Category Archives: Dining

Dinner at The Mariposa

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Each mountain range has its summits and among them, there’s always a towering giant that dwarfs the rest of the peaks.  The same is true for great mountain dining. Without a doubt, if Rocky Mountain Dining were like a formidable chain of mountains, The Mariposa at Deer Valley Resort would be its Mt. Everest….

Dining at The Mariposa doesn’t take the courage or skills required for a seasoned mountain expedition though. It’s conveniently located at Silver Lake Lodge, mid-mountain, but the short winding road that leads to its door guarantees both a quick and easy access from the valley below. Inside, a rustic, yet very elegant decor, along with an attentive and expert staff, greets the diners.

Last Friday night, my wife and I made the trip up to this pinnacle of fine dining and both had a wonderful time. Our table was tucked into a quiet corner near the fireplace and still provided us with a full view of the restaurant’s beautiful dining room.

We began by sharing a new appetizer, the Fruits de Mer, which consisted of a selection of ahi, crab, scallop and oysters that all blended beautifully and were the perfect prelude for preparing our taste buds for the delights that would follow.

We then sampled the Burrata salad with fresh basil and cherry heirloom tomatoes, along with some fresh mozzarella and baby arugula, all seasoned with a delightful olive oil and balsamic dressing that was fresh, light and delicately savory.

For the main course, we couldn’t resist the appeal of the Seared Bison Filets that were seasoned with foie gras, cipollini onions, St. André cheese and accompanied by a wonderful gratin as well as a marvelous wine sauce. This beautifully lean meat was fabulously cooked and was nothing short of exquisite. This was the crowning moment of the evening, the very top of this culinary Everest!

For wine, we picked an Alexana Pinot Noir, from Oregon, which we found light, yet bursting with fine tannins, a “finish” that never ceased and that proved perfectly balanced for the menu we had composed.

To prepare us for our descent, we selected the special Deer Valley cheesecake and the flan, accompanied with macarons and amaretto crème anglaise. They both were delectable and completed a wonderful evening that, we felt, took us even higher than Mt. Everest, right up to Cloud Nine!

Reservations can be made by calling 435-645-6632, between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Upping the Ante on Bribes

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By now, dear reader, you know that I am never on the mountain without a stash of bribery candy in my pockets. So I’m thrilled to report that Deer Valley has given me some new ammo in this department. Quincy’s–a kids’ self-service frozen yogurt bar, complete with exciting (and classic!) toppings like gummy bears and crushed Oreo cookies, is located in the Next Gen boutique across the hall from the lower level locker room and bag check.  

I had hinted to my kids of its existence on a recent ski day—and as soon as we finished our runs, my kids asked, “Did we earn some frozen yogurt?” They loved choosing their flavors and toppings—Don’t tell our orthodontist, but even Big Guy, who had acquired braces earlier in the week, partook of the sweets. He’s a chocoholic, so the fudge sauce suited him just fine. “Mom, don’t worry,” he assured me, as I broke the news to him that gummy and crunchy toppings were not on his menu. “Fudge sauce definitely counts as a topping in my book.” Yes, Dr. Maxfield, we brushed copiously upon our return home!

The yogurt café sits behind a knee wall within NextGen. Naturally, I took the opportunity to browse for items in my size—petite types get away with shopping in the kids’ store and, yes, in the kids’ sizes, too. I was impressed with the variety of style and price points. Meanwhile, our style-conscious Little Guy took the opportunity to peruse the merchandise from his yogurt-eating perch.

“Look!” he demanded. “Look. At. That. JACKET! It’s super-cool. I want it.”

Ski Dad and I had to admit, it was super-cool. Brown pleather bomber jacket with tons of Top Gun-style patches and a faux-fur lining. I could almost hear Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards shouting, “I feel the need, the need…for…SPEED!” Which could not be more appropriate for the type of “bombing” down the hill that Little Guy had displayed just half an hour earlier. Quickly, he lost interest in his yogurt and demanded that he be allowed to try it on.

As he put the jacket on, he assumed a “tough guy” stance and a grin as big as they get.

Needless to say, Hanukkah came a few days early.

Holiday Wine Tips

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If you have been trying to pair wine to go with your holiday parties Clint Strohl, Deer Valley’s Resort Restaurant Operations Manager has some tips!

“Keep it Simple” The holidays are at times stressful, do not let a wine choice become stressful as well.

What you like to drink is just as important as what others say you should or should not be drinking with holiday meals. Do not worry about the perfect food match

Reason to not worry about the perfect food match:  Sweetness and complexity. Holiday meals often involve “Glazed” foods. Think glazed ham. This sweetness will not compliment any dry wine in fact quite the opposite. The sweetness will wash-out all the wine’s attributes. Holiday meals are made up of simple foods, but we tend to serve a lot simple foods together which introduces just too many flavors for any one wine to be complimentary to all foods.

My Holiday Utility Pair: Dry Riesling from Germany and California Pinot Noir. While not perfect this pair will do well enough to provide pleasant drinking with most holiday meals.

Happy Holidays!

 

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

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Jodie Rogers, Deer Valley Executive Chef shared the recipe for Deer Valley’s

Hot (Haute) Chocolate, with an adult beverage twist.

Hot Haute Chocolate

Yields: 50 Ounces, 2 oz. servings.

-10 oz. Dried Milk Powder, Grind in Cuisinart before measuring

-1 lb. Vanilla sugar (To make vanilla sugar grind seeds of 2 vanilla beans with 32 ounces of sugar in Cuisinart)

- ¾ Teaspoon Salt

- ¾ Teaspoon Cinnamon

- 3 pinches of cayenne

- ¼ Teaspoon Espresso Powder (optional)

- Peppermint Schnapps add to taste

[Note: 8 ounces of mix to 2 cups of boiling water. Individual serving is 2 ounces to ½ cup water, use less water if a richer flavor is preferred.

1)      Make Vanilla Sugar. Keep as mise en place.

2)      Combine all ingredients, whisk to combine well

3)      Add espresso powder if desired

4)      Add Peppermint Schnapps to taste

5)      Serve with whipped cream and a candy cane

You can also stop by Deer Valley Grocery ~Café to try a Hot Haute Chocolate.

 

If you are also looking for food for your Christmas, let the Elves do the cooking!

Deer Valley is offering a Christmas take-away menu this year. All orders must be received by Thursday, December 22nd and may be picked up December 24th after noon or Sunday, December 25th by 6:30 p.m.  435-615-2400

Items available on the menu:

WILD MUSHROOM SAUCE ~ wild mushrooms, shallots, red wine, beef stock (32 oz, serves 4-6) ~ $12.00

LEMON THYME SAUCE ~ turkey gravy, fresh thyme, lemon (32 oz, serves 4-6) ~ $12.00

**CRANBERRY CHUTNEY ~ cranberries, mango chutney  (16oz) ~ $10.75 ~ GF

*DEER VALLEY ROASTED GARLIC MASHERS ~ new red potatoes, roasted garlic (serves 4) ~ $12.00 ~ GF

**STEAMED GREEN BEANS ~ sautéed shiitake mushrooms, garlic enhanced olive oil, toasted almond and red chard garnish (serves 4) ~ $12.00 ~ GF

*ROASTED ACORN SQUASH ~ Jack Daniels brown sugar butter, (serves 4) ~ $12.00 (GF by request)

*HOMEMADE STRUAN BREAD, WILD RICE STUFFING granny smith apples, dried cranberries, wild mushrooms, shallots, fresh sage (serves 4) ~ $9.50 add chicken and apple sausage ~ $12.00

*Vegetarian  **Vegan  GF=gluten free

Interview with Jodie Rogers Executive Chef of Snow Park and Empire Canyon Lodges

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JF: First Jodie, remind us what’s your philosophy at Deer Valley Resort?

JR: The biggest thing we’ve done in the past two year was to turn to three fundamental principles: Local, sustainable and fresh ingredients. Fresh ingredients have always been a big concern for us. This year I was lucky enough to be invited on a couple ranch tours, in Bear Lake and in South Dakota. We work with Niman Ranch where traceability is available and easy to check. They work very closely with us and make the effort to understand our needs. For instance, all of our lamb, in all in our menus, comes from Bear Lake. Our beef comes from many of the Niman associate farms. We’re staying away from unnecessary antibiotic, steroids or things like that. Freshness is paramount with us.

 

JF: Do you treat seafood the same way?

JR: Absolutely! Heather, our seafood chef at the Seafood Buffet, has been leading that way for many years already. She follows the “Seafood Watch” at the Monterey Bay Aquarium daily and purchases accordingly. For instance, we can trace back all of our oysters to their origin and to the actual fishermen. Now, our guest have come to expect this kind of quality from us! Not only are we doing the right things, but our guest expect us to keep that lead.

JF: So tell me, what’s new this winter at Deer Valley?

JR: First at the Grocery~Café, we are working very closely with Copper Moose Farm for our field greens, beets, herbs and other vegetables that can be grown in our harsh environment. As far as the Seafood Buffet is concerned, Heather having  her crew go back to the roots of some classic dishes. As an example, this season Heather had the idea of serving Pazole with the DV twist. Instead of buying ready-made cans of Hominy, she’s taking the dried corn and making it from scratch. The seafood Buffet chefs will continue to follow what’s sustainable and we’ll advise the chefs be creative within that parameter. The Day Lodges will continue with Niman burgers and homemade bratwursts. We’ll keep everyone focused on these goals so that our chefs understand our local sourcing, make sure it remains a priority and use it as creatively as possible.

Fireside Dining is opening an extra night, Saturday, and that will go from three to four nights. All the lamb will be sourced locally, from Bear Lake. We’ve also gone local with some of Salt Lake’s Creminelli cured meat instead of importing them; Creminelli is really good, they source Berkshire pork and other high quality ingredients as local as possible… The Mariposa is going to offer a great southwest sturgeon dish this winter to continue our quest in trying to stay sustainable. Royal Street Café is focusing on using lots of local cheeses, like Beehive, Rock Hill Creamery and Gold Creek. Our Day Restaurants will incorporate all of these into our other menus as well. Royal Street Café will also still serve their fabulous homemade meatballs, that by the way are also sold at the Deer Valley Grocery~Café…

Our big focus as far as management is to see even more consistency out of our three Days Lodges. Now that we’re Number One for the fifth year in a row, it behooves us to maintain our lead, ahead of the competition by continuing to strive for culinary perfection.

We’ve had a lot of construction going on this summer and some of it involved rebuilding the whole employee dining area at the Snow Park Lodge as we had outgrown it. Since it caters to our own staff, it also gave us the opportunity to offer an extended menu along with faster service, and this is not small stuff as, if we’re able to make our own people happy, we can be sure that they will make our guests even happier. That may sound like “back of the house” but it will have a huge impact on the “front of the house” and their interaction with our guests!

On the cocktail front, the Park City Area Restaurant Association had upped the ante by organizing a cocktail contest twice a year and we’re participating along with the other Main Street establishments. We’ll be featuring the winner of the last contest, the Easy Street Cocktail, that will be on all our menus. We will also feature more seasonal drinks and cocktail and we’ve also upgraded our wine and liquor list. Finally, we’ll be offering more live entertainment in the afternoon at the EBS Lounge, during weekends, with some of our best local musicians…

 

JF: Sounds wonderful! Where do you get all that inspiration?

JR: Our guests drive us to become better, especially when they do vote us continually Number One in Food and Beverage, on-mountain dining, specially. The good comments we get from our guests make us want to be better. Our chefs are also a very creative team that is always on the lookout for new things and are key in keeping our lead. I want to give them every opportunity to try something new and wow our guests.

 

JF: How do you gather that feedback?

JR: Our guests are pretty verbal, and we get lots of comments, phone calls and emails, helping us to steer our offerings in the right direction. We’re are labeling our menus to indicate all the gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian items as we get these questions all the time, and it’s sometimes hard for waiters to keep up with all these details even though we keep on educating them as well on all these issues.

We have an eight-day rotating menu for our kids ski school, and while we’ve always cater to Kosher, this year our menus will also display the gluten-free options. Further, our ski school menus are all nut-free and we take all the necessary care in the kitchens to avoid cross-contamination so kids can eat with total peace of mind. The bottom line is that if anyone has some special needs, we’ll take care of them!

 

JF: Is the improving level of the Park City, Main Street restaurant benefiting Deer Valley?

JR: We all help each other. The more demand we place on certain ingredients, the more choice we get from suppliers and the more that quality improves. That’s a huge help from all of us. When I first came to Deer Valley I couldn’t get coconut milk; you know, I come from Australia and I couldn’t get any of it and I got so frustrated! Because we have such a diverse and talented pool of chefs between Main Street and Deer Valley, there’s a friendly and highly productive emulation that elevates the quality of the food served and benefits everyone. Our guests too are very diverse and come to us with pretty sophisticated tastes and a fine palate that push us all to become better!

 

JF: You’ve wet my appetite; when can guest samples all that wonderful food?

JR: Very soon! While our Grocery~Café is always serving food, Royal Street Café will open the last weekend of November and then the weekend of December 3, all Day Lodges will welcome the skiing public. Then on Friday, December 9, our Seafood Buffet will be available to diners, followed by Fireside, the last one to open, on Wednesday, December 14. Mark your calendar and come sample our wonderful food!

Check out this blog post on Park City Magazine by the lovely Kristen Case sharing her experience at the Deer Valley Winter Menu Tasting.

Lucky Locals

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Yesterday, I felt like a very lucky local. I can sum up the reasons in three little words: Turkey Chili Nachos.

I know what you’re thinking: Seriously, folks, what took you so long to come up with THAT little gem? Well, it’s just what happens when Deer Valley’s crack culinary team gets to spend the off-season…at work. The fact that the Deer Valley Grocery Café is open year-round is a boon to everyone—locals and visitors alike. Because not only can it taste like ski season, even if the lifts are not operating, but the culinary team has a little breathing room to get a boost of creativity. Of course Turkey Chili Nachos are a genius idea. It’s a new twist on an old favorite.

Before I ate the nachos, though, I had a chance to chat with sous chef Ben Stevens, who heads up the kitchen at the Deer Valley Grocery Café. He poured me a cup of coffee (yes, I had already had a meeting over coffee an hour earlier, but I am incapable of saying no to a steaming mug of Millcreek Coffee Roasters coffee at Deer Valley.)

It turns out; the Deer Valley Grocery Café is always going to cook up a little twist or surprise. In part, because Ben and his team really want to cater to their crowd, and use the café to showcase not just the Deer Valley signature meals and desserts, but the local purveyors who make the food possible. “We want to hear people’s comments, get their suggestions,” he told me. “The more we hear what people want, the better we’re able to cook up a surprise or two.” In fact, one of the things that surprised me is the fact that entire catered dinners for a crowd can be ordered from the café—“It makes it more of a vacation if you can eat comfort food without having to cook,” Ben said. For some of us, just a day off from cooking can feel like a vacation, so I’m all in.

A few other secrets: The pot pies are healthier than you think. “We don’t use cream,” Ben says. “It’s a vegetable volute that gives the pie that creamy texture.”

Still, I couldn’t resist needling Ben to spill a little bit of his “My Deer Valley” secrets.

Ski haunt: “Empire—it’s like the hidden gem, with Mayflower on one side and Empire on the other.”

Ski lunch: “Fish tacos at Empire Canyon Lodge.”

Ski timing: “First chair—working at the Café got me in the habit of being up at 5am. Suddenly, first chair at 9 feels like a whole day off, even if I’m just getting in a few runs before I start the lunch shift.”

 

 

 

 

Gourmet Winter – Part 2

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Recently we asked some of our chefs to share what they’re looking forward to this winter. I don’t suggest reading this blog on an empty stomach!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Letty Flatt serves as executive pastry chef for Deer Valley Resort where she prepares and oversees production of the breads, cakes and desserts for all 10 mountain dining establishments. Working at Deer Valley since 1981 Letty joined the bakery after two seasons on ski patrol. In addition to creating delectable desserts for the Resort, Letty is the author of the cookbook Chocolate Snowball: And Other Fabulous Pastries From Deer Valley Bakery.

 

Here is what Letty is looking forward to for the upcoming season:

1. A great team of bakers. We have our core, year-round pastry chefs and assistant pastry chefs, as well as a strong group of returning bakers from last season.  Our head pastry chefs, Steve Harty and Debbie Swenerton, have hired a bunch of really capable bakers for the positions we had open.  Also, each year we hire culinary externs from around the country and we are excited to welcome those that are coming for their externships this winter. In addition, we hire bakery counter attendants through a college exchange program in South America. These kids are always very smart, bilingual and studying for careers as lawyers, engineers and scientists in their home country. I love the diversity they bring to the bakery and that we are giving them the chance to polish their English-speaking skills. All in all—the bakery team we have assembled for the upcoming season looks to be world class.

2. Our new gluten-free and vegan offerings. Over the summer we developed a delicious chocolate chip cookie and a simple, elegant almond agave cake that we hope our gluten-free and vegan guests will love. Cookies are available any time right now at the Grocery~Café . We also made the Healthy Heart Muffin vegan this year by taking out the eggs—I think we made this daily muffin twice as good and hopefully it appeals to twice as many guests!

3. Both Steve at Silver Lake/Empire and Debbie at Snow Park/Grocery~Café have been dreaming up and working on new winter menu items. Each season the Mariposa dessert menu features several new desserts and among Steve’s latest is a dessert with a twist on the cheese course—a mousse with all the flavor of Barely Buzzed, the flavorful cheese rubbed with coffee and lavender from Utah’s Beehive Cheese Company. Steve is pairing the mousse with an olive oil cake, with grapes and late harvest wine. I love it.

 

Clark Norris serves as executive chef of Silver Lake Lodge which includes The Mariposa, Deer Valley’s premier fine dining restaurant, and Royal Street Café, the resort’s only winter and summer a la carte restaurant . Norris joined Deer Valley Resort’s internationally recognized food and beverage team in 1985 as a line cook and rose to become executive chef in 1988. Clark was also the recipient of Salt Lake Magazine’s annual Best Chef Award in 2006.

Here’s what is looking forward to this winter…

1. Having so many talented chefs and cooks returning this season. This makes training the new cooks so much easier, efficient and thorough that re-opening our winter operations is seamless.  From the first day of the season we are ramping-up for working full-tilt through the busy holidays and with experienced staff it is relatively painless. Thanks to all our dedicated kitchen managers, supervisors and cooks returning this season! I may get more powder days :)

2. Our ever-expanding house-made products. Here, in the Silver Lake kitchen, we make all the Bratwurst and Veggie Burgers for the entire resort — tons of them, literally. (Thanks for the new Hobart Mixer/Meat Grinder and mac-daddy Smoker, Bob!) We also make our own

Oak-Smoked Maple Cured Bacon, Pancetta, Chorizo, a variety of Salamis, Kielbasa,

Fresh Ground Bison Burgers, Huckleberry-Duck Sausage, Lamb Sausage, Italian Sausage, Juniper-Venison Sausage, Blackstrap Molasses Smoked Ham, Lamb Gyro,

Smoked Habanero Sauce…the list goes on.

We pride ourselves on using all-natural Niman Ranch Pork, Beef and Lamb. Their animals never get hormones or anti-biotics and are raised with care by small, sustainable, family owned and operated ranches. Myself, Jodie and other DV chefs, have visited Niman ranches and are very impressed with the natural, humane and sustainable ranching practices being followed. Our lamb comes from the local Willis Ranch near Bear Lake.

3. A season to best all others, earning us a 5th consecutive #1 ranking!

Gourmet Winter

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We caught up with Jodie Rogers, Snow Park and Empire Lodge Executive Chef and Clint Strohl, Deer Valley Resort Restaurant Operations Manager to see what they’re looking forward to this winter; and to share some secrets and recipes from Deer Valley’s restaurants.

Jodie Rogers serves as the executive chef of Snow Park and Empire Canyon Lodges.  Rogers’ job as executive chef entails operations of all Snow Park and Empire Canyon Lodges restaurants and food events, including breakfast and lunch cuisine in the Snow Park Restaurant and Empire Canyon Grill; cuisine for the child care and ski school programs; après-ski appetizers in the Snow Park Lounge, the evening Seafood Buffet and the new Deer Valley Grocery~Cafe.  In addition, she oversees Fireside Dining at Empire Canyon Lodge.  Rogers also spends her summers overseeing all banquets at the Resort. Rogers boasts a 15-year cooking career that includes stints in several hotels in Sydney, Australia and working as head chef at Australia’s Charlotte Pass Resort

Jodie Rogers

The 3 things I am looking forward to in our restaurants this winter are:

1. @ Seafood Buffet Heather is working on a twist the to traditional Pasole,  a Rich Pork and hominy stew that originated in Jalisco, in the middle of Mexico’s Pacific Coast region. It is traditionally served at Christmas time. Come and try our version, Lobster Pazole.

2. @ Fireside Shane and Ryan are working on Homemade Lamb Bacon that will be used in numerous applications. See the recipe below to find out just one of them. Our Niman lamb is from Clark’s Farm in Bear lake. The chefs were lucky enough to visit the farm this year so we could see just how well the animals are taken care of. Just one of the many reasons our Fireside Lamb leg tastes to wonderful.

3. Apres Ski is now available at 3 locations, join us at Royal Street Cafe at Silver Lake Lodge, the EBS Lounge, located at Snow Park Lodge or the DVGC, located at the Plaza after a long day of skiing to try one of our new cocktail concoctions from our fabulous bar tenders, The “High Apple Attitude” and the DVD ( Deer Valley Diablo) are just two that come to mind.

4. Lets not forget the huge amounts of snow!

Fireside Dining Bacon Pancakes

At Fireside these pancakes will be made from our homemade lamb bacon and served accompanied by seared venison, homemade elderberry jam and lemon chive butter.

For home use I would suggest this as a great appetizer. Make small bite size pancakes and top with your favorite artisanal jam and a lemon chive whipped cream.

Ingredients

2  Cups All Purpose Flour
2  1/4 Cups Buttermilk
2 Eggs
1Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
1Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Sugar
2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/8 Cup Water
3-4 Bacon Slices

Directions

Slice the bacon up into small pieces and fry it over medium heat until it is the crispiness that you desire. When finished drain on a paper towel.
While the bacon is cooking mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
In a separate bowl mix the dairy, water, egg, oil and vanilla.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until incorporated.
Over medium heat, pour the pancake batter onto the pan.
Immediately after you pour the batter, sprinkle a hand full of bacon bits onto the pancake. You could mix the bacon directly into the batter, but I have found that you get better distribution if you sprinkle it on this way.
Once you see bubbles forming and bursting on the top of the pancake it is time to flip. Only flip pancakes once.
Another minute or two later the pancake is cooked. Remove onto a plate and either eat, or place the plate in the oven on warm to keep the pancakes hot until you are finished cooking all of them.

That recipe will make about 24 small 2” pancakes

 

From Soiree Productions

Clint Strohl

Clint Strohl  was recently promoted to Deer Valley Resort Restaurant Operations Manager.  He is responsible for all front-of-house restaurant services at the Snow Park, Silver Lake and Empire Canyon Lodges, including The Mariposa, Royal Street Café, Seafood Buffet, Fireside Dining, the Empire Canyon Grill, Snow Park and Silver Lake Restaurants, Bald Mountain Pizza in Silver Lake Lodge, Snowshoe Tommy’s and Cushings Cabin. Clint has been working for Deer Valley Resort since 1984.

Clint’s 3 high points for the upcoming season:

1. Restaurant Reservationists will be available 9am to 9pm, 7 days a week starting on Friday, December 2 and continuing through Saturday, April 7. This will add an additional 4 hours each day where  guests can make reservations. Of course, restaurant reservations can always be made at www.deervalley.com. Also, by early December guests will be able to reserve a table at our restaurants through Opentable.com

2. Fireside Dining will be open most Saturday nights this coming season. Most recently Fireside has  been open  Wednesday through Friday with an an occasional Saturday during the Holiday periods. By opening another evening I believe our guests will find it easier to visit us at their preferred times.

3. Mamete Prevostini wines at Fireside. So much of the food at Fireside is linked traditionally and culturally to the area where  Italy and Switzerland intersect. Mamete Prevostini produces wines in the region of Valtellina, which is as well at the intersection of  Italy and Switzerland, of 100% Nebbiolo from steeply terraced vineyards. I believe that these will be wines to be enjoyed with all savory courses at Fireside.

Secrets to Success

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I’ve always taken a kids-first approach to finding my bliss on the hill with my family. I knew my firstborn wouldn’t be happy skiing between my legs as a toddler, for instance, after one outing on plastic skis. So I opted to wait until he was three and a half before getting him going in earnest.

My second born has always had a different agenda. Namely, he wants to do what the Big Guy does. He first saw his brother ski on videotape, following the cookie parade at the end of Ski School.  From that moment, he spent months lobbying us for the chance to ski—watching his brother from the porch at Snow Park Lodge was simply fuel for the fire. He couldn’t walk, yet, so it was just funny.

Then, a few moths after he’d taken off—at a sprint—we were sitting on the deck at Snow Park Lodge, watching his brother. The begging started in earnest. “Sethie Ski!!!!!” When I turned my back for a moment, he scampered out to the snow and began to try to click in to the bindings of a pair of skis someone had parked on the snow.

I sighed, and fetched the plastic skis from our garage. My 18 month-old wanted to ski. For that moment, he was satisfied to shuffle back and forth across the snow in front of the deck, declaring victory at the top of his lungs: “Sethie Skiiiiii!” “Sethie Skiiiiiiii!” Sethie Skiiiii like Lancey!!!!”

From that moment, Ski Dad and I learned how to cater to the needs of both kids’ different ski temperaments, different skill levels, and different personalities. It’s not so different from the way I parent off the mountain. And, in fact, keeping that consistency has proven a key to the success for our family’s skiing. It’s tempting, once you click into the bindings to urge your kids to soldier through—and sometimes that pays off. For me, the nuts and bolts of a successful season begins with the gear—it should be well-fitted, comfortable and easy to manage. Any gear compromises—from base layer to outerwear to ski boots—will come back to bite you, since they’ll distract you and your family from enjoying the day, and perhaps make the sport seem less than fun. True story: almost 20 years ago, Ski Dad (then just Ski Fiancee) and I took our dear friends Florida Keys Girl and Guy  to ski my home mountain, Pico, in Vermont. Florida Keys Girl borrowed gear from my mom and me. Florida Keys Guy insisted he’d be fine in jeans and a pea coat. Florida Keys Girl, in spite of her near-paralyzing fear of heights, had a blast. Florida Keys Guy, soaked and cold in his ill-conceived apparel, vowed he’d never see another ski hill, except from the lodge. Eventually, he realized that Florida Keys Girl wasn’t giving up the hobby, and we urged him to dress the part and try again. Now, he’s unstoppable.

The other tools in my skiing-success shed? Swedish fish in the cargo pockets of my ski pants (to avert temper tantrums from kids and adults), and lessons for everyone. Everyone’s enrolling in ski school again this year, For the kids’ Sunday Ski Experience lessons. As for me, I’m not only putting last year’s crew from the Women’s Clinic on notice (Game on, Ladies!), but I’m joining Ski Dad in a Mahre Camp. It looked like too much fun NOT to try.

And, yes, we’re going to eat well. After all, I ski for lunch.

Thanks for Another Great Season!

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It is hard to believe that our 30th winter season has just come to a close.  Thank you to everyone who visited this year!

Deer Valley Ski Patrol on Closing Day (photo: Matt DeWaard)

If you made it up here over closing weekend, you know that the snow conditions actutally felt like mid- January.  The season ended with back-to-back powder days!

Our summer season of lift-served hiking, biking and scenic rides is scheduled to begin on June 17 (conditions permitting). We will keep you updated on summer operations as there is still A LOT of snow that needs to melt. The resort closed on Sunday, April 10 with an impressive snow base depth of 132 inches!

In the meantime, you can still enjoy some of your favorite Deer Valley foods.  Deer Valley Grocery~Cafe is staying open year-round and will continue to offer a changing daily selection of freshly-made on-site and to-go items throughout the spring and summer.  Hours will be expanded to 8:30 p.m. to include dinner service during Deer Valley’s summer season.  Deer Valley Grocery~Cafe has a beautiful deck overlooking the Deer Valley duck ponds and will continue deck service throughout the spring and summer as weather allows.

Deer Valley Grocery~Cafe

 

Thanks again for a wonderful ski season!