Gear Articles tagged ‘resorts’

Zen and the Art of Managing Powder Panic

By: JGW | December 30th, 2010
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Every region of the skiing world has its own particular form of this terrible ailment or morning malaise … a rapacious brooding that turns happy citizens into gorilla-chest-pounding, car-horn-honking, Ben-Hur-on-the-traverse fiends. This sanctimonious demon’s name: powder-induced panic. Let me elucidate a specific example …

Salt Lake City’s proximity to habit-forming ski terrain is, like almost anything during this merry-go-round around the Sun, both a boon and bane. Yes, friends, just like Peter Parker’s uncle once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” If you haven’t experienced how empowering 24 inches of Wasatch-density awesomeness can be, then maybe it’s time you took a trip.

But let’s not forget what Lord Acton said: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Salt Lake is within short driving distance of more than ten ski and riding resorts—and the greater-Wasatch-front sprawl boasts more than 2 million citizens. Consider the cumulated monster cloud of psychic anxiety that collects over this salty front each morning fresh snow has fallen … it’s like Ray’s incarnation of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man to the Nth degree. Seriously, people WILL lose their shit.

Allow me to offer some suggestions to help you harness this power (and be responsible) without letting it overcome you: Read More …

How to Drive (and Not to Drive) to the Ski Area During a Snowstorm

By: Kate Showalter | December 9th, 2010
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Driving 23 miles took us more than three hours.

Around 8 p.m. on a recent Friday night, CalTrans announced that, beginning 20 miles west of the top of Donner Pass, Calif., all vehicles needed traction tires and either chains or four-wheel/all-wheel drive. We were just three exits from the chain-up checkpoint when we drove into mayhem. Semis were lined up in the pullouts, and their drivers were chaining up. Installers dressed in bright yellow rain gear were, for a fee, helping car drivers get their chains on. Getting to the checkpoint took us an hour.

At the chain-up checkpoint, we exited the highway, and my husband put chains on our car’s front tires, and then he drove a few hundred yards and hopped back out to double-check that the chains were secure (an important step if you don’t want to leave your chains on the highway). Then a CalTrans worker waved us back onto the freeway. We didn’t get far before we were at a standstill again.

Yes, conditions were bad—an early season storm started as rain and turned to snow … and lots of it—but I’m certain we could have all moved through smoothly albeit slowly if drivers didn’t make so many boner moves. Read More …

The Ski Area Formerly Known as Elk Meadows Opens Next Week

By: Kate Showalter | December 6th, 2010
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Eagle Point - Formally known as Elk Meadows

Eagle Point - Formally known as Elk Meadows

Elk Meadows Resort, which has been closed for the past eight seasons, will reopen next week under new ownership and a new name. Now called Eagle Point, this small resort in the Tushar Mountains outside of Beaver, Utah, won’t have any snow-making or high-speed lifts, but it will have advanced and expert terrain that rivals most runs in the Wasatch, according to SAM Magazine. Read More …

Speeding on the Slopes Results in Jail Time? For Real?

By: Kate Showalter | September 23rd, 2010
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About a week ago, an acquaintance told me that Park City, the town in which Deer Valley and Park City ski resorts are located, had put a law on the books that makes speeding on the ski slopes a misdemeanor that could result in a fine or jail time. After doing some research, I’m fairly certain he got this bit of info from Teton Gravity Research.

The Sept. 13 TGR thread begins with DasBlunt posting an article published on Zeta Page about how those who ski too fast at Utah resorts could face jail time. Those on the TGR thread then go on to express their opinions about this policy—some for it, most against. A sample:

Ski patrollers are NOT traffic cops. What is “too fast”? Obviously, out of control is another thing altogether. This is GHEY. – axebiker

Not much is better than a good rant, especially when it happens to be one that gets you thinking about snow and stoked for the season. But reader beware. Read More …

Snowbird Must Have More Lobbyists

By: JGW | July 9th, 2010
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Remember our article about Alta’s recently hoped-for expansion plans?

Well, there have been some interesting ski-world developments here in the Mothership (an affectionate outsider’s term for our salty state, Utah).

Apparently local government wasn’t too keen on the idea of Alta (and Wasatch-neighbor Solitude Ski Resort) expanding into Salt Lake City’s watershed areas Read More …

Breaking News: Unknown Gathering at a Local Resort Sparks Interest

By: Kyle Marston | April 9th, 2010
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Anchorwoman Rita Reesekammer of BCDF-69 has just received breaking news from reporter Karl Bradshaw in the Beacon News chopper hovering above an unexplained scene at The Canyons ski and snowboard resort, Park City, Utah.

Rita: Karl, can you tell us what you see?

    Photo by Sean Kerrick Sullivan, Courtesy of The Canyons Resort

Photo by Sean Kerrick Sullivan, Courtesy of The Canyons Resort

Karl: There appears to be a crowd amassed around a large pond high up at the resort. The pond looks to be about 100-feet long and considering it is early spring, we can only assume that the water would cause major shrinkage and serious high-beams. The pilot is going to attempt to land near the site so I can get a closer look at this strange event. Read More …

Ditch the Resort Food Prices

By: Beth Lopez | March 12th, 2010
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kitchenIt’s not like die-hard skiers needed to adjust their resort spending habits due when the economy turned south—we were poor long before that. But sometimes, the lure of hot chili cheese fries and a cold beer is just too much to pass up. You’re cold, you’re wet, you want something warm in your stomach, and you crave a tasty beverage to wash it down.

So around here, we dedicate ourselves to innovatively sidestepping the $6.50 PBR tallboy (these exist in real life) and the $11 cheese fries available at the resort restaurant and bring some delicacies ourselves. On our menu? Deliciousness. Read More …

RECCO: Reflections on Avalanche Rescue

By: Daniel Boccia | March 10th, 2010
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RECCO jackets, RECCO pants, and RECCO boots provide another safety precaution for avalanche burialsAround noon on Tuesday, December 22, 2009, a pair of skiers triggered an avalanche that ran 20 meters flank-to-flank by 300 meters crown-to-toe on the Col de Mottets at France’s Valmorel ski area. The slide left one skier stuck waist deep in snow and his sister buried under 1.5 meters of hardened avalanche debris. Neither skier carried avalanche gear of any sort. Their father alerted ski patrol with a cell phone.

At first glance this scenario might sound like a recipe for a body recovery and easily could have been. But the incident ended up the first successful RECCO rescue recorded in the 2009-2010 winter season. The lucky victim was dug out within 20-30 minutes of burial and escaped with only a mild case of hypothermia. Read More …

The Big LePowSki

By: Rob de Luca | March 5th, 2010
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Jamey Parks makes you look like a gaper Saturday, February 27 marked the second annual Big LePowSki, and you missed it. You idiot.

$75 got you a Brighton  lift ticket, lunch, free demos and free instruction from pros like Andy Jacobsen, Kim Havell, Jamey Parks, Andrew McLean, and Jenn Berg.

Showing up late as usual, we dropped into Jamey and Andy’s advanced freeride clinic to pick up some cliff-dropping and steep skiing pointers. Read More …

Groomer’s Pick – Night in the Life of a Snowcat Operator Part II

By: Kyle Marston | March 4th, 2010
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Move out

Move out

We had hoped that a super-dump of lake-effect Utah powder would bless this experience, but that’s not how it goes tonight—no fresh, just overcast skies. Ty pokes a few buttons on the smart phone that’s connected to the entertainment system, and the cats roll out one-by-one to a soundtrack courtesy of the brothers Allman. Read More …

Groomer’s Pick: A Night in the Life of a Snowcat Operator Part I

By: Kyle Marston | March 3rd, 2010
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So what does it take to turn bumpy resort runs into smooth, white goodness reminiscent of sweet, buttery cake frosting? Before resort lifts can propel ski patrol up to deem the mountain “safe” and ready to open, key areas need to be groomed. It takes a specific machine, a snow cat, a confident person to operate it, and every available minute to achieve success. Read More …