Tag Archives: Skiing

Adventures in Mountain Hosting with Michael O’Malley

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 mh3

How long have you been a Deer Valley Mountain Host, Michael?

This is already my sixth season, and I can certify that this is the best job there is in the State of Utah!

What is the job of a Mountain Host at Deer Valley Resort?

It’s like being an on-slope concierge; we are here to help our guests, to answer their questions, to direct them to the best skiing possible, to let them know where they can rent their equipment or where the best dining can be found.  We’re sort of social problem-solvers for our guests.

How many Mountain Hosts work at Deer Valley Resort?

We are about three dozen strong. First and foremost, our Mountain Hosts are all excellent skiers; they can take skiers safely anywhere on the mountain. We are a personable and lively group. Most of us are part-timers and our ranks include lawyers, engineers, real estate agents, entrepreneurs, sales people, river guides, medical professionals, a retired fire-fighter, a judge and several marketing people.

This diversity makes for some very interesting morning meetings. We all share a common love for skiing, a commitment to professionalism and we love helping people. We may laugh and joke, but we take our job extremely seriously. When we take guests on a tour, we want them to really relax so they can enjoy the mountain and we hold the privilege of putting the icing on the cake of a wonderful mountain experience.

What else do you do besides assist your visiting guests?

Well, over the course of a season, we end up helping almost every other department in a multitude of little ways. For example, we stamp-out lift lines on powder days, we help Ski Patrol by doing guest downloads on chairlifts, we empty the trash and the recycling cans, we restock the trail map boxes at the ticket windows and so forth.  As we all know, anything can happen any day and we, the hosts, try to be good, creative problem-solvers on behalf of our guests and fellow employees. Did I mention that we won’t hesitate to give a good morning scrub at the toilets on the top of Bald Mountain?

mh2 (1)What do you generally do when you are stationed by the trail maps?

When someone comes up to a trail map, we try to assess their needs. We ask them simple questions, like “What kind of terrain do you want to ski?” and they may say, “We like blue groomers…” and we direct them to the best groomed slope on that mountain, that day. One of their frequent questions is “How do we get from point A to point B?” We ask them “Do you want to ski a blue run or a green run?” We think on our feet and answer their questions on the spot, as there might be other people waiting with their own needs. We often hear the same questions, but we always get to the heart of the matter quickly and efficiently so guests can fully enjoy their day at Deer Valley.

So, what are the most typical questions you get asked?

It’s essentially about directions.  Most of what I hear could almost be just answered by “Go down Blue Bell and take every right-hand turn…” And there is “How do we get to the Empire Lodge?” or “Where’s the way to Lady Morgan chairlift?” sometimes, “Where’s the base of Silver Strike?” and always “What’s the best way to get back to Snow Park?”

First-time Deer Valley skiers invariably need to get oriented and must learn how to take either Homestake or Crown Point chairlifts to get to the top of Bald Eagle before they can reach the bottom of Snow Park.  It takes a little explaining that Snow Park is at the base of everything… Another daily question we get is “What’s the best green run?” Or “where’s the best snow” or even “where’s the sun?” as most runs at ski areas are facing North and they don’t get direct sun exposure at all times of the day…

mh1Deer Valley is famous for its complimentary Mountain Tours; what are they exactly?

These tours exist for our guest’s enjoyment. Each day, we offer five of them. We start at 9:30 a.m. with an expert tour that stays on Bald Mountain and includes the Mayflower and Sultan areas, then we have a 10 a.m. intermediate tour with two options, a “mellow” and a more aggressive one. Both tours stay on blue groomed runs and while they use the same terrain, they only differ in their pace. These three tours depart from the base of the Carpenter Express.

Then, at 1:30 p.m., we have an intermediate tour and an expert tour that both depart from the Sterling Express. Before each tour, we conduct an assessment run to determine the level of each participant. Occasionally we have to advise someone that a tour may not be suited to them, but most of the time, we can fit each skier into a homogeneous group; we’re a little more demanding on the level of participants during the morning expert tour, but there’s more flexibility on the intermediate tour.

Are you also the ears and the eyes of Deer Valley Resort on the mountain?

We certainly are on the front line of hearing what our guests are thinking or what they’re experiencing and we can feed that information back to management. For the most part what we hear is extremely positive. Deer Valley is known for its outstanding service and our guests appreciate what all of its employees do for them, from the parking attendants to the valets, the groomers, the snow-makers, the ski school staff, all the way to the chefs at each one of our day lodges.

We’re also an extra set of ears, eyes and even hands for our ski patrol. We all have radios and can communicate with them in the case of an incident or when a patroller needs help with traffic or some situations demand it.

What’s the weirdest things you’ve have ever heard?

I didn’t hear that one personally and it’s almost an apocryphal question asked of a Mountain Host some long time ago: “At what elevation do the deer turn into elk?”

What’s the most fun stuff you do?

I’d say that first and foremost, it’s leading an expert tour on a powder day. This said leading any tour on any day is always great fun. I also really enjoy running as the “rabbit” (lead skier) on the Deer Valley’s First Tracks program. Of course, answering questions at the trail map on a sunny day and helping people in a myriad of ways like rescuing a dropped pole or a glove on a fun trail, like Square Deal.

And what’s the most challenging part of your job?

Answering questions at the Bald Mountain trail map when it’s only 10 degrees and the wind is blowing sideways, loaded with snow pellets. It can also be doing speed control at the “Slow” signs on Success after the sun goes down and the evening cold begins to bite, it’s also re-assuring guests that there’s no blue or black run from the top of Flagstaff to the Empire Canyon Lodge.

What do you do when the unexpected happens?

As I just said, getting an expert tour on a powder day is always a privilege. A couple of weeks ago, I was being assigned such a tour and was on my way to the meeting place at the bottom of Sterling Express. I was coming down Homeward Bound at about 1:10 p.m. and I suddenly spotted a guest, a novice skier, who had gone off the trail, under the rope and down into the ski embankment.

She might have had a brief, wonderful powder run 30 feet down below, but was totally unable to climb back the steep drop on her own. I reassured her and called the ski patrol to bring a rope and help her back to the run. But by the time the patrol came and we safely rescued the skier, I had missed my 1:30 p.m. tour and I can only hope that my supervisor will take pity on me and reschedule me very soon!

And to conclude, what’s the weirdest incident that you’ve witnessed?

I was on station at the Bald Eagle trail map when someone alerted me that a beginner skier had just unloaded from the Carpenter Express chairlift with one of her skis on backwards. While it sounded hard to believe, I thanked the concerned guest and headed down Success in hot pursuit. Sure enough, halfway down the first pitch of the run, I spotted the beginner and could see that one of her skis was on backwards. She was doing a reasonable wedge despite the mismatched tips.

I managed to get her to slow down and pull over without startling her. She was from overseas and could only manage rudimentary English, but I had no difficulty communicating the issue to her.  Quickly, I got her straightened out and on her way.  How she jammed her boot into the binding to survive the lift ride, the unloading, and making a number of turns was beyond me, but clearly this lady had the “right stuff!”

 

My Deer Valley – Donna McAleer, Ski Instructor

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Last spring, I was out for a run in the Swaner Nature Preserve—and I ran past my friend Donna McAleer with surprising ease. In fact, I was so shocked that I had passed her up on the trail that I stopped, turned around, and greeted her with: “What’s wrong?” You see, at best, I’m a mediocre runner, and at her worst, Donna—well, in truth, I’ve never seen her at her worst. Until that day. “I’m recovering from stomach flu,” she confessed. “But my mind was racing and I had to get out for a run.”

Donna, you see, was midway through her campaign for a seat in the United States Congress, representing Utah’s District one. She’s a West Point Alumna, retired United States Army officer, and is the award-winning author of Porcelain On Steel: Women of West Point’s Long Gray Line. Oh, and she once served as a bobsled driver in a bid to compete in the sport in the 2002 Olympics. Which is, in case you are wondering, how she came to live in Park City, and eventually lead the People’s Health Clinic, a local non-profit dedicated to giving free and low-cost health care to underserved populations.

If that’s not evidence that she’s hard to catch, I’m not sure what is. Donna’s daughter Carly attends the same school as my sons—and we met about five years ago, when her daughter and my son were attending a local music program together. As two preternaturally busy moms, we bonded and recognized both kindred spirits and the opportunity to help each other out, and a friendship—with a side-order of carpool—was born.

Amidst all of this, the 40-year veteran of ski slopes has spent the last nine years as an instructor in the Ski School at Deer Valley—and eight years as a member of the Deer Valley Synchronized Ski Team.

It will surprise you not at all that the only time we could connect our schedules for a chat was at 6:15 a.m. on a recent morning.

1. Have you always skied on the powdery slopes of Deer Valley? No, I grew up in the east, and I learned to ski on the blue ice and in the frigid temperatures of Okemo Mountain in Ludlow, VT.

2. What interested you in teaching in the first place, and what is your favorite part about teaching at Deer Valley?   I love being outside and sharing my love of the sport with others.  And I love helping guests improve their confidence and ability. Plus, Deer Valley has the best office view, anywhere.  Any day on the mountain is better than a day in an office!

3. How often does the Deer Valley Synchronized Ski Team practice?
We do about eight sessions prior to the performance on December 30 – we train at 4:15 p.m., riding last chair to the the top of Carpenter Express and we get one run. By the time we get to the bottom it’s kind of dark. It’s a hard-core dedicated group of 12-15 of us, that have been skiing together for six-eight years.

4. Has the team ever participated in competitions? Here’s a little bit of quick history: in the mid-80s Deer Valley had a nationally-ranked synchro team, and the Deer Valley team were the world champions in 1995. After a while, the team disbanded and Andy Lane started it up again about five years after that.

5. You put on a great show for the guests—what makes it pleasurable for you? I love that we are all working to help each other get better—that is the great thing about synchro, even as an instructor, you are constantly working to improve your skills and it’s about the discipline, about skiing in line and on time and turning to someone else’s cadence.  vidually beautiful, we have gone through PSIA certification together, and synchro became a part of our training, part of our commitment to each other and the resort

6. What’s the mood like during the event? It’s very festive—at Deer Valley, the night before New Year’s Eve is all about the retro ski clothes—probably because you don’t want to ruin good ski clothes, since you are carrying torches that throw off embers. But you see these great, “sexy” 80’s one-piece ski outfits—which are the original synchro team uniforms. Visually, it’s very pretty, we are in headlamps, carrying torches coming down Big Stick and Wide West. . The the night before new year’s – suynchro demo component to it along with the torchlight. It’s not a competitive team anymore.

7. When and how will we get the best view?
It starts at 6 p.m. and we encourage guests to come at 5:45 p.m. People typically line the plaza at Snow Park and the staging area for ski school. There is hot chocolate, hot cider and the mascots are there. It’s very festive. The perfect way to do it is to plan to dine at Seafood Buffet, so that you can check out the show at the same time.

8. What is the secret to good synchronized skiing?
You have to be able to do the simple really well—and when it happens it looks really good. What you look for is everybody in synchronicity: are they in line, do they have the same shape of turn, how closely they are skiing? We want to provide a team performance, it might be opposite synch, in two parallel lines, skiing in opposite directions, everyone is in cadence. We do different size turns, different shapes, and it all gets back to just the fundamentals of skiing, all the things we teach people, the foundations of good skiing—good turn shapes, moving down the hill, using turn shape to control our speed.

9. You’re an author, an executive and a former candidate for the US House of Representatives, a mother, a wife (in no particular order!)—did skiing play a role in your ability to balance all of those roles at various times? Can you see any lessons you learned during and after your campaign that have parallels on the ski hill?
Being a writer—bringing a book to publication, writing is a solitary act. In terms of my book, thousands of hours of interviews and editing, and 19 manuscript drafts, and it takes a team to publish it. Similarly, while there is only one name on the ballot, it takes a team to make a campaign viable. Skiing is like that—it’s an individual sport, but you’re moving in relation to others. And the act of skiing—moving our bodies, maintaining dynamic balance, you need to be in balance over varying terrain, how we balance and how we stand on our skis, we want to always be moving forward and in the direction of our turn, down the hill, forward and across the skis. My campaign slogan was, “Not left. Not right. Forward.” It applies to a lot of sports, especially skiing, and for me it was a key point in how we think about our political system and we are so quick to make an assumption on how someone votes or legislates—no one is really moving forward and that’s a big issue in our political movement.

Also, another parallel between politics, writing and skiing: sometimes less is more. Really good writing is simple. Thomas Jefferson said, “Never use two words when one will do.” And sometimes we get so bogged down, so focused on technique, that we don’t just ski, we have to let it go.

10. Did Deer Valley play a role in your campaign at all?
My campaign manager is a ski patroller at Deer Valley—and , despite having met and had lunch together in the cafeteria, it was politics that brought us together. He had run campaigns on the east coast, but we bonded over the fact that we share the love of the mountain. There were a number of colleagues from all departments at Deer Valley that were part of the campaign as volunteers, making phone calls.

11. How did your experience as a teacher at Deer Valley Ski School prep you for life as a candidate? During the campaign I found myself relating moments on that trail to moments on the ski trail—There are always obstacles. In skiing we call them moguls, and you need to be able to be flexible to adapt to the terrain. No two ski lessons are ever the same, even with the same client. That’s the cool thing about teaching skiing,—to help someone, to understand how different people learn— you have to be adaptable and flexible in all these situations. In the campaign you want to stay on your message and how you are trying to interact with voters and you may take a different line, you need coaching, good peripheral vision….and you need to be an active listener in both environments, you need to understand what those people’s goals are—you have to be a good observer.

Look for Donna and the rest of the DV Synchronized Ski Team at Snow Park Lodge, starting at 6 p.m. on December 30, 2012.

Click here to check out the Deer Valley Synchro Team in action last season!

Stein Eriksen Lodge Takes Their Gingerbread (and Their Guests) Seriously

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My friend Stella, age two and a half, was a little intimidated. She came to Stein Eriksen Lodge for a gingerbread  adventure.  To tell you the truth, I was there for the exact same reason.  I met her and her Nana in the lobby to check out the huge Whoville gingerbread creation and to participate in the gingerbread house making class to bring one home to my family.

When we walked in the room, we noticed lots of kids, moms and aunties all eager to play with the cake, candies and icing.  In front of each chair were gingerbread walls and a roof as well as bags of candy for decoration.    Stella sat down in her chair and Executive Chef Zane Holmquist greeted her with a big smile and asked her how old she was. She looked up at the chef in the Santa hat, and around the room at the pastry chefs and the other kids and suddenly was unsure of herself.  She was not even three years old so when all this attention was focused on her,  her lips started to quiver like she was just on the cusp of starting to cry.

Chef knew just what to do. He gently sat down next to her and started to work on the base of her gingerbread house.  He asked her to put her finger on top of the wall to hold it while he set another in place. She did comply but with a little apprehension.  Once the walls were up and roof on, he did something I found very interesting.  He let her lead.  He simply asked her to point to where she wanted him to place the candy to decorate her house.  She didn’t have to talk: it wasn’t a complex transaction. She just needed to point.


And point she did. When she pointed to the side of the house, he placed a candy in that exact spot and she was hooked!  This lasted until the house had a candy corn hedge against the frame, snowmen candies adorning the house and ribbon candy shingles on the roof. He didn’t miss a beat when she wanted him to double stack candy on candy.  The head chef from this Forbes Five Star, AAA Five Diamond hotel sat with this tiny girl and helped her build the house just the way she wanted to.


When they were done, and he went on to help the next child, she was beaming.  She talked a mile a minute to everyone and literally danced around the room.  When she got home, she talked non-stop about her gingerbread adventure as she proudly showed off her creation.

It took Chef Zane and a team of a dozen pastry chefs three months to build the Whoville gingerbread house which decorates the lobby of the Stein Eriksen Lodge.  It is complete with the Grinch’s mountain hideaway (the Grinch with his little dog looking on) and dozens of marzipan Whoville figures surrounding Christmas tree in the center of their town. It only took him a half an hour to win over a little girl who will now be a lifelong gingerbread house fan.


I wish I had thought to ask him of which accomplishment he is the most proud.

My gingerbread creation

December 25 Tradition

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (the much-fabled East Coast), Jeff and I had a December 25 tradition—spending the day at the movies and dining on Chinese food.  It was, to this Jewish family, nearly sacred. Our Park City tradition involves a full ski day at Deer Valley, including breakfast. I couldn’t wait.

However, I was so excited to get to breakfast that I left the house without my typical double-check of the contents of everyone’s ski bags. (I blame Betty the Bichon Frisee, who camped out on the ski bags as if to dare us to leave the house.  Still, I was so distracted by the threat of her wrath that I blame her for what happened next.)

I know that my husband is an adult, and can check to see if his gloves are in the bag—but I’ve made this my domain, and I dropped the ball. We discovered this as we unloaded the bags at the resort, so he doubled back to Jeremy Ranch for the gloves, while I went in with the kids to order breakfast.

We have a few folks we count on seeing—including The Perkins family. (If I tried to explain the many ways this family matters to ours, we’d be here all day, and I wouldn’t get to type a single word about the skiing.) Suffice it to say, they are dear, dear friends, and we look forward to standing in line at the breakfast grill with them every year.  This year, we noticed that we’re not the only folks who know that Deer Valley has the best breakfast menu in town. The giveaway that it wasn’t a skier’s-only affair: A little girl in a red taffeta party dress and Mary Janes, her mom in cute jeans and high-heeled leather boots.

“That little girl is definitely not skiing,” quipped Lance.
“But she looks so cute, it doesn’t matter,” I countered.

Cold Eggs Benedict (Jeff’s—I ordered anyway, not sure if he’d be back in time to do it himself) could not ruin our day. The kids dug into their breakfast choices—Belgian Waffle for Lance, Froot Loops for Seth (they are a near-delicacy in our house, so rare is the appearance of sugary cereal in our cupboards.), and, eventually, so did Jeffrey.

What followed: hours of bluebird day skiing, running into more good friends in the lift lines, and a chance encounter with Ruby the Raccoon. Seth challenged her to a race, but her human companion suggested they simply take a run together. I should add that I’d been trying to get Seth to follow my turns all day, to middling effect—but for Ruby? The kid made perfectly carved parallel turns. Go figure.

All day, the kids (and we) had been anxiously keeping tabs (via text and flight tracker software) on our friends’ progress from Miami. Finally, just before last chair, they appeared—suited up and ready to ski. What followed was more laughter than one could hope for in a single ski run, as we reacquainted the Florida kids (two of whom spent their earliest years in Park City) with the sport. (And a special shout-out to Lisa Palmer-Leger for capturing these priceless memories with her camera.)

Oops….Took the Wrong Run

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“If you see anything in yourself to make you proud, look a little farther and you will find enough to make you humble” this is a quote by Wellins Calcott, Thought Moral and Divine.  Try skiing if you are looking for some humility. Last week I wrote about opening day and how “hardcore” I thought I was. Well pride cometh  before the fall.  Today I didn’t resemble a hardcore skier in any way shape or form. Thank goodness for the two good Samaritans who helped me out.

Day three of season two and I was enjoying my third beginner run, Ontario, and I noticed the sign for Hidden Treasure so I made a mental note to circle back.  I had skied that run during my Max 4 lessons last year but had completely forgotten how steep the top was.  From the lift, it is deceiving since the steepest part is hidden from view. From my vantage point, the run looked perfect so I decided Hidden Treasure would be my first intermediate run of the year.

The cross country style narrow connector trail should have been the first clue that I was in over my head but I had already committed to the run so I ignored that warning.  When I finally got to the top of the run and looked down, I saw something that spelled double trouble for me – a steep and bumpy run —  not a good combination.

Hidden Treasure is the run to the left that ends under Quincy Express chairlift

I took stock of the situation.  My options were to climb back up the hill and skate ski through the narrow uphill trail back to Ontario or traverse the steep part of this hill and take Hidden Treasure. Not normally one to retreat, I decided to go for it. It didn’t take long for me to get intimidated and lose all my confidence. I fell a couple times and did something unexpected.  I totally forgot everything I had learned. In my lessons last year, I was taught to traverse back and forth across the run slowly or to simply position myself to slide sideways down the hill using my edges to stop me.  Well, in the moment, I forgot all that.

Panic set in.  In my lifeguard days many years ago, I had to memorize the definition of panic so I know it well —  ”a sudden unreasonable and overwhelming fear that destroys one’s capacity for self help.”  Since I wasn’t thinking straight, I simply took off my skis, threw them on my shoulder and started hiking down one step at a time through the powder.

I had only seen two people pass me the whole time so there weren’t many people on the run but the ones that did come by, stopped to help.  The two good Samaritans on skis reminded me of much easier ways to get down the steep part of the hill. With one below me and one above, I put my skis back on and then followed one traversing across while the other looked on until I got past the steeper part.

Once I got to the middle of the run, I could see why they called it Hidden Treasure (instead of Nancy’s Nightmare.)   I felt like I was floating on this powdery wonderland.  This my friends is snow. I thought I knew what snow was before but I really didn’t. Thanks to a couple of really nice Deer Valley patrons, I got to enjoy it. My story fortunately has a happy ending and as I shared it many people have laughed and told similar stories. But it didn’t have to be that way –  I could have had the wonderful experience without the panic.  Here is how:

  • Read the map. Deer Valley puts out a daily groomed status trail map so you can determine ahead of time the state of the run. It is also on the website so you can check it from your smart phone. It is possible, I might have been able to do that run earlier in the day.  Since it was on a “first shift groomer schedule,” it was pretty bumpy by the time I got there.
  • Ask a mountain host. These helpful people are everywhere! I could easily have discussed my plans and gotten advice from the mountain host at Flagstaff Mountain (right at the big map).  I am sure, he or she would have sent me down an easier run like Hawkeye instead.
  • Go with a friend.  When you are taking on a new challenge, go with a more experienced skier in case you need some coaching.
  • Take a tour. If you are an intermediate level skier or higher, catch up with the FREE mountain host tour.  The intermediate tour leaves daily from Snow Park Lodge at 10 a.m. and Silver Lake Lodge at 1:30 p.m. (Click here for a full schedule) Then go back and ski your favorite runs by yourself later.
  • Take a private lesson.  I know this sounds simple because having an instructor take you down new and more challenging runs just seems like common sense.  You learn more, are safer, and enjoy the experience much more.

Hey good Samaritans out there, I want to give you a shout out of thanks for stopping to help. Maybe someday when I actually really am a hardcore skier, I will pay it forward.

I ended my ski day on this run!

NASTAR National Pacesetting

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Its official, the 2012-13 winter season has started with a bang! First, the Celebrity Skifest events, which were followed by the big three-day snowstorm that dropped enough snow to ski the Daly Chutes in Empire.

Most recently, I participated in the NASTAR pacesetting trials at Snowmass.  I go to the national pacesetting trials in order to get a handicap for Deer Valley’s NASTAR racing course. By doing this I can give handicaps to the race crew and I set the pace time every Saturday so it’s as if you’re racing against AJ Kitt who is the NASTAR National Pacesetter.

The NASTAR national pacesetting trials consist of three days of ski races, seeing old athlete friends and ski racing fans.  Of course there is a lot of skiing involved while we are at Snowmass, but there is also time to catch up and recap old time stories.

Bobkie

Bobkie at NASTAR

This picture is me with AJ Kitt, Bobkie (Aka Bob Roll, the Tour de France color commentator and long-time professional bike racer!), my friend Ivan and his son Nicholas. If you think I look as if I never skied before but that’s because I’m having too much fun and not thinking about skiing, my form or even my crooked goggles!

NASTAR Pacestting crew

NASTAR Pacestting crew

But of course, the best part of the pacesetting trials are the ski races and trying to set your best time. Each year, I am reminded that NASTAR is a huge part of skiing culture. It was great to see Ivan’s 10-year-old son skiing so well and enjoying watching everyone else. I can only image he was hoping that someday maybe he’ll be the fastest.

If you’ve never experienced NASTAR, come to race Deer Valley’s race arena at Silver Lake or to any NASTAR course at participating ski areas.  A full list and more info can be found at NASTAR.com.

You’ll get hooked and want to come to the finals with us in the spring! Race fast and most importantly have fun. Ski racing and the NASTAR program has blessed me with the best friendships and memories!

See you on the slopes!

Looking at my Ski Crystal Ball

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When I contemplate this brand new ski season, I often have a hard time seeing clearly into my “Ski Crystal Ball.” Skiing is for me something that happens, not an event or a succession of situations that can be planned, guessed or predicted like you would plan an outing, a family celebration or of course, a career. I guess there’s not much planning that goes into my skiing. That’s right, I’ve never looked at one single season thinking that I will be accomplishing this, that or achieve some other things (besides maybe a goal for skiing my age).

Even though I’m extremely goal-oriented for all the other areas of my life, this approach has never permeated into my skiing outlook. I probably am a fatalistic skier who wait for the snow crystals to randomly and gracefully align themselves and provide me with some heavenly snow experiences. It is true though that when I’m skiing, my competitive spirit – not my planning mind – eventually comes alive and takes hold of me.

For example if its already 2 pm and I am enjoying the runs that crisscross the Lady Morgan Chairlift, I will think, “…let’s do six more of them!” This mere thought pushes me and I end up having ridden Lady Morgan Express seven more times in that sixty minute time span! The performance wasn’t planned, it simply happened… I have never promised myself to ski 100 days per season, but I generally end up close to that round number, so while it’s hard to say that I’m not planning these kinds of minute details, they just seem to happen…

As a perennial late-bloomer, I must have reached my peak performance on skis in my early sixties (yes, dear reader, there is plenty of hope!) and one day, as I happened to boast a bit too much about some of my ski exploits, a slightly older and wiser friend of mine told me in no uncertain terms: “Silly you, at your age, what do you have to prove?” These words of wisdom were not lost on me, the skier, that always looked at performing better and faster, whenever possible.

This competitive approach of mine was colliding with certain issues that develop as one gets further into the years and as physical strength begins plateauing, if not declining, but is certainly no longer improving. Over the past couple of seasons, I have found that I was getting a bit less nimble, less powerful and considerably slower.

You might say that I was finally growing up as I had implicitly understood that speeding and risk-taking might finally prove to be harmful to me. This, in part, is the reason why, from that point forward, my goals on skis won’t be measured so much in speed, quickness or slaloming through a tight grove of aspen trees.

Instead, they will be qualitative in nature and are likely to consist of skiing much more often, but when I will do it, I will also concentrate on being that much smoother and my focus will be on saving all of my resources to enjoy a longer, fun-filled day on the slopes. Another new measuring stick for me would be the amount of time there’s a grin on my face and this should at least be in the 90% range, to make each day of winter another great moment on skis.

Sure, I’ll still go fast when I can and when it can make me more efficient, but never again at the expense of my own safety. I’ll think more about being lighter on my skis, on better using the terrain to check my speed and to my mechanical advantage, to make my turns effortlessly and remain “one” with the terrain. That’s about right, less brute force and more “caresses” on the snow, this is how my skiing will be looking like, this season and beyond!

With this in mind, when I review what’s inside my Snow Crystal Bowl, I see more slow fun, more perfect turns, more time to enjoy the whole experience, more seizing of the moment and with all that, always the surprise that comes with the never-ending adventure that skiing really is!

First Powder Day of the Season!

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Empire Bowl on 12/15/12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One week into Deer Valley’s 2012-13 season and we were blessed with a powder day! If we keep this pace (and the forecast for the upcoming week looks like we will) it will make for great skiing over the holiday.

I have to admit today’s skiing was a pleasant surprise. Last year, we weren’t able to ski the Empire area and especially the Chutes until mid-January! Yup, we are already a month ahead of ourselves. I met up with some of the locals and ripped a few runs.

This picture certainly isn’t the ” epic” powder shot technically but you can see from the look on my face how fun and excited I was. We took the next picture for fun because we really didn’t know how it was going to be making the first turns of the season in the Daly Chute but at least we could say we were warned.

I’m glad we explored. Come out and see for yourself! If the storms line up as I have been hearing, we are on our way to great skiing.

Heck, just today toppled all of last year!

See you on the slopes.

A Dirty Little Secret

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I recently came across a pamphlet titled “Do you have a gambling problem?” Certainly not I thought. However, a closer inspection of the symptoms made me realize I was not being very honest with myself. I don’t mind some low stakes poker and betting on who catches the first trout, or what year Picabo Street won Olympic Silver in the Downhill, but I will never take out a second mortgage to cover a loss.

So what’s my problem? Check out my symptoms and you tell me.

* Being preoccupied with skiing
* Increasing your skiing risks
* Trying to cut back on skiing without success
* Reducing the time you spend at work/with family because of skiing
* Reviewing past skiing experiences in your mind
* Constant daydreaming of that one big score

Based on the fact that my mother still waits for first chair by skating back and forth to warm her legs up, I would say that my problem is genetic so there may be no help for me.

Of course the Deer Valley Blog may not be the best place to get help. I doubt anyone reading this could find one thing wrong with that list. 11 days 12 hours 8 minutes and 50 seconds until we ski folks! I can’t wait to see you out there, and by the way – do you know what year the aforementioned silver medal was won? No cheating, Google to find out or guess in the comment section.

Heavy Lifting!

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Last Saturday I went to shoot a video about a helicopter that was removing the old Deer Crest chairlift. This job is a necessary first step before receiving the slightly larger towers that are being built for the new Mountaineer Express chairlift on Little Baldy Mountain at Deer Valley. Before I even left home, I saw a strange helicopter flying by the Wasatch Mountains. A few moments later, I was picked up at Snow Park Lodge by Chuck English, Deer Valley Resort’s Director of Mountain Operations.

On the way up to the lift, Chuck explained that Dopplemayr, the company supplying lifts to Deer Valley, had orchestrated a complex and precise operation to remove the eighteen towers assemblies that constituted the Deer Crest chairlift and bring them down to the bottom of the lift in less than two hours. He further explained that the helicopter used for the operation was a very expensive piece of equipment, costing around $4,000 per hour of flight time. I knew a few things about choppers, but not much about the special machine that came that morning. That one was used for hauling timber, moving lift towers around or even fighting fires.

The aircraft in question was a 1998 K-1200 made by Kaman Aerospace Corporation, powered by a 1,500 hp engine and owned by Timberline Helicopters, Inc. of Sandpoint, Idaho. This company is specialized in ski lift, power lines and pipelines construction, as well as logging among other diversified activities. This model, also called K-Max has two main intermeshing rotors but no tail rotor. Its two rotors turn in opposite directions, with each rotor mast mounted on the helicopter in a slight angle relative to the other and in such a way that the blades intermesh without colliding.

This original design is what allows the helicopter to function without the need for a tail rotor. This configuration is referred to as a synchropter. Such helicopters offer both high stability and powerful lifting capability, further they are more efficient, have a natural tendency to hover and are excellent for precision work in placing suspended loads. They’re also more responsive to the pilot’s control inputs, making it possible to easily and precisely swing a very heavy load; in fact, this flying crane can lift more than it own weight – 6,000 lbs – and while it burns an average of 85 gallons of fuel per hour during lift operations like this one, it remains the most efficient lift-to-fuel ratio of any helicopter in its class.

Like on fixed-wing aircraft, the lift of the helicopter rotating wings is produced by its reaction with the surrounding air. The denser the air, the greater the reaction. As the aircraft climbs in altitude, the air becomes less dense, so the amount of lift is reduced. This is because the atmospheric pressure acting on a given volume of air is reduced, allowing the air molecules to move further apart. At some point in a climb, up into a high mountain environment for instance, the lift produced by the thinning air is only enough to maintain the altitude, but no longer enough to climb. This constitutes the absolute ceiling for the aircraft.

The air density is not just a function of altitude though; the atmospheric pressure plays a role too; if the pressure is lower, the air is not as dense. Same effect with the temperature; as warm air expands, the air molecules move further apart, creating lighter air, but the reverse is also true as cooler air will create denser air conditions. Finally moisture influences lift as well; as the water content of the air increases, the air becomes less dense, decreasing performance. Increased relative humidity also contributes to that loss of lift.

To illustrate these physical facts, the working crew that day was telling us that while performing a similar work at 11,000 feet elevation at nearby Snowbird, earlier in the week, the weather was so hot and humid that the helicopter had a challenging time carrying some of its loads. At times and when the parts allows it certain elements like the sheave assemblies must be removed from the cross arm that sits on top of a chairlift tower and be replaced later on. In terms of lifting performance, the K-Max cargo hook capacity is rated at 6,000 lb at sea level. At 10,000 feet it’s about 5,163 lb and at 15,000 feet it falls significantly to 4,313 lb.

At the end of August, when the towers will have been manufactured, the helicopter will return to replace the new infrastructure of what will be the new “Mountaineer Express” chairlift. I hope I’ll get to be invited again to shoot the scene and focus on the wonderful choreography between some heavy hardware, a team of skilled craftsmen and a wonderful flying machine…