Jessie Martin plays with Izzy the avalanche dog in Silver Lake First Aid
Sue Anderson plays with two of the avalanche dogs in the Flagstaff patrol shack
Le Vine skis Keno on Bald Mountain
For those of us who’ve only known fluffy, powdery snow, this early season may bring a different experience, and while our snow-makers and groomers have worked wonders all over Deer Valley Resort, it may be difficult to fully experience these brand new “rocker skis” that some us got from Santa, until heaven dumps its next supply of bottomless powder. For one, I’m far from complaining. I’ve been more than twenty times on my skis this season and on each occasion; my actual experience has exceeded my expectations.
The added benefit of this year’s capricious weather is that the harder ski surface has forced me to pay greater attention to my technique and to the tuning of my equipment. It’s absolutely true that skiing in Utah makes all of us a little bit lazy and complacent. We lean or bank into a turn and that’s generally what it takes. Our minimalist technique often provokes sarcasm from Eastern skiers that sometimes don’t mince their words and will go as far as saying that Utahans can’t ski. Granted, New England skiers are generally speaking better technicians, as most of them have learned to get a good grip on ice and make all of the right moves that a hard snow-pack requires. In the West and particularly in the Rockies where blue ice doesn’t even exist, our compacted powder is often called “ice,” and most of us have little idea about the hard-facts of hard-snow.
Perhaps this particular moment is another great opportunity to make sure our equipment is in tip-top shape, with skis tuned right for these more exacting conditions, boots fit snugly, custom insoles updated and buckles shut tight so there is nothing that can flop around or is left to chance. Nothing that a qualified ski shop technician couldn’t do for us. From a skier’s standpoint, we’re still building up our skiing legs in this early part of the season and are often the product of a those bad habits picked here and there, all these years on our legendary bottomless powder.
Now is the perfect opportunity to spend some time learning, or reviewing, the hard facts about super solid snow. Learning what “keeping an edge” means, getting familiar with what “chattering skis” mean and what can be done about it, learning how to be brief, quick and finally getting the upper hand on that gentler cousin of “ice” that is Utah hard snow. After all, a visit to the Deer Valley Ski School might be an excellent idea to review all these important basic elements…
That’s right, a good refresher course might be all what’s needed, because as we all know, great skiers don’t need to be told, they just have to be reminded, from time to time. I for one, have decided to focus all of my skiing efforts to becoming a real ace on our gentler version of “ice.” But don’t delay; do it now before the next snow fall spoils all these great plans!
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.
First, and as I’ve also said before, the longer rocker design won’t fit my car ski-box! The other part of my dilemma is that I have fallen in love with Deer Valley’s tree skiing and not just its nicely gladed runs, but the more challenging, tight turning skiing like the one found in Centennial trees. Rocker skis are a bit longer than regular boards, and when the turning radius gets tighter, every extra inch that stick in the front or in the back might be just enough to grab the next spruce or aspen that happens to be in the way.Aside from following religiously the long-term weather forecast, understanding the intricacies of El Niño and La Niña, looking up in the sky at all time or observing the flights of Canadian geese headed towards Mexico, it’s extremely hard to get a good indication as to when winter will arrive for good.
In fact, my prediction tools are much more rudimentary. When I must rake leaves and clean up the garden all weekend long, this constitutes a serious indicator that the season is about to change and that it’s time to hurry a bit. Another related sign of winter’s imminent arrival is when our living room bay window begins to let some mountain features in, as the leaves that hug the panes start to turn yellow and thin out.
These keen observations fail to tell me with any certainty about the date at which the first serious snow of the season will make it to Park City. This fixation of mine on a certain snow date is tied to a family ritual we used to have and that perked up passions, when our children were younger and still at home with us.
Each Fall season, we’d have a contest that would reward the family member able to predict, or get the closest to the date when winter snow would finally arrive and stay on the ground. As far as I can remember, no one ever landed the exact day, no one tied for the big prize and the winner always got sufficiently close to the date without any need for argument or further contest.
This will be our twenty-seventh winter in Park City and, so far, snow has never let us down. Therefore it’s not a matter of if, but just when it will fall. Besides, there’s always Deer Valley Resort’s prodigious snow making capacity as a back-up plan, but again, I absolutely don’t worry about lacking snow…
So this year, with only two participants, we decided to keep the friendly betting process alive. My wife said snow would come “early” November (vague enough for comfort, right? Her own definition of “early” runs from the first to the tenth of the month) while I set my prediction right on November 22nd. We’ll see when the flakes land and who will have to shovel first!
It’s that time of year again. The weather is beautiful but the feel of winter is fast approaching especially first thing in the morning when it’s in the 30’s. We’ll be on the slopes sooner than we know. I love this time of year because the air is so crisp, ski swap signs are all over, we’ve gotten an early snow fall meaning the season is just around the corner.
As I think about “It’s My Deer Valley” there are a few different scenarios. I can break down my skiing days in three ways:
Each way skis differently. Here’s how:
1. If it’s a family ski day, which I’m afraid will happen more rarely as I have lost my two young boys to ski race training (hmmm must be in their blood.) But when family ski days happen, they usually go something like this. The night before I mention we might have breakfast at Snow Park Lodge. This is a bribe in order to have them get to bed on time. Stefan automatically pipes up, “can I have my favorite baguette with jelly and jam”? In the morning I ‘m making sure Lucas is getting dressed and not procrastinating. Stefan meanwhile is outside boots on ready to go. We get to Deer Valley and the boys ask to be dropped off at the Skier drop off while I park the car. (Still not sure if this is just my kid’s not wanting to be seen with their mom or if they are just lazy and don’t want to walk from the car.)
After breakfast we load Carpenter Express chairlift. Without fail one of them asks “how many runs before we can have lunch?” Ugh! We drop into Silver Lake at mid mountain and ski down to the Wasatch Express chairlift. It’s usually about 10-10:30 a.m. Yes, I agree, it’s late but with two kids in tow I’m trying to keep harmony. After a few runs on Bald Mountain the brothers decide it’s time for Nastar racing. We stay here for a bit trying to improve each run time and also asking “mom, if I’m faster next run can we have lunch?” another ugh!!
I tell them they are skiing too fast because we’ve only been skiing for an hour. We then adventure over to Empire Canyon, heading there through unmarked area’s like Bucky’s Backyard, Toilet Bowl and X-Files. Remember skiing with kids you need to keep it fun. So after a few hikes across the Daly Chutes into X-files trees, then it’s lunch time!
Once we are in our lunch coma of Panini’s, pasta and fries we start to make our way back to Snow Park. But the rule is to ski as much off piste and jumps as possible. We make our way to the end of the ski area boundary even though; we are trying to make our way back to the base. We grab Lady Morgan chairlift and ski Centennial Trees, then it’s back up Lady Morgan and ski to Ruby chairlift. We race to Ruby’s glade and caution as we merge onto Hawkeye. Load onto Northside Express and ski around into Ontario Bowl. Sometimes this is worthy of 2 laps. It depends on the boy’s excitement and energy. Then onto Judge chairlift to ski towards to Crown Point chairlift. At the top of Crown Point our chosen route is Kimberly ski run where right past the bridge is the boys favorite jump. By now their legs are tired and we ski down Big Stick to the lodge. Our day is done.
2. Another way I show off “My Deer Valley” is with clients. I usually meet the client at their hotel or the Snow Park Lobby. I’m starting my 15th year at Deer Valley so many of my clients are returning guests and I already know what type of skiing they are looking for. (As always it depends and the weather and conditions.) They know already they have a full day of skiing ahead of them. I joke that we are going to ski hard and no lunch break. What would skiing be like if you didn’t have lunch at Deer Valley? Certainly not the true experience! The clients usually already have an idea where they would like to eat for lunch. We talk about goals they want to achieve for the day and map out our lines and away we go!
3. The third type of Deer Valley ski day for me is a press/corporate tour day. It starts out much like the client day but usually with a scheduled breakfast. These days I ski the mountain but usually circulate around to make sure I ski with each person (these groups tend to be bigger and provide the desired terrain they are looking for. In between all our turns we usually lunch it at Royal Street Café or wherever the company may plan to meet back together. My goal is to make sure a good time is had by all and when they say they are tired to ski the entire afternoon I break into a little smile. My job is done!
We caught up with John Guay, Deer Valley’s director of skier services Director, to see what the current winter like weather means for his ski season. 
I love summer and my summer sports but I’m always ready for snow and am always excited to ski. I have a new pair of Rossignol Experience 88 skis with the Auto Turn Rocker technology ready to go. If you haven’t skied a rocker ski you are missing out. The Experience 88’s has early rise in the tip and tail which make them easy to steer and super friendly in the bumps and powder. What’s really cool is that they still have plenty of side cut so when you tip them up on groomers the whole ski engages for a great carving ski.
The weather is rapidly changing and we are busy getting ready for the winter season in Skier Services. We are always looking for ways to improve our services and this year is no exception. I thought I would share a few of our big projects.
First, we are very excited about our four new surface lifts for our first-time and beginner skiers. We have had a surface lift at Snow Park and one at Silver Lake for many years, but this season, we are replacing them with new SunKid conveyor lifts and are adding two additional conveyors at Snow Park. The result will be an entirely new design to our beginner run, Wide West. Skiers will now access the Snowflake chairlift side of Wide West by three of these new conveyors. The base of Snowflake lift is now midway up the run. The result is that our first-time and beginner skiers will have more terrain accessible by surface lifts and will spend more time developing their skills before they learn to ride chairlifts. This is especially important for our young children in ski school
Another fun new project is our new Kid’s Trail Map. We have eight on-mountain children’s features that are associated with our Ski School mascots – Bucky the deer, Quincy the bear, Ruby the raccoon and Silver the eagle. The Kid’s Trail Map incorporates the story of our mascots and shows the locations of the features on our mountain. The map also focuses on the Skiers Responsibility Code, as well some fun facts on our mining history and mascots. It will be easy to read and a wonderful keepsake for kids to take home.
Last, but not least, the Children’s Center also has big news! We are pleased to announce a new year-round outdoor playground. It is located on the northeast corner of Snow Park Lodge and is securely accessible directly from the Children’s Center. We redesigned the Children’s Center parking lot and space along the front of the lodge to accommodate the playground.
Can’t wait to see you on the slopes!
We had the first snow this morning! 
My kids were off the wall with excitement. Little Guy even penned a song: “It’s snowing in the morning! It’s snowing in the morning! It’s snowing in the morning! I can’t wait to play! Because I love to play in the snow!”I tried to capture it on video tape, but by the time I got to the camera app on my iPhone, it had devolved into this….
Big guy asked me to grab his snow gear for school—and attempted to make a strong argument for snow pants. Mind you, it was barely a flurry at our house, and nothing was sticking to the ground. Though, in a few days, it’s supposed to look like this.
I had already surprised myself by finding his jacket, hat and a serviceable pair of gloves in the downstairs closet. Finding snow pants that fit? Probably pushing it. Little guy’s jacket, too, was hiding in plain sight, and a pair of fleece mittens plus a hat were tucked in the appropriate pockets in the handy shoe organizer where I keep such items.
Still, the whole exercise filled me with a slight sense of panic. I need to buy new boots for Big Guy, and check the fit of Little Guy’s last year’s boots. And with the flakes flying, these errands that were lurking in a back compartment of my brain suddenly took on a sense of urgency. The good news is, there’s a new kids’ gear store at Deer Valley—one where I can replace the lost gloves, beef up my collection of kid-sized base layers, and seek out new snowpants for big guy that will stay the course for his little brother, too. I’m actually excited to shop—in part because there is a new kids’ gear store opening at Deer Valley, called Next Gen, located in the lower level of Snow Park Lodge, where the now-shuttered Kindersport once operated. I’m looking forward to finding some new-favorite brands, and scoring deals on my old standbys. It’s opening December 3, so I’ll report back after I’ve had the chance to shop!
If the snow has you thinking about ski season, don’t panic. You can still purchase your Deer Valley Season Pass at the early season rate until October 31!
September is a perfect month for conditioning the body and the mind in preparation to a brand-new ski season. I won’t discuss today a physical training program but will instead focus on the many goals I have begin to set, back in April, when I reluctantly said goodbye to a record-breaking snow year and some incredible skiing.
Hard to believe it, but five month ago, I was already planning, plotting and anticipating what my next ski season would be like. I must say that 2010/2011 provided me with more creative ways to ski from point A to point B. True, that past winter became one of the most interesting one for me, since I moved to Utah, 26 years ago. To break-up with routine in my skiing, I decided to launch an all-out exploration of Deer Valley Resort, including its most obscure nooks and crannies, deliberately venturing out of the beaten path, whether it would be smooth corduroy-groomed runs, bumps or even wide-open deep-powder slopes. I began looking for the gnarly side of the terrain, regularly sampling Daly Chutes, Triangle Trees and Centennial Trees.
What motivated that urge for exploration was my new toy, a helmet-mounted video cam that documented almost each one of my turns and each tree that stood in my way. Most of that experimentation was done solo and just seeing two gloved hands holding poles plus a pair of ski tip upfront made for a rather boring movie to watch. So next year, I plan to add real people to my films. From friends to family, to visitors to Deer Valley, dedicated Ski Patrol members all the way to Ski School staff.
All of them will help give texture and depth to my action movies and make sharing that experience in motion much more interesting. You’ll be able to get a front row seat to what happens on skis, with great people, fantastic snow, exciting speed and wonderful scenery! I’m already plotting my scenes, planning the shots and anticipating a triple dose of fun; first when I shoot the movie, while I edit it and finally the day the finished video is shared with all of you!
So this coming season expect to get close and personal with all Daly Chutes, discover more of “Triangle Trees”, get to know Ontario Bowl inside-out, inventory the trees of Sunset Glade, explore new paths into Centennial Trees and expand your knowledge of Lady Morgan Bowl with its secret trails and surprising exits; I’ll do my very best to documenting and memorializing each special clump of trees that hides the key to a smooth and uninterrupted meandering through the forest…
Now that I have shared my plan with you, we obviously need to worry about getting in shape, but most importantly it’s time to begin planning the entire experience. Depending on where you live, this could involve making some lodging reservations, checking-out the ski school program for the season, and purchasing ski passes and day tickets while space is still available and any special offers are still open for the taking!
