The Big Melt Begins in Utah
Things haven’t gotten any better. Last week we were at Lake Tahoe, skiing Northstar and Heavenly Valley. It was unseasonably warm, so we dodged brush and rocks while soaking in the sun’s rays and enjoying those incredible blue sky views from 10,000 feet. It was spring skiing, but it was manageable with high temps in the low forties.
This week in Utah is different. We just finished three days skiing Deer Valley and Brighton. On day one at Deer Valley, it was more skipping stones and keeping out of the brush, as this has been a sparse year for snow in most parts out west. But they’re making the most of what they have with excellent grooming and preservation of snowpack. The terrain of their slopes also has a consistent steepness that makes it very enjoyable. So, despite the spring-like conditions we enjoyed our day there.
We’re ensconced here in Park City, just a couple miles down the canyon from Deer Valley. It’s a remarkably different story here, as Park City ski area is operating on a skeleton of runs. The rest are barren or nearly so. It’s troubling to look at bare hillsides here in mid-March; this just doesn’t happen.
The last two days at Brighton have been a different story. It has highlighted the level of attention to detail found at Deer Valley. For starters, the slopes at Brighton usually begin with a nice steeper slope, but they quickly deteriorate into a series of gentle rolling mounds the rest of the way to the base of every lift. It’s obvious the main calling here is for those days of Utah powder. With its endless glades of aspens and evergreens, the top of the Great Western Express lift just waits for those days.
Spring skiing also highlights Brighton’s shortcomings on chair lift placement. There are too many flats between lifts, typically requiring too much poling on wet spring snow this time of year. And, I find there’s too much cat track skiing to make one’s way from one end of the area to the other. It’s not easy to get around, and it’s boring skiing.
Left – a huge pink quartz outside the Tresor Park City jewelry store; Right – a couple cut crystal stones inside Tresor’s.
All that said, the worst part this week – it was 64 degrees at the base lodge today when we left at 1:30 PM! Sixty-four degrees! What the hell! After the hour drive to get back to our hotel, it was 72 degrees in Park City at 2:30. This is crazy!
Tomorrow we plan on hitting the slope when they open, as temps won’t fall below freezing tonight, so the snow won’t setup completely rock hard. But tomorrow threatens to be even warmer, if you can believe it, so we plan to be done by noon. In sixty years, I’ve never skied in weather this warm!
Today we rode up the chair with a bare-chested snowboarder. You know it’s warm when the young are running around with no clothes on. Now if they can just keep their skin intact…
Skiing aside, Park City is an old ski town with a vibrant old town full of shops, restaurants and bars. We toured the day before Saint Paddy’s Day to avoid the green-sporting wacko’s, and had a wonderful early dinner at Flanagan’s Irish Pub, along, of course, with a Guiness.
Which reminds me of the great little stop we made during our due east drive from Lake Tahoe to Park City. In Winnemucca, Nevada (you gotta’ love that name), set at the junction of I-80 and US-95 and thrives primarily on mining, ranching, and freight, lives a great little breakfast and lunch restaurant called The Griddle. A variety of killer eggs benedict, crepes, omelettes, french toasts, you name it – all excellent. Like the sign says, it’s Good Cookin’.
Left – The all knotty pine paneled interior of The Griddle; Right – California Eggs Benedict.
They have places in Idaho, too. We’ll be stopping there in a few days on the way home! In the meantime, we’ll try our best not to drown in a pool of melted snow halfway down some ski run. I’m bringing my snorkel.
