ALTA, UT — On Monday, July 7, while he was hiking in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Steve sent me a photo from his cell phone of Gunsight at Alta with a ton of snow, still. On Wednesday, I asked if he would be up for skiing it that weekend. He replied that he and Jordan had already planned to ski the chute on Sunday, and that I could join them. And so the plan was born.
2008 Skiing Archive
Skiing in July!
Summer Skiing!
SNOWBIRD, UT — Despite a week of temperatures in the 90s, and despite the passing of the summer solstice, Snowbird decided to open for one last weekend of skiing.
Probably the Last Ski Day of the Season (Finally)
SNOWBIRD, UT — Today will probably be the last day of the ski season for me because of a planned trip to the Tetons next weekend. There is a chance that Snowbird will stay open later than June 15th, but they likely won't make an announcement until after next weekend.
Skiing in June!
SNOWBIRD, UT — Excellent spring skiing conditions. Nearly perfect weather.
(photos and more text coming soon)
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Overcast Spring Skiing
SNOWBIRD, UT — Not typical spring skiing: overcast, cold, sort of icy snow conditions. But also not bad.
(more coming soon)
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It's Memorial Day Weekend?
SNOWBIRD, UT — Snowbird received about 2 feet of snow during the week. Although the powder had mostly degraded to hardened chunks of spring slop off piste, the groomers were in awesome shape and there were pockets of excellent (albeit thick) powder in some places. The upper mountain's groomers actually had mid-winter snow conditions.
Final Ski Day of the Season?
SNOWBIRD, UT — I went three weeks without skiing on account of moving and bad weekend weather, so today I was excited to get outside and do some spring skiing.
Spring Skiing at Snowbird
SNOWBIRD, UT — A solid ski day at Snowbird with Steve, Chris and Andy. Skied a lot of different areas of the mountain today--Mineral Basin in the morning, Little Cloud Bowl and the Upper Cirque in the mid-morning, Primrose Gully chutes later, and North Baldy in the afternoon.
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I Need New Ski Boots
SNOWBIRD, UT — Today, I took the day off from work to go skiing. I hoped it would be a good storm skiing day, but it really wasn't that great. The conditions were OK, but the lack of visibility was a problem. I only skied three runs because I couldn't stand the pain caused by my ski boots. And the pain isn't only in my feet. Whatever fit issues I have cause my legs to hurt, too, I think.
April 5, 2008
ALTA, UT — I don't really understand it, and it's very frustrating, but the polarization between my good ski days and my bad ski days is ridiculous. I went skiing today with Mindy, which would have been perfectly fine, except we ran into Sam and Brian at the Sunnyside lift. So, I took a run with Mindy and then tried to meet up with Sam and Brian on the next run. They were long gone, apparently, by the time I got to Sugarloaf, so I didn't meet up with them. I decided to take a couple of runs anyway before meeting back up with Mindy.
Hard-Charging Ski Day
SNOWBIRD, UT — 3 or 4 inch layer of fresh snow (with more falling). Just a hard charging ski day. Also explored new terrain. Three runs in North Baldy were awesome. I skied very aggressively today, which is to say that I skied very well despite the fairly difficult conditions (crusty, hard, terrible snow right underneath the new snow).
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Another Dynamic Ski Day with Mark
SNOWBIRD, UT — Fresh tracks in Pipeline Bowl.
(more coming soon)
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Skied Main Chute with Mark Deaver
ALTA, UT; SNOWBIRD, UT — Mark Deaver came to Salt Lake City this week to visit. He and I went skiing today at Snowbird. The conditions were excellent, the weather was nearly perfect, Snowbird was hosting the US Freeskiing Nationals on Silver Fox, and we even ran into Steve Wiechmann in the middle of the morning. We skied all over the mountain today--including Mount Baldy's Main Chute.
Short, but Oh So Sweet
SNOWBIRD, UT — (coming soon)
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Fresh Tracks All Around
ALTA, UT — (coming soon)
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Skiing with the People
ALTA, UT — It was overcast and rainy in the valley, so I was skeptical that it would be worth skiing today. About halfway up the canyon, however, the rain turned to snow, so we were good to go.
More Pain and Frustration
ALTA, UT — I had my ski boots' shells stretched again this week. I was nervous because I suspected that this latest fix still hadn't solved the fit problems I have been experiencing this season.
Not Fun at All
SNOWBIRD, UT — Worse boot problems since 2006. Terrible snow and weather conditions. Crowded groomer day. Terrible ski day devoid of fun.
(More coming soon)
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Mid-Week Bluebird Powder Day!
SNOWBIRD, UT — Today was a prototypical tram day. Unofortunately, however, Steve's pass was a chairs-only pass, so instead of doing tram laps, we had to ski all the way down to GadZoom and ride two lifts to ski the Cirque. It was a pain in the ass and certainly not something I wanted to have to do to ski the goods on this ridiculously awesome bluebird powder day.
Skiing with Mindy
ALTA, UT — (coming soon)
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January 26, 2008
SNOWBIRD, UT — I met up with Dave and Steve at the 6200 South park and ride. It was a sunny and relatively mild day. We rode the GadZoom lift up, but decided against a warm-up run because the snow conditions in Little Cloud Bowl looked awesome.
Skiing with Max
SNOWBIRD, UT — Went skiing with Mindy, her mom, and her 3-year-old half-brother, Max. (more coming soon)
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January 13, 2008
ALTA, UT — (coming soon)
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January 8, 2008
SNOWBIRD, UT — A typical high intensity ski day with Snowbird Steve. I had a good time, but I didn't ski well. I skied some new terrain this day, including Wilma Chute and some terrain in the Gad 2 area.
(more details to come)
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January 6, 2008
SNOWBIRD, UT — (coming soon)
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