Earning my Pass

The week was a blur, Instructing 7 days in a row at Deer Valley. An average of 8 kids a day in the Intermediate level, and pulling in $270 in tips for the week. Snow was ok, any chance I could get I was in the powder.
8. Deer Valley*CH 12/27/09 (6) $0
9. Deer Valley*CH 12/28/09 (6) $60
10. Deer Valley*CH 12/29/09 (6) $60
11. Deer Valley*CH 12/30/09 (6) $40
12. Deer Valley*CH 12/31/09 (6) $40

Weak 4"

I had some free time and didn't feel like just sitting around at school so I found myself up at Deer Valley. They had just received some new snow. I think the valleys got more snow then up here. I was good enough to make everything soft again. Empire was opened so I skied some runs in the trees. I took one spill from a hidden rock. Ouch nasty gash in my skis. Need more snow.
7. Deer Valley (2)

Up in the Air

Hitting the slopes hard for the amount of time I have. Pow in trees. Found some rollers and jumps to get in the air and get use to it. Just enough powder to land some jumps and drops.
6. Alta (1.5)

Powder Puffs

Great day to break off from school and hit the slopes of DV. Snow was still good. Skied off in trees to get some powder. Hitting a few jumps and drops into powder. Great skiing but need more snow to cover some of the twigs and rocks.
5. Deer Valley (3)m

Warm up Run

Up to Alta for Maximus first time on ski for the season. Conditions were nice for a warm up run. Maximus just was just trying to get into it again. He did alright, playing the crash into me game. Some soft snow on the sides of the runs.
4. Alta (.5)m

Cold Battery

Rode up the chair 4 times. Cold in the temperatures in teens but a bit more bearable with some new snow. On the outskirts skied some fresh powder. A bit sketchy hitting some rocks under the snow. Made some good powder turns. The cold temperature killed my camera battery so I was cut short on footage.
3. Alta (1)

Frozen

What was I thinking? It was so cold up at Alta. Temperatures in the low teens. By the third time down my cheeks were numb and felt like frost bite was setting in. Not much snow. It was a ghost town with very few cars in the parking lot.
2. Alta (1)

November Drop

Still Need Snow

Where's the snow? Went up to Alta with Ava to get her going on skis again. She did great. We went down a couple of times on the mostly man made snow. Still need more snow.
1. Alta (1)

Half Closed

Still need more snow. Hike up a little on the closed side of Solitude before getting kicked off by the snow cat guy. Skiing on man made snow and a little fresh snow.
30. Solitude (5m.s 30m.h)

Point Park

Back to the point but I stopped short of my usual spot. Lehi is developing a area for who know what. I founds some quick drops that I didn't have to hike much for. Lots of little cliffs and drops kind of like a Terrain Park. Has one rollover crash. Fun spot to get some cool shots or rock skiing.
27. Point Park* (5m.s 30m.h)

Filler Up

Dawn was just breaking when I made my first run off of a small cliff. Last time I was here skiing the run was twice as long. They are filling in the area around the water tanks. Too bad, this place is a sweet ride for rock skiing. Skied a couple more cliffs. The last one was about a 6 foot drop or more, stayed on my feet and went ripping down. Draper Hole is my favorite find of the year.
28. Draper Hole* (15m.s 45m.h)

October Freeze

Foot of Powder, No base

It's defiantly winter up here. Foot of fresh powder with no base. Floating through the powder with the occasional hidden rock. Got out of there without a broken leg. Keep the snow coming.
27. Alta (10m.s 40m.h)

Coveting North Point

Point of the Mountain is probably the spot where I have rock skied the most. So I wander around looking for a different angle to shoot. Off the the north side is the construction zone, and it looked sweet. Some of the best spots for rock skiing are off limits...one day. Skied down the gully, great ride Point is always a classic.
26. Point (20m.s 40m.h)

Rocky Equipment Malfunction

Found a new spot to rock ski at the entrance to Parley's canyon. From a distance it look like a good spot to rock ski but when I got up to the face where I wanted to ski the rocks were bigger then I pictured. Steep and big rocks, not ideal for rock skiing. It was a challenge just getting up the slop. There was a skinny path of smaller rocks that I tried to stay on. I had to do lot of jump switches to get down the slope. Not too bad but it worked my leg pretty good. I had to ski the rest of the way down because my boot would not come out of binding. It was a little tricky getting past the thick bushes, then it was pushing and sliding down the rest of the way down to my car.
25. Parley's Canyon (20m.s 40m.h)

First Tracks of 2009-2010 Season

Finally skiing in real snow again. A little under a foot of powder but still a great ride down floating down in the new snow. I wasn't the only one enjoying the snow. Die hard everywhere on the mountain with a over 30 cars in the parking lot at Alta.
24. Alta (10m.s 40m.h)

Chino Hills Concrete

First snowfall in Utah yesterday and I am in California with 90º degree weather. I guess back in the 60's some guy out here wanted to bring skiing to California, so he poured a bunch of concrete down the mountain side. I guess was 60 years too late to ski here. I needed some of the plastic bristles they use to ski down on. Skiing on concrete just does not work very well. I had to push to get any momentum and once I did, getting an edge to turn was nearly impossible.
23. Chino Hills (5m.s 20m.h)


http://carboncanyonchronicle.blogspot.com/2009/02/year-round-skiiing-in-carbon-canyon.html

Dark September Skiing

Night Rock Pile

I was running out of opportunity for this week, so I went down to the rock pile in South Jordan after dark and took a couple of runs. First time skiing on my new rockskiing skis since my last pair had to be retired cause they are broken. Great new pair of rock skis. Cool feeling riding the rocks in the dark. Lighting from the near by parking lot gave me a little light.
22. S. Jordan, Rock Pile (5m.s 20m.h)

Broken & Dazed

Middle of the day walking up to my new favorite spot, Draper Hole. While I was setting up my video camera on it's tripod I got the boot. One of the higher up construction workers told me I had to leave. What a bummer. I wasn't ready to leave, so I looked around and did some hiking and found a rocky area with cliffs and white rocks. Not much of a slope, so after a couple runs left to ski a softer sandy area. Fun little slope. Last stop I decided to hit a tall straw wheat slope. Fast and hard to turn. Had a couple wipe outs, And finally after eight years of rock skiing I broke my skis. It's been a good run.
21. Draper Canyon 9/17/09 (20m.s 1h)

Morning Rock Pile

Quick fix skiing. Great little pile of rocks that makes of a few good turns down the rock pile. Great peble size with a little dust that kicks up.
20. S. Jordan, Rock Pile (.25s .5h)

Midvale Glow

Daylight was burning. Rollerbladed the Midvale trail with my skis in hand, hoped the fence to check out the old glowing hills of Midvale Utah. I guess they use to glow from when this area use to be a toxic waste dump. Once again it was glowing this time because of the full moon lighting up the hill side in the night. This was my first time night rockskiing. It wasn't very steep so I had aim straight down the hill side. Took three runs before heading back.
19. Midvale Glow (5m.s 20m.h)

August Rockskier

Sand Drops

From Ski all Year

From Ski all Year

Dropping into the Draper hole again. Great place for a fun four foot cliff with a soft landing and sand all the way down. It will be a sad day when they fill this place in.
18. Draper Hole (10m.s 45m.h)

Straight up, Devils Castle

From Ski all Year

From Ski all Year

From Ski all Year

What was I thinking. Hiked up for about an hour to get to the base of Devils Castle at Alta. It was a steep climb to the top of the apron. I made it too small glacer to try and ski it. Not much but I did it anyways. then I skied down the rocky area. It was ok. It was steep and I had to find my line down. Crashed into a log on my second time down. Skied the castle and first time I have skied snow in August.
17. Devils Castle, Alta (10m.s 2h.h)

Locked out, into the sticks

From Ski all Year

From Ski all Year

From Ski all Year

No Trespassing. Most of the places I want to ski are behind fences. Two dirt hills just begging to be skied but instead I ended up driving through the sticks of Herriman Hills till I found a short dirt hill in the woods.
16. Herman Hills (5m.s 30m.h)