MikeSandy.net

Ski Day Reports (Page 2)

Gunsight in August

ALTA, UT — Steve, Andrew, Tyler and I ventured to Alta to ski some August turns. This would be my second time skiing in August. This time, however, there was quite a bit more snow on Gunsight, which is a chute at Alta that gets a lot of snow and holds onto it well into the summer most every summer.

Read more…

June 11, 2011

SNOWBIRD, UT — The skiing continues to be pretty superb up at Snowbird. The bare spots are few and very far between. All the major cat-tracks still have plenty of snow (even those on the lower mountain). The biggest problem this weekend is the heat--and it's not even as hot as it usually is here this time of the year. The heat turned the snow into water-laden sticky mashed potatoes by about noon today on the lower mountain.

Read more…

June Skiing

SNOWBIRD, UT — After a long hiatus and a hellacious couple months at work, I decided to go skiing on the best weather day of the year thus far. With temperatures rising into the upper-80s in the valley and near 70 up at Snowbird, the conditions wouldn't hold for long.

Read more…

It Was One of Those Days

ALTA, UT — A late-season storm of ridiculous proportions dropped 26.5 inches of snow starting on Thursday afternoon. The timing was perfect for this ski day to be one of those ridiculously great ski days in the Wasatch. In addition to the snow that had already fallen, there was a 100% chance that it would snow all day today, too. In addition to the previous snowfall superlatives, it is April, so many people have already given up on skiing for the season, which would leave the mountain uncrowded.

Read more…

Back on Skis

ALTA, UT — I had given up on skiing this season until Mindy wanted to go this weekend. I only skied the Sunnyside lift with her, but I had an absolute blast.

Read more…

Snowbasin is Legit

SNOWBASIN, UT — I hadn't been to Snowbasin since 2003. Of my vague memories from that ski day, the immaculate lodges and the Grizzly downhill course stood out in my mind the most. That Snowbasin ski day was my third ski day in Utah, ever. 115 Utah ski days later, I see the mountains differently. Whereas eight years ago my friend and I stayed on the well-defined trails, today the whole mountain is a possibility. My new view of Snowbasin leads me to to conclude that this mountain is legit. There is plenty of great terrain for exploration at this ski area. The only negative about Snowbasin is that it's elevation is much lower than Alta or Snowbird, which negatively effects its snowfall and its snow conditions.

Read more…

March 12, 2011

SNOWBIRD, UT — Unfortunately, the conditions were not very good for Brendan, Chris, Chris and Mike's first ski day of their trip. There were pockets of good snow, but the conditions seemed to get worse as the day progressed, despite a mid-day snow squall. My new ski boots were even worse than the conditions, but, at least, I was able to ski with Brendan and his friends. Other than enjoying my time skiing with those guys, there wasn't too much else exciting about this ski day.

Read more…

First Few Tracks

ALTA, UT — Well, I finally got to ski today after last weekend's debacles. I woke up at the crack of dawn determined to get in at least one run of fresh tracks somewhere at Alta. My car was one of the first 10 or so in the parking lot, and, if I didn't have to wait for the demo shop to open, I could've put my skis in line (a custom Alta practice) ahead of everyone else.

Read more…

Night Skiing at Brighton

BRIGHTON, UT — After wasting another four hours of my life at a ski boot fitting shop, I decided to take my new boots up to the mountains to give them a few test runs.

Read more…

Comp Time!

SNOWBIRD, UT — After working over the weekend about a month ago, I received a much-deserved comp day off from work. I resolved to turn this Wednesday into an epic mid-week bluebird ski day at Snowbird, which had received 16 inches of fresh powder on Monday night.

Read more…