Jon Lee Likes to Ski: May 2011

Finally got a chance to get up to Snowbird again, unfortunately it wasn't powder though. However, it was the next best thing- Spring slush. The temp was close to 60 up there, turning the snow to corn in some spots, but deep, sticky mush everywhere else.
I had a few pairs of White Dot skis in my office to try out, so I grabbed a pair of Preacher hoping that they'd do the job. The other options were way to soft, or too wide, or a combination of both. The 179cm length of the Preacher was bothering me a little, trying to convince myself that I could still get enough stability out of them, but still not believing it. I went for 'em anyway. First run down Great Scott/Jaws area was fun, but a little sketchy. High speed on short, soft skis isn't my cup of tea, but a little slower on more predicable snow (groomers) was actually pretty good. I don't think a longer length of this ski would have been any better for the steeper, faster stuff though. The main thing this ski lacked was appropriate stiffness.
I was really excited to try out the White Dot skis, as their image they've built the skis around is big mountain charging. They seemed like a good match for me, based on their marketing efforts, and with Jeremy Nobis riding for them, I was about ready to commit to pushing their brand. Good thing I got a chance to ski them first. I had access to the Preacher, Redeemer, and One, all of which were surprisingly soft just flexing them in the office. They seem to be built well, and the Preacher did survive a 30mph dive off my roof rack, but unless you ski soft, fluffy powder everyday of skiing, these aren't exactly the best skis for the job. The Ragnarok XII might be the redeemer (hehe, pun intended) of their lineup, as long as Fred Syverson likes stiffer skis.
The best part of my ski day? The drive up and back down in my 1998 VW Jetta (thanks Jason), which now has 272,000 miles on it:

While the entire state of Utah is complaining about this long winter we're having, a handful of real skiers are loving every minute of it. Concerns of flooding in the valley are being pushed back with each winter storm, because the snow just simply is not melting. Snowbird reached 700" over the weekend, which forced the cancellation of my adult league soccer game (4" of snow on the soccer field), but allowed for a great afternoon of powder skiing. The base depth is close to 200", which is over 16 feet, btw. I haven't skied this much in years, maybe ever. However, I still feel like I missed out on a lot of really good days. That being said, I had my best day of the season on Tuesday, April 26th:
At 5am, I got a text from the Unified PD, saying that LCC road was going to close at 6:30am for avalanche control. I looked at the snow totals, and it was something like 6", enough for me to ditch work for at least the morning. On the road by 5:30, I easily made the cutoff at the mouth of the canyon. I was a little worried that the UPD officer was going to ask me where I was headed, but he just waved me on (you're not supposed to just hang out up there without accommodations). The road was snowy, but a 2000 Dodge Durango, with close to 200k miles with balding tires, but 4 wheel drive engaged made the drive pretty easy. I camped out for a couple hours, until the interlodge was lifted, and b-lined to the tram plaza. Caught the first tram, then the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and by then, the road was finally open for the dudes that didn't make the 6:30 road closure. So I moved to Peruvian, which was pretty empty. Snow was good everywhere, and my Atomic Atlas' were perfect for the day. The snow was deeper than reported, about 12" pretty much everywhere, but was pretty dense, smeary, fast, and smooth. The 6 back to back tram rides I got in before the road opened, just crushed the cat skiing I had a couple weeks earlier. A couple pro skiers got some too- I saw Dean Cummings, Jonny and Angel Collinson up there. Its pretty awesome bumping shoulders with skiers like them.
About an hour and a half after the road closed, interlodge went back into effect, due to some avalanche activity along the road. So, camped out at Cliff Lodge, lounging on a plush leather sofa chair, surrounded by enormous and beautiful Persian rugs. I felt guilty walking on them with ski boots, but Dick Bass has a few hundred extra, so that thought quickly disappeared. What seemed like an eternity was finally ended with a hotel representative declaring that the resort was finally open. It was a mad, crazy dash to whatever cable strung device could get a skier to greater heights. In my case, I decided to bypass the maze of the tram, for a 45 second wait on Peruvian. Sure the accessibility is limited on Peruvian, but I'd take 5 runs on it over 1 tram any day.
Anyway, summary is that skiing is rad, even in April, and May of course too. Looking forward to see how late the season will run. Probably a good year to play in the mountains, touring some of the high peaks in the Wasatch that I've been dying to reach.
Man I like skiing. Just need to work my legs more in the gym between sessions so my days can be longer and more fun. Until next post...