Appreciative Feet

Today was my first day off since our Snowbird day on the 18th, and I decided to make it my first day out of ski boots since I don't even know when, Dec. 8th (Des's birthday was my first day of work).

For Christmas Santa brought the Wasatch Range 4+ ft of the greatest snow on earth, so I have to assume I missed a pretty epic powder day... But my feet sure are happy. Besides, today was a blackout day at Deer Valley, and I really can't afford to be buying lift tickets... so that leaves the backcountry. The avalanche forecast for today (view it here) was very high, and the forecasters stated that natural and human triggered avalanches were a certainty today. They said "backcountry travelers should stay off of and out from underneath any slope steeper than about 30 degrees"... I don't know if you've tried to ski a less-than-30 degree slope with 4+ ft of powder, but it's not much fun... it becomes a very straight run (not worth hiking and risking my life for).

Natural avalanche in our backyard

I used the morning to relax and clean the house a bit, and then ran some errands in the afternoon. When I got home to took Jackson out to the flight park for a run in the snow, and we had so much fun we played until dark. Then we came home, and I decided to take some pictures of Jackson and Bonnie playing in the backyard.

Jackson walked up the hill, and then jumped into the deep pow...
it was hilarious!

Bonnie plowing through the fluff (chasing a snowball)

Bird Doggin'

A group of Deer Valley instructors had the day off, so we decided to head up to "The Bird". The weather forecast read "possible AM snow flurries", but in Little Cottonwood Canyon that can equate to a powder day...

Billy gets a face shot

We boarded the tram for the first ride up (my first time at Snowbird, and my first time on the tram), and I here this familiar voice: "RYAN!" I look around, and see a pair of eyes looking at me over the sea of hats and helmets... it's "Dude" (Kevin Koonce, Kitty Hawk Kites instructor turned Point Rat).

"Dude" floatin' the gnar

When we got to the top I introduced the group to Dude, who proceeded to take us around to all his favorite powder stashes. Needless to say, we were much appreciative!!! Later in the day Dude had to split and go to work, so then Erin became our tour guide.

Erinski ripping. 'Nuff said.

Later in the afternoon, the snow stopped, the clouds broke, and it turned into a bluebird day. A stellar afternoon was capped with Melanie accidentally shooting off a cliff, cheating death, but losing a ski in the snow... After an exhausting search, it was not recovered... Snowbird Patrol said they will continue to look, but it might not turn up until spring!

Good snow. Good friends. Good day! What more could one ask for?!

Deer Valley 2009

All this week I'll be doing instructor training up at Deer Valley. I have to admit it's nice to get some skiing in WITHOUT having to hike up the mountain for it... although everything is groomed instead of freshies.

Winter is taking it's sweet time, and we're all anxiously awaiting the 'lake effect' storms Salt Lake is known for. Deer Valley tends to get less snow than the other (Cottonwood) resorts, with only 300 annual inches of snow. The upside is that, as long as it's cold enough to make snow, Deer Valley's snow making ability is absurd. I'm told they are fully equipped to blow enough snow to cover every major run, all winter long. They haven't had the opportunity to cover everything yet, though... so those thinking of visiting, wait 'till Jan.

Today we did get a bit of snow, with a short whiteout period where we were happy to be bombarded by tons of big fat flakes. It was nice to get back to my car at the end of the day and see that the parking lot, which was bare pavement when I got there, was blanketed by a bit of white.

A bit of white in the parking lot, but a decent amount on the mountain