Ski Conditions Report for Park City Canyons Utah
Day 45 January 7, 2014
Super warm days and now clear cold nights. You know what that means? Boiler plate frozen nasty in the morning and mushball goo in the afternoon. Skiing in between these extremes is the only way to go unless you can find some nice shady north face inbounds terrain. This is the time of the ski season to work on your technical skills (aka actual skiing ability).
Side note: Most skiers and snowboarders who call the Central and Northern Rockies their home have a dramatically over-inflated sense of their actual skiing and riding abilities because of the normal SOFT conditions. Hardpack variable conditions make you a real skier... like these guys
Day 44- January 6, 2014
I think we might be getting close to the bottom here, as it was downright balmy in them thar hills. Shallow refreeze overnight, lots of hard crusts in the morning, then totally baked wet slop in the afternoon ala April spring skiing in January. Yikes!
To add insult to injury it felt downright dangerous in the afternoon in the backcountry with rollerballs, pinwheels and wet slides.
Time to head to the high elevation, hard packed, north facing inbounds terrain.
Didn't I say yesterday it was time to go do work...
Day 43- January 5, 2014
Dum-dah-dum-dum-dum... there goes the nice soft cold snow thanks to the skyrocketing temperatures today, reaching the upper 30's at the top of the mountain. Down low it was not pretty. It was 60 degrees warmer at the base area than it was one week ago at sunrise. Ouch.
The rule of the day was beware of the roof-alanches at home (keep the dogs inside!) and the warming slopes in the mountains. The only (sort-of) good thing was the end to the constant wind of the past 4-5 days.
This is about this time in the winter when you go home and get work done, rest, and prepare for the inevitable return of the powder!
Day 42- January 4, 2014
Things are definitely warming up out of the Polar Vortex of the previous week. Some sun in the morning gave way to overcast skies with some odd gray colors in the sky, no doubt the edges of the big storm raging in the northern Rockies. Apparently Jackson Hole has received more than 6 feet of new snow and it's still coming. Oh well, perhaps Team Free the Powder should have headed up there for some glove testing. Obviously, any self respecting glove designer needs to spend as much time testing in waist deep powder as they can...
Back to our dirty high. Late start, short finish in the gloom. Snow is still soft, but too many tracks everywhere.
Day 41- January 3, 2015
It was a rather mysterious day of wind and clouds and mystery powder coming in sideways on the Park City ridgeline. Not too many people out on the ridge on this last hurrah day of the Holiday ski season. (Thank goodness). The Holiday tourist season is always a real challenge to the locals in any ski town. We certainly don't mind regular ski town traffic (after all, we all chose to move to a tourist destination) , but all of our towns are just not built to hold and deal with the extra 20-40 percent that Christmas and New Years brings. Gridlock!
So I went up on the lonely ridge to perform my daily ski glove testing. Most days I wear different gloves or mittens on each hand. And sometimes even different sizes to test breathability, warmth and a whole bunch of other nuanced variables. I am partial to the long cuffs because they are just so practical and functional. Short cuffs go on and off super easy if they have a knit wrist, but alas, the knit wrist compromises many vital performance variables like warmth, dexterity, and grip (knit wrist does not grab the wrist and hold the palm in place), but the market sure does demand it.
I love the Velcro cuff for glove performance, but it does require break-in time to have a looser wrist. Next year perhaps we'll have both.
Back to the conditions: snow is still pretty good, but there are lots of old tracks and wind damage to the snow. I sense some inbounds appreciation days coming...
Day 40- January 2, 2015
Another tired day after so much hiking and skiing. But the sun was out, wind was light and the snow was still pretty good so I headed up in the afternoon for a couple of laps in the Canyons backcountry. Snow was decent, but it's quickly turning to re-crystalized surface hoar which makes that distinctive swooshing sound (loud snow). Skied upper Big Mac, then traversed into the Craggy Bungus trees. Then off to Square Top...
I had a rather new and clueless person ask me, "Do you have backcountry gear?" It was a rather pointed question with attitude. I just laughed, because when I go skiing I look like the poster child /definition of backcountry skier with gear. Under "backcountry skier" in the dictionary there is a picture of what I look like on an average day. Old-school beanie hat, I-shred sunglasses, shell jacket with half my gear stuffed in my jacket so I look like I'm 9-months pregnant, stuffed backpack, alpine touring boots, alpine touring bindings, alpine touring skis, extenda-poles, and a fairly hippy attitude. If it's not totally obvious to you that I have gear, then you are totally out of your element in the backcountry and you'd probably better head back to the security of the resort...
Day 39- January 1, 2015
Happy New Year! I was planning on taking the day off but the bluebird skies, warming temperatures and great snow motivated me to head to the hill. Hooked up with Cutter and Pickle and we shredded some premium (still) light powder in Big Mac in the Canyons backcountry. Not many tracks in it yet, probably because the black out dates on the "Local Passes" . So we skied it several times, before a final run, first of the season, down the middle of thin Square Top. Snow was good, but not as good as Big Mac. Getting tired though as I have skied nearly bell to bell for 9 days now since the snow finally came to Utah. Maybe tomorrow.
Day 38- December 31, 2014
On the New Year's eve I braved the bitter cold for one more day. But this time, I avoided the bitter -24 degree morning and headed up to the mountain when the mercury hit the might plus column -1 degree F-. I bundled up heavily with full thickness down jacket. The temps were definitely inversional as the temperature kept rising as I ascended the mountain. And in the sun on the west face of Beartrap in the Canyons backcountry it was downright balmy out of the cutting breeze on the ridge. I skied Big Mac a few times solo and it was fabulous hero powder. I saw no one else out. I believe this was the last day for the dirtbag brigade whose ski passes were blacked out through the entire epic powder cycle. Thumbs up for bucking the extra $200 for a no-blackout pass.
Day 37- December 29, 2014
Holy Arctic Blast! it was seriously cold today, as in -14 below with a very unpleasant 15-20 mph northeast wind. It was all about face masks and down layering. The skiing and snow quality in wind sheltered areas was near perfect, but the body just uses way too much energy to keep warm. At noon, I felt like I'd been hiking all day. Cutter and I were just beat. Took a rest in the lodge at 1:00 then headed home to thaw my poor areas.
Day 36- December 29, 2014
The BEST day of the season so far and perhaps the last couple of years. Another 10 inches overnight of super light "Greatest Snow on Earth" that Utah is famous for. Condor opened for the first time this season so it skied like backcountry. South side a little thin and most of it roped off, but it was really deep. The north face was epic for the few runs it stayed untracked. Then it was off to the top of the mountain. 9990 was just ok with 6-8 inches new on top of yesterday's tracked out conditions. It was a bumpy warmup for the epicness that was the backckountry! Cutter, Micah and I skied Soul Patch a couple of times before skiing the right side of the Triangle in Dutch's Draw a couple of times. We finished the day off with an incredible run down Square Top LOFT. Super deep!
Day 35- December 28, 2014
It was 1996 all over again in the Park West / Wolf Mountain / Canyons backcountry. I skied a couple runs with Bruce (who's been around a long time) and that was the only person I saw all day on the BEST bc powder day in a couple of years. Amazing. The visibility was poor, but the wind was light and it was hammering snow. It snowed probably 10 inches during the day, turning the already perfect hero powder into epic deep , over the head blower!
What amazed me the most is that I saw none of the crew. Not sure what in the World they were thinking. Skied Owen's Trees several times, then a hit a homerun hugging the LOFT trees on Square Top. Great day!
Day 34- December 27,2014
Putting the exciting day of scary avalanches behind us, today was all about fun. We went back to controlling our slope angles in the Canyons backcountry with runs in Owen's Trees and Big Mac. The conditions were fabulous with hero powder on a decent, albeit rocky base. The morning was very cold and clear and eventually gave way to overcast skies as another storm is approaching. Skied with Bruce and then some solo laps in the low angled goodness. Starting to feel in shape after 4 days of constant hiking.