles before realizing that I still had my cat-tracks on. I had problems with my right boot ALL day. Mid-Mountain Restaurant was sold out of what I wanted to eat for lunch. Whole Foods "forgot" the order Mom called in this morning and it wasn't ready when I went to pick it up. The chili powder we used in the turkey chili Mom made tonight was actually spicy chili powder. I'm afraid to walk up the stairs after I write this.

But, since I'm an optimist...

I got to the mountain on time, even though I slept late. The one time use lockers do open (duh) so I was able to get Mom's neck warmer out. Vic at Cole Sport gave us a token to re-close it again. I am perfectly capable of walking back to Cole Sport to take off my cat-tracks. After ending the day early and skiing "only" 15,037 vertical feet because of my boot problems, the technicians at Cole Sport were able to tinker with the boot and show me how to properly put it on and buckle it up. I'll be testing it out tomorrow. I got a really good meatball sub for lunch instead of the roast turkey that I originally wanted. Whole Foods was able to get it together and re-make the order in less than 10 minutes and provided good conversation while I waited. The turkey chili spiciness was easily calmed down by sour cream and whole wheat spaghetti, and it still tasted delicious. And I haven't fallen on the stairs... yet.

I'm glad to be here in Park City embracing my inner ski bum. The little things can't ruin the experience that I am having. Some days don't run as smoothly as I'd like them to, but I have to remember to look on the bright side. As my mom likes to say, "If it wasn't for the optimist, the pessimist wouldn't know how happy he wasn't".

Tomorrow I will have been in Utah for two weeks. Half of my ski adventure will be over. But since I'm an optimist, I still have two weeks left to ski!

16,284 Vertical Feet - Skier Safety - Mardi Gras and the Bra Tree

Skiing is a sport. It's supposed to be fun. But, it's also a dangerous sport. A skier can injure themselves, or others on the mountain. There are all kinds of obstacles when skiing; trees, rocks, sticky snow, chair lift posts, other skiers... the list goes on. Here are a few tips to help you be a safer skier or snowboarder.

1. Read the Skier Responsibility Code. At any mountain resort, if a ski patroller witnesses a skier or rider violating the code, that person will lose lift privileges. No questions asked.

2. Wear a helmet. It's just the smart thing to do. I do not care if it's not fashionable. There are so many brands and styles for helmets that anyone can find a helmet to suit his or her style.

3. Stay withing boundaries posted by ski patrol. Boundaries are often marked off with ropes or poles. They're made pretty obvious so you can't miss them. Ski patrol blocks off unsafe terrain because of avalanche susceptibility, lack of snow cover, or any reason they deem unsafe. Respect the ski patrol and do not ski out of bounds.

4. Know how to contact ski patrol when on the mountain. At Park City, ski patrol is contacted by going to one of their bases directly (usually located near lifts) or through a lift attendant or other mountain employee. At the end of the day, ski patrol sweeps the mountain searching for anyone who is stuck on the mountain for whatever reason. If you are able, and no one can help you, simply dial 911 from your cell phone (because I know you're all skiing with you cell phones). Be aware of where you are skiing to best inform 911 operators if you should need to contact them, which I hope you don't.

5. Take a lesson. Ski instructors are trained to teach not only skiing skills, but mountain safety. They teach necessary skills such as how to get on and off a chair lift (not as easy as it looks) and how to control your equipment.

6. Finally, one of my BIGGEST pet peeves... Do NOT wear headphones blaring music while skiing or riding! Yeah, it's cool to hear your favorite tunes while cruising down an awesome groomer. But, it's not safe. Seriously, it's not. Shocking, considering you can now buy a helmet that has built in earphones, or ski jackets that have places for your headphones to feed through. Tsk tsk ski gear manufacturers. If you're listening to music, you can't hear when a fast skier is coming up behind you, which means you might go into their path and have a collision. Not cool. Save the music for on the lift or while waiting for the shuttle.

Remember, just because you consider yourself a good skier does not mean you are invincible. People of all ages and abilities can get hurt on the mountain. My mom, while she was a ski instructor in Aspen, dislocated her shoulder. Why? She was skiing while tired, lost control, and fell. She's since gotten a pin in her shoulder. I know a snowboarder who fell in a terrain park and cut a HUGE gash in his leg that should have gotten stitches. He didn't get them, tsk tsk. He simply put a band-aid on it and kept riding (typical snowboarder). When I was younger and in ski school, I was flying down the NASTAR race (hoping for a gold) and I fell and hurt my knee. I got taken to ski patrol headquarters in a toboggan. My mom found out by seeing her name on the information board at the ski lift! I'm sure she proceeded to freak out. My brother, saw the whole thing happen from a chair lift he was on.

What has prompted this entry about safely, you are probably wondering. Well, two things happened today that were examples of NOT skiing safely.

1. Mom and I were skiing a gorgeous black diamond run called Crescent. Mom always skis ahead of me so I can follow her on black diamonds because then I can help her up if she falls. My mom, an extremely safe skier, was skiing to the side as she usually does so she can only get passed on one side because she is aware that she is slower than many skiers. It is always good to be aware of your ability. I was above her and on the opposite side of the run when I heard the sound of a fast skier coming down. I don't have eyes in the back of my head, so I couldn't see the skier, and I stopped. I looked at my mom, who apparently also heard him and slowed down as well. The skier passed my mom on the inside going WAY too fast. Now remember, Mom is skiing on the side so passing on her inside is like passing on the side of the road with the solid white line while driving. NOT SAFE. He missed pummelling her by a foot, maybe. If my mom had been wearing headphones, she wouldn't have heard the skier and would not have slowed down, and he surely would have hit her, or to avoid hitting her would have gone completely off the trail into the trees.

I saw the whole thing happen, and was completely appalled. This guy, who probably thought he was being super macho by skiing super fast down a black diamond, almost crashed into my little mom. He didn't stop to apologize, he just kept going at the same speed. If he were skiing safely, he would have realized there was a skier in front of him and moved to a different part of the run, or he would have simply slowed down. Because he did neither of these, I doubt if he even was a "good" skier. He was probably out of control and violating the Skier Responsibility Code. All I have to say is, "What a schmuck!"

2. Mom and I were riding up the Pioneer lift, under which is a double fall line run filled with moguls and trees. The bottom part is really nice, but to get to it is a total nightmare. One of my goals is to get to the bottom half of Pioneer run by way of Blue Slip Bowl (not the area under the lift), so named because it's a HUGEly steep run. As we're approaching the top of the lift my mom points up and says, "Look, there's skiers coming down the run." We like to watch skiers do the crazy things we won't do. It's good lift entertainment. As we got closer, we realized the skiers were two very small children (about 6 and 8 from what we judged) with their dad.

The children were sitting down trying to untangle their skis, sliding down the mountain, and very very unhappy. We could hear them whimpering from up in the lift! This dad was obviously irresponsible and unsafe. You can't enter this run without seeing how advanced it is. Mom and I, feeling bad for these children all the way at the top of this advanced run went to the ski patrollers at the top of he lift (they have a base there) and told them about the kids and their dad, because we were worried about them getting down without getting hurt. The ski patrollers had just come off the lift themselves and had seen it all. Do you know what they said to us? "They're fine, they'll make it down." Which is probably true, BUT these kids were not happy, and they will probably never want to go skiing again, which is a shame because skiing is so much fun.

As a former lifeguard, I was completely shocked by the response of these two ski patrollers. The main job of a lifeguard is to PREVENT accidents before they happen. I would think the same would hold true for a ski patroller. I often see them waving down fast skiers who are approaching "slow zones". I thought the ski patrollers would at least go down to where they were skiing and stay with them while they got to the bottom of the run, just to make sure nothing happened to them. Because, honestly, I haven't seen a single person going down that run any time I ride Pioneer lift. This means that dad was going to have a hard time getting someone to go to ski patrol for him if one of his kids got hurt.

On a lighter note, today is Fat Tuesday which literally translates into Mardi Gras! In honor of Mardi Gras, ski areas often go all out and celebrate with beads and mini parades. I remember when I was younger I always wanted the most and the biggest beads. I kept them for a long time hanging on the side of my bed. But, the best way to use Mardi Gras beads in a ski area, is to throw them on a tree! This tree is also often the "bra tree". I've been looking for a good one hear in Utah that can compare to the awesome ones I've seen in Vail and Aspen Highlands. I haven't found one that's quite as good, but this one is the closest I could find. I've been eyeing it for weeks, seeing if it will "grow" and today, it looked better than ever with all it's new Mardi Gras beads! I couldn't resist sharing with you.

Because we got to a late start today (noon!) and we were not used to Park City after being in Deer Valley for three days, we didn't ski that much and spent a lot of time on lifts or looking for where we were going. We skied only 16,284 vertical feet. After two over 20,000 vertical feet days, I'm OK with that.

Tomorrow is our "scheduled" day off. Mom and I are going to explore Redstone with our shopping cart, Albert. Until then...

For more information about ski safety visit the National Ski Patrol website at: http://www.nsp.org

Old Town Park City and Meet the Owners

Mom and I decided to take the day off from skiing today so that we could meet the owners of the condo we are renting from who were in town for the day. This was Mom's first experience meeting someone she met online (www.vrbo.com), and it was fun to watch her excitement! Mom and E had exchanged e-mails and talked on the phone for close to 8 months before this meeting, so they "knew" each other pretty well (well, at least E knew Mom needed quiet to sleep and Mom knew that E didn't want party animals in her condo). When E and R got here it was like we had all known each other for years! Mom, was her usual chatty self (which you can either love or hate). We talked about how we were enjoying the condo and how cozy it is, their upcoming wedding and E's dress, and even about my blog! We also showed them how Mom had alphabetized their spice rack (yes, she really did). Turns out E and R are reading my blog (Hi!) and are enjoying it, which makes me very happy. Here's a photo of them in the condo before they left.



After E and R left, Mom and I headed into Old Town Park City. We rode the express brown/#8 bus from the condo straight into the town, which is absolutely charming. The main street is dotted with boutiques selling high end clothing, Native American art and jewelry, souvenir shops with post cards and magnets and t-shirts galore, and tons of restaurants ranging from family and budget friendly to expensive date night places.

Mom and I popped into many of the shops where we snagged some postcards to send to friends back home. In one shop we found a great hat for Mom. I really don't like the hat she's been wearing for years (fashion snob?) and she enlisted me to find her a new hat that wasn't itchy and that met my fashion standards. Well, I found her an adorable hand knit wool hat with a fleece lining so she can be warm AND fashionable. She loved it so much she wore it out of the store! Mission accomplished.

We decided to have dinner in town before we headed back to the condo to watch the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. We chose Main Street Pizza and Noodle, a wallet and family friendly "Italian" restaurant. We were seated by a hostess, ordered and paid at a counter (12% tip is included), drinks were self serve, and then the food was brought to us. I'd never been in a restaurant with this setup, but it seemed to work. And I must say, that for a family restaurant, it wasn't noisy at all. After our meal of a 10" pizza and two house salads (maybe even TOO much food for the two of us) we got back on the express bus to get back to the condo.

Taking a day off was very relaxing. It was nice to wear regular shoes and have my hair down! Tomorrow we're going to Deer Valley because Park City will be crowded for the long weekend. Until then...

Pow Pow - 18,822 Vertical Feet

Today Park City got some powder, otherwise known as pow-pow. Powder is created by one thing, and one thing only; SNOW.


The snow started sometime between 5am and when I woke up at 8am. How do I know this? The grooming report, which is printed at 5am, reported that there was zero inches of new snow, and when I woke up at 8am, it was because the parking area outside my balcony was being very loudly plowed (Good morning, Tamara). Plowing = snow. Snow = powder. Powder = fun!


When we got on the mountain at 11, the snow was coming down lightly at the base. We headed up Payday, then Bonanza, and skied through a beautiful tree glade to McConkey's, where the snow was coming down much harder now. I couldn't resist commenting on the beauty of the snowflakes every time they landed on me while we were going up the lift. "Look at how perfectly shaped this one is!" "This one is so big!" etc. etc. etc. I love snowflakes, and I always have. But, I only like snow if I can ski in it, that is a fact.


Gliding through powder is such a thrill. The first time I did it today, my toes started to tingle from excitement. However, there are a few tricks for skiers to know when skiing powder. Powder can be deceiving. It can hide bumps, so if you don't like skiing bumps, make sure the trail you're heading down was groomed before the snow fell. After the trail has been skied a few times, you will notice that the snow will collect in drifts. The easiest place to turn on the trail is in the drift, because you will float right through the snow for an easy turn and you won't have to edge as hard as if you had turned not in the drift. If you're heading down a catwalk, make sure that you stay on the packed powder and not in the loose powder, especially if the catwalk is completely flat and has no downhill incline. You will get stuck in the powder, and then you'll have to work harder to get across the catwalk. In my opinion, powder is the easiest terrain to ski because of the turning ease, and because it's just plain fun.


Tomorrow Mom and I taking a ski day off after 4 days of straight skiing, and today's 18,822 vertical feet. Tomorrow it is supposed to snow all day, and even more on Saturday, so by the time we hit the slopes on Saturday we should have beautiful powder and packed powder. I can't wait.



Until then...

Park City - Sunny Side Up - 17,637 Vertical Feet

Let's play a word association game.

Skiing makes me think of snow. Snow makes me think of cold. Cold makes me think of being warm.

But how do I stay warm on the mountain? Of course I can dress warmly with layers and insulating fabrics. I can use hand warmers. I can even get a heating system for my ski boots. Then there's the all natural way of staying warm. The sun.

I tend to get cold when skiing, even with layers and hand warmers. As you can see from the photo, I am pretty bundled up. Skiing in the sun is the best way to stay warm. Here in the West there isn't much humidity, so the air is really dry. Dry air + shade = cold. Of course, skiing is exercise so one is bound to get her body warm that way. But, downhill skiing is an interesting kind of exercise in that one must ride chair lifts in order to practice the sport. The chair lifts are the coldest part of skiing. For this reason, Mom and I decided to figure out what part of the mountain was sunny side up at any given part of the day.

Today we figured out that the best place to ski in the morning is off of McConkey's lift all the way to skiers right. The trails off of this lift are amongst beautiful tree glades which make for great tree skiing, if that's your thing. We skied a great double blue called Tycoon. We also skied a dud of a run, a blue called Georgeanna. I found it to be basically a glorified catwalk. Although, the top of the trail that is right off of the lift (and you have to take it to get to any of the other runs to skiers right of McConkey's) has GORGEOUS views, especially on a beautiful day like today.

After lunch we determined that King Con, the same area we skied the second day, had the best sun in the afternoon. However, this afternoon got a bit cloudy so we couldn't perfectly judge the sunniest part of the mountain. We will have to check again tomorrow.

17,637 vertical feet later, my legs and core are feeling stronger. I am skiing faster and with better form. More videos of my skiing coming soon.

Until then...

11,775 vertical feet - King Con Blue Zone

Mom introduced me to her favorite part of Park City Mountain, the trails off of the King Con lift. Well, I must really be like my mom because I enjoyed it so much that we rode up the lift 7 times. Yes, really. The picture to the right is of me at the top of the King Con lift.

Because it was Mom's first real day skiing, and only my second, we decided to take it easy again. We skied only blue groomers all day, and that was fine with me. A blue run is considered an intermediate run. They range from inclines from 25 degrees to 40 degrees. Blues are popular amongst most skiers because beginners can usually handle them when groomed and intermediates can hone their skills while experts can have a fun cruiser. For the record, I find blues to be fun cruisers, and thus consider myself an expert. I have been skiing since the age of two and my mom was a ski instructor...

At the top of each lift there is a list of all the trails off that lift. Next to the name of each trail it says whether the trail is closed, open, or groomed. I found this to be a useful tool, until I also discovered that you can just pick up a map of the groomed trails for the day. Of course, this is quite a waste of paper, but it's a great tool for planning your day on the mountain. Today's vertical feet total was 11,775ft, with 8,400ft being off the King Con lift. I figure I have 24 more days of skiing to explore the rest of the mountain.

Today, I will leave you with two videos. The first is a panoramic at the top of the King Con lift.

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The second video is of moi skiing down the trail called Shamus off the King Con lift. Shamus is a blue trail, and was groomed today. Shamus has an incline of approximately 35-40 degrees and is about 900ft long, though you will only see me ski about 500ft of it. My mom recorded it and you can hear her sweet commentary in the background.

I am going to be taking videos of my skiing throughout the trip so that I can analyze my ski style on different types of trails and watch for improvement.

Tomorrow, Mom and I are planning on skiing Deer Valley; a snowboard free, completely groomed, fancy schmancy resort that I hear has the best food of any ski mountain anywhere. I wonder if I will fit in there...

Day 1 - 11,737 vertical feet - The Bunny Slope

"Take it easy" is my motto for the first day on the slopes, and that is exactly what I did today by sticking to the "bunny" slopes.

I headed to Park City Mountain Resort on the pink/#7 bus from the stop just outside my door. I boarded the bus at 10:15 and was at the mountain in about 15 minutes. The bus system here is very efficient, organized, and an overall pleasant experience. Not having a car is not going to be a problem.

When I got off the bus I immediately noticed that there is a small ice skating rink in the middle of the sidewalk! There were kids with their parents skating around having a great time. But, I didn't come all the way to Park City to ice skate! I came here to ski. Cole Sport is located right up the stairs when you get off the bus, you can't miss it. I headed in and the technician got my skis and boots from the back, ready to be used for the first time. I took off my Sorels and put them in a dollar locker, put on my new Dalbello custom ski boots, and headed to the chair lift with my Volkl skis, ready for the first chair lift ride and run of the day, month, and trip.



The six seater Payday chairlift was my choice for my first lift because the trails off of it are mostly green and blue, with some double blue and black. As I looked up the mountain I thought "this place isn't that big" but as I rode up the chairlift I realized I was very, very wrong. Apparently, from the base of the mountain you can only see 20% of the mountain. It is in fact a VERY big mountain. The 2010 Alpine Western Regionals (a racing qualifier) was skiing on Payday trail (a blue), which was the trail I was planning on going do, but it was closed because of the Regionals.



Instead I took an easy green trail all the way back down to the base and rode Payday lift up and skied down two more times. It was a great warm up, and I was ready for something more difficult, but Mom was ready to meet for lunch at the top of the Bonanza lift.

The Bonanza lift starts just at the top of the Payday lift, so it was very easy for me to go up and meet her. Now that I was going up even higher on the mountain, I could see that it was REALLY big. I could see some trails but had no idea what the names were, but I'm sure in time I'll figure that out. I met Mom for lunch at Summit House which had outdoor seating! You would think it would be too cold to dine outside on a ski mountain, but there are heat lamps and wind barriers in and surrounding the seating area. What a brilliant idea. Mom and I, however, dined inside near the roaring fire. The food was pretty basic mountain food, nothing special in the grill, pizza, soup, salad, and sandwich departments. But, I didn't come to Park City to eat, I came here to ski!

After lunch Mom and I skied down to the Silverload chair lift and rode that up then skied back over to Payday. I rode up and skied down Payday 4 more times and I could have skied it into the night. Payday chair lift is open until 7:30 and the runs off of it are lighted at night. I've never been night skiing so I definitely have to experience that before I leave.

Mom left me before I rode Payday those 4 more times. She was done for the day because she was cold (brrrr). She went back to Cole Sport to look for some warmer pants while I was on the "bunny" slope. It is important to dress appropriately for winter sports, because it's cold but you're sweating. Wicking fabrics are good for base layers (Hot Chillies, Smartwool, etc), and insulating second layers are important as well. I have third layers and vests for on top of really cold days, and extra thick bottoms as well. My outer layers are both Spyder (my favorite brand) and are made with Thinsulte which is great for cold weather. I wasn't cold today but I wasn't toasty either. Having hand warmers inside of my mittens helped a lot as well. I am a firm believer in hand warmers. It's a good the thing the Bed Bath and Beyond by the condo sells them in packs of 10!

Each time I went down from Payday I took different trails each time. I skied Dividend (a bumpy blue), Widowmaker (a non bumpy but steep black), and Treasure Hollow (my favorite of the day - a blue cruiser). I ended my day at 3:30 after 4 hours of sking with a grand total vertical feet of 11,737ft, mostly on the "bunny" slopes.

I measure my vertical feet by adding together the vertical distance of the chair lifts I ride. So, if the base of a lift is at an elevation of 2,000ft and the top of the same lift is at an elevation of 3,000, the vertical feet is 1,000 feet, even if the actual length of the lift is 1,500ft. This also means that my vertical feet is not the same as my distance skied. In order to calculate that, I would likely need a GPS system, which I am just not going to splurge for (donations please?).

All in all, today was a great first day. I experienced the comfort of having my own boots and skis (what? no shin bang or numb toes and easy turning!). I figure if I ski a week every year for five years, the skis pay for themselves. Now that I have my "ski legs" I am confident that I will have a great month of skiing ahead of me.

Welcome to Park City, Utah

I have been in Park City, Utah, one of the best ski resorts in the country, for 33 hours and have yet to ride a chair life or ski a slope. My mom, Judy and I are here for 28 days (well, 26 more days) because... because we decided to spoil ourselves a little (OK a lot) bit. That's not entirely true. My mom decided to spoil herself, and I am getting spoiled by default.

We rented a condo in Redstone that we found on Vacation Rentals by Owner. We got a great deal on a two bedroom (each with a private balcony), three bathroom, floor through kitchen/dining/living area with gas fireplace, laundry room, garage, office alcove, in a two story condo. Oh, and did I mention it's an end unit with a private outdoor hot tub overlooking a wildlife preserve? Yes, we hit the jackpot.

Yesterday was kind of a blurry whirlwind because of all the running around. Between waking up early, flying, running errands, and getting (sort of) settled, we barely had time to stop and smell the roses, er... snow. Our wonderful City Cab driver took us to Canyon Sports where we were able to purchase discount lift tickets for Deer Valley and Snowbird. Costco was next where we picked up 5-pack discount tickets for Park City and 2-pack discount tickets for The Canyons. The Park City 5-packs have the highest discount, but the small discount on the other mountain lift tickets are worth purchasing. We figured we should ski most of the resorts in the area since they are all easily accessible, except for Snowbird which has the best powder in the USA.

The condo in Redstone is in the perfect location. Since we're car-less, it is important to stay somewhere with shops within walking distance and on a shuttle route. In Redstone there is a Smith's grocery store, Whole Foods Market, Bed Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, Petco, TJ Maxx (I'm in heaven), Starbucks, Chase bank, post office, movie theater, and a variety of restaurants. The shuttle bus stop is literally 300 feet from our door. Everything we need is here.

Today was our first full day in the city, and there was lots to do. After waking up and lolly gaging for a good 4 hours, we walked the 2 minuted to the bus stop, hopped on the pink line shuttle, and headed into Park City. The first stop was Cole Sports where we had purchased Volkl skis over the phone with the great help of Ryan, who luckily was also in the store today. Ryan and Brett fitted Judy and I for boots. We both have the same shaped foot, narrow heel compared to a wide toe. What can I say? Like mother like daughter. We laughed when they brought out the same brand of boot, Dalbell0, only a harder more aggressive boot for me and a more cushy flexible boot for my "elderly" mother. Having never been fitted for boots before in my life, the experience was one to be remembered. My favorite part was when my custom insoles were made. They literally take a mold of your foot and then heat up your insoles and shape them between the mold and your foot. I found it very fun.

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At Cole Sports I also picked up some brand new socks, which Brett claims are the best ski socks on the market, XXX socks, which at $45 are actually on the less expensive side for good technical skiing socks. I also snagged some Hot Chillys warmwear (aka long johns) for $45 each. Judy and I also got matching Sorel boots to wear when walking around in the wet and snow to keep our feet toasty and dry and to make sure we don't slip and hurt ourselves, because then we wouldn't be able to ski and that would defeat the whole purpose of our trip. Fabulous Brett told us that our skis would be mounted with their bindings overnight and brought to the base of the mountain so that we could pick them up in the morning before we headed out for our first run. Thanks, Brett (and Ryan - who lucky duck is going to Jackson Hole for a few days so we didn't get to say goodbye). Cole Sports is the premier ski gear shop in Park City. They carry only the best of everything and the customer service was top notch. And with four locations in Park City and Deer Valley, with one shop specializing in snowboard gear, there is no reason to go to any other ski shop.

After our pleasant experience at Cole Sports we returned to the condo and walked over to Smith's grocery store with a Whole Foods Market shopping cart that we jacked yesterday and stored in our garage (we promise we'll return it before we go back to NY). We stocked up on food and water but there were a few things we were unable to purchase; matzo ball soup mix (Jewish) and rice crackers (Asian). We were directed to the "international" food aisle, which actually made us laugh because Kraft Mac and Cheese was in this aisle as well as ramen noodles. I will stop there, and let you figure out the rest.

Now, after having eaten and fully unpacked, I am sitting in my cozy room planning my day for tomorrow. I'm going to take it easy, because I haven't skied in a year and it would be terrible if I injured myself on the first day. Wish me luck for tomorrow which will be my first time skiing in my own skis and boots, and my first time skiing in Park City. I can't wait.