Author Archives: Jill Adler

It’s Ski Hat Season

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Winter means ski hat season but darn if helmets have put a crimp in resort style. Maybe we shouldn’t sport acrylic (or wool or fleece) on the slopes but that doesn’t mean those fluffy ear coverings can’t radiate your steeze après and beyond.

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At this year’s SIA ski industry show in Denver, Colo., hats were front and center. Every soft-goods manufacturer had their own lid offerings.

There are the usual suspects- TurtleFur, Screamer, Smartwool- but I take pride in ‘discovering’ the little guys. First it was Nobis, then Pistil, and now Chaos. Chaos has blown up the last couple of years thanks to some well-placed branding and marketing. And super cute styles; especially from their World Beat collection. The inexpensive, fleece-lined acrylic knit hats in fun, muted colors are ideal for day or night in Park City or any other resort.

But with only one head, how can a girl possibly wear them all?


ski hat

Build Your Blog Conference Draws Hundreds

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This Build Your Blog conference has got my mind in a whirl. So many ideas, so many plans of action, so many questions. But where BlogHer14 confused and dismayed me, BYBC has set me on a distinguishable path. What do I do? First thing is to move off the free wordpress.com and find a paid hosting service (said this before but now I will do it); then start building my Pinterest boards, Facebook profiles, Instagram followers, etc. Apparently blogging is 20 percent content and 80 percent social media. Those who network like Rocky will make it. It’s time to step into the ring.

Brands embrace bloggers more than any other form of media and they look for ways to get products into our hands. I want to ask why: Why, after 20 years of journalistic integrity, is a blogger courted more arduously than a writer? Just because someone gives me something for free doesn’t mean they own me. Never has. Other bloggers I’ve spoken with say the same thing about their opinions. So why is blogging considered so differently?

I’m told that brands know bloggers have a personal connection with their audience that far surpasses anything you get with a print publication or a general interest website. People rarely pick up a magazine to read one particular author. They want to see photos and stories about their favorite subjects but it’s very one-sided. You really never know those in the editorial column. Blogging, on the other hand, is interactive. You get to know me and if you don’t like me you don’t even have to turn a page, you just don’t ‘click’. But those who do like what I have to say will read on, and know that if I like something, they will too. It’s akin to seeing a killer top on a friend; you want to know immediately where she got it. Whereas there isn’t that kind of excitement reading about it in a paper. The author writes in the voice and tone of the publication. The blogger uses her own voice.

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The hardest thing I have to deal with at this event is having that confidence in my voice. But my God, I see 12-year-olds sitting next to me in these lectures. KIDS are getting in on the action. The woman next to me does a family travel blog but she’s not very nice; could she be intimidated too? The two people behind me; one writes a fitness blog and the other will write a lifestyle blog shortly once she figures out the business end of it all. They’re more my speed – very open, super friendly and eager to connect and learn. I look forward to reading their blogs and they boost my confidence. There will definitely be many, many more bloggers to meet at this conference even though it’s only two days long. But two days is enough. Any more and my mind might explode.

Summit County Approves Vail’s Interconnect Gondola

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Park City is going to look like a gigantic construction zone if everybody gets their way this summer. First, there’s Deer Valley Resort’s plan to link Main Street to Silver Lake Village either with one gondola or two gondolas (one that would replace Silver Lake Express chairlift, and another that would scoot from Park City’s Old Town Transit Center to the top of Lucky Bill ski run). The gondola’s meant for those staying in DV’s mid-mountain homes and lodges. It would make it easier to dine and play on Main Street during their stay. The proposed transit would take 15 minutes and run 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.


Second, there’re Vail Resort’s multi-million dollar improvement plans for Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons Resort. Summit County has already OK’d the interconnect gondola that would link the two areas into one mega-resort. All VR needs is the green light from Park City municipal and they can go ahead with the eight-passenger bucket. There really isn’t anything legally that could get in the way. At issue now is how it’s going to look.

The gondola cars would be mostly silver-grey with a red stripe to match PCMR’s branding colors and the windows would be made of non-reflective grey glass. VR’s Blaise Carrig promises you would have a hard time seeing it from in town. The 18 lift towers will also be coated with non-reflective neutral paint. The gondola presentation is on the City Planning Commission meeting schedule for February 25 if you want to eaves drop.

You can expect closures of some of PCMR’s and DV’s signature biking and hiking trails this summer when the digging starts. Look to both resorts and Mountain trails Foundation to notify folks about reroutes and closures.

Ask PCSkiGal: Second Thoughts About Skiing Spring Break?

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Hi Jill,

I know you are a Park City woman and would greatly appreciate your advice if you can spare the time. We are planning a trip from NH out there on February 23rd to March 1 but are rethinking because of the lack of snow and warm weather. We can’t cancel our flights but probably our condo and so we’re thinking of going to Solitude or somewhere else in Little or Big Cottonwood. We have two boys 7 and 13 and I like the Club Solitude approach. I’d love your take or advice, Thanks,

Fanne

Hi Fanne,

Good to hear from you. You really never know what the snow will do a month from now. Yes, it’s very lame around here at present. Today it’s 50 degrees and summerlike. Monday we’re due for rain and snow and lows in the 20s. It’s also supposed to continue snowing through next weekend. And March is known to be extra snowy so we have our fingers crossed.
That said, there is next to nothing to do up Big Cottonwood Canyon (Solitude) if there’s no skiing. You could snowshoe at the Solitude Nordic Center but the snow is so compacted you could walk around in your boots without sinking. You might even be hiking in dirt by then. I’ve seen folks out rockclimbing this week in both LCC and BCC. If you are beginning skiers then you don’t need much to keep you entertained on the slopes but if the boys are advanced and want to rip around they might be bored if the conditions are anything like they are right now.


Photo by Ryan Freitas

Your family will have a much better vacation in Park City when there’s limited snow because there are so many other things to do – fat biking, tubing, ice skating, shopping, dining, bowling, alpine slide, ziplining, you could even be a cowboy for a day at the Blue Sky Ranch. Solitude will of course have BETTER snow than any of the Park City areas but right now that’s not saying much. Our bases are well below 100 inches.

If you have time to cancel I’d just watch the weather. There’s probably going to still be tons of availability in Solitude by the end of February. Park City not so much.

Hope that helps!

/ja

Snowbird Freeride Comp Gets Them Amped

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I’m going to give it to you straight. The skiing out here really doesn’t suck as much as you think it should. I’m not saying this because someone gave me a lift ticket or free hotel stay (and I still wouldn’t sugarcoat our ski conditions; I want your trust). I’m saying this because I had a hard time believing the news myself.

We’ve had record-breaking warm temps all week, zero new snow, and heavy traffic at the resorts. Park City Mountain Resort had half-hour lines on a Friday! In my mind, conditions were hardpack on the groomed and hacked-off bumps everywhere else, crispy/crunchies in the trees. When friends skied Canyons Resort last weekend and announced things were “surprisingly good with creamy, buttery groomers and…light, loose snow in north-facing bowls” I had to ski it for myself to believe it.

After three days of aborted attempts (I dashed to don my ski garb first thing in the morning only to find myself sitting behind my computer making excuses for why I wasn’t heading out), I finally rallied. I used the Subaru Freeskiing comp at Snowbird as my motivator.

Photo courtesy Mountain Sports Int’l

Utah’s Mountain Sports International (MSI) is producing the premiere big mountain comp for the 18th season in both North and South America. This is the first stop on the four-event tour. The next SFS event will be March 4 in Telluride, Colo. The champions in both snowboarding and skiing will be crowned at the finals in Big Sky, Mont., March 25.

I stopped into the Cliff, grabbed my media credential and scooted up the Peruvian Lift. The winds kicked up as I hovered over Anderson’s and it grew increasingly wild. I got off and traversed skiers left past the trees, following the wind blown. Untracked and foamy. Sweet, I thought. It was a mixture of flour and pine cones.

I stopped at the comp arena to snap a couple of photos and was nearly blown into the bystanders by the 60 mph winds. It was raging at 120 mph at the top of Silver Fox where the ladies of skiing and boarding lined up for their run. They braved the line (though many biffed) to emerge with the top 13 women that will move into the finals tomorrow (Sunday). The wind put the kibosh on the mens’ runs so off I went to scout the Gad 2 terrain. It was really the only lift left. The Tram, Peruvian, Little Cloud, Mineral; all done for the day thanks to the wind.

Photo courtesy Mountain Sports Int’l

I followed the snow into the trees to skier’s left of Gadzooks and, voile, it was winter again. The snow was soft and caressing. Not deep but any standards but pliable. Everything I sought northfacing felt the same. A smile crept into my day as the trees protected me and the snow from the whipping wind. I forgot everything but my turns. That’s what skiing does to me. The bumps were smallish and soft too until the shots off Gad Gully. Those moguls were huge and firm. I rode up again for more. Soon it was time to head down. There were some patches of hardpack as I worked my way from Gad 2 to the Tram dock but nothing as rough as I had imagined. I wanted more but threats of stronger winds the next day kept me from making plans. Besides, I needed to pack for Jackson. My Wyoming adventure was near.

Organizers decided to postpone the Saturday SFS finals because of more forecasted wind (that never materialized) and will run them today (Sunday) instead. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for sunny, clear skies and low wind. Competitors will be up above North Baldy to drop in at 10 a.m. You can tune in to watch the event live at www.subarufreerideseries.com.

UPDATE:

LCC local Grant Howard won over the judges and crowd finishing first in men’s ski. In men’s snowboarding semis/finals, it was Snowbird local Harrison Fitch, 19, and Jonathan Penfield who took the show. Fitch did a never-before-in-competition front side rodeo-7 that blew the crowd away.

Since women ski and snowboard competed on Friday, their finals were based on a combined score of the two days. The top three women maintained the points to podium. Ashley Bembenek from Crested Butte, skied a fast, solid line to maintain her first place semi results for the win but it was Freeride Series veteran Crystal Wright who had the “winning run of the day,” with a huge, bold straightline air at the bottom that earned a major Sickbird nomination. 

HOW IT PLAYED OUT

Women’s Snowboard

1. Audrey Hébert, 112.50

2. Erika Vikander, 110.17

3. Robyn Borneman, 109.33

 

Women’s Ski

1. Ashley Bembenek, 131.33

2. Kele Thorsen, 129.00

3. Alaina Huestis, 127.67

 

Men’s Snowboard

1. Jonathan Penfield, 67.33

2. Harrison Fitch, 66.33

3. Cooper Kahlenberg, 62.00

 

Men’s Ski

1. Grant Howard, 75.00

2. Lars Chickering-Ayers, 74.00

3. Andrew Pollard, 72.67

 

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