Author Archives: Jill Adler

Current Utah Ski Conditions

Cold, snow, hot, melt. It’s a vicious cycle and it just won’t seem to quit. After a week of highs last week a storm rolled in and covered the crusty, rotten snow. I didn’t ski until Friday. I’m not ready for spring skiing just yet. Unfortunately, the Park City side needed a lot more snow than they got so we headed to Big Cottonwood. Brighton skied like butter in most places when I finally went out. There were still scratchy patches on southfacing slopes but overall it was a welcome relief to spring conditions. Another foot fell by Saturday morning bringing totals to about 20 inches in the Cottonwoods and turning everything creamy. The winds buffered the slopes preventing us from experiencing that infamous blower snow. The warmer grapple that fell in the morning created a consistency more like kicking it in a sandbox than surfing whipped cream. Once it was tracked out you had to work for your turns rather than finding that hero experience. Still, it was winter. At Alta on Saturday we found untracked off Supreme in the Catherine’s area as well as in Eagle’s Nest. It was rougher under Collins Lift where winds beat the freshies into submission. Sorry, Folks, I haven’t seen Devils Castle open all season but you can bet I was drooling for it.

Sunday in Park City brought 50-degree temps and spring conditions again at the base. The top was still winter. Snowbird was the ‘it’ resort on Sunday as several areas that were closed due to the heavy snow and avalanche hazard, reopened.  The tram line was ridiculous so it made sense to scoot to Gadzoom to start the day. Snow fell in the evening but it was partly sunny and warm this morning which equates to me staying home to write!

A storm is approaching from the west that’s promising snow showers behind a cold front tonight through tomorrow. Then it clears and warms before another cold front this Thursday. Fingers crossed it brings at least a foot to cover the melting snow. 

Ask Jill: Which Park City Resort?

Hi Jill,

My family and I will be coming to Park City in a couple of weeks. Any tips on where to stay? I have 3 kids so need a two- bedroom that we can walk to the slopes from. My kids are 10,9,4 years and are starting out. The older boys have skied but will need lessons and I will take them out in the afternoons. My daughter ( 4 years) will be on skis for the first time. I need black slopes with moguls ideally. Where should we stay and ski. I know you work at Canyons; my wife would like Deer Valley. I was planning PCMR. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Ajit

LOL. The good news is that the three resorts are close enough that you can try them all! I’d say for beginning kids you would want- and need- to start at Park City Mountain Resort. Deer Valley has a great ski school but the green terrain is limited. You’re either on the lower bunny hill (Wide West) or skiing a cattrack/road. DV is known for intermediate groomed skiing and killer food. Canyons is basically the same- a flat hill with a magic carpet, one beginner chair/hill (with one wide run) and then a HUGE transition to the next level; which means your kids will spend a ton of time on High Meadow before they’ll see any of the rest of the mountain. PCMR rocks for beginners. Tons of greens all over the mountain and their kids instructors are there because they like teaching kids rather than because it’s their first year in America.

Ski school group lessons run about $200+/day per kid. I’d recommend getting a private instructor the first day for all three. Have the instructor get the boys going and while they’re doing laps, the teacher can work with the four- year-old individually and show you how to ski with her so you can take her out for a bit each day and save $$. After the first day, do a group lesson and don’t be afraid to split the kids up. Often one will learn faster than the other. They’ll do better if they are with kids their own level. It’s cheaper than a half-day private to sign them up for a group lesson and arrange to meet them at lunch or after if you want to ski with them.


I would recommend two or three days at PCMR and then surprise your wife with her DV day. Make reservations for lunch at Royal Street at Silver Lake Lodge. It’s basically the same food and prices as their cafeteria next-door but without the desperate plea for a table and the long wait in line for a burger. You have to get the homemade ice cream sandwich for dessert!

The best black diamonds are at Canyons- steeps, long vertical, easy access. They do have bump runs but the best moguls seem to pile up at PCMR. After you’ve beat up your knees, you’ll love that DV break. If you do go to Canyons, take an Advanced Mountain Experience ($184). It’s an all-day group of no more than 4 skiers that’s more like a steeps clinic than a lesson and it often winds up as a private for expert skiers because, well, there aren’t that many experts who sign up (even though they should). It’s a great, inexpensive way to learn the ins and outs of the mountain while getting pointers that up your game. Plus, if you hate skiing alone like me it’s an awesome option.

As far as lodging, DV has the biggest selection of slopeside condos. Even if you stay at Canyons you’ll still be trudging through the Plaza in ski boots. There are some cool accommodations on the north side of PCMR at Silver Star. Check with Resorts West, VRBO and Flipkey to see what’s out there.

Let me know if I can help with anything else!

Deer Valley Aims For The World(s)

Photos by Jill Adler


Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, is making a bid for the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Championships. The posh resort hosted the Championships in 2003 and 2011, and, if they get the 2019 event, they’ll earn the bragging right of being the venue of choice every eight years.

“I think it’d be huge,” Deer Valley president and general manager Bob Wheaton told the Park Record newspaper. “So far we’ve done World Cups every year, the 2002 Olympics, the 2003 and 2011 World Championships – the support is town-wide. It’s the atmosphere that everybody in town brings to the event.”


In the meantime, DV will walk the talk this March 28-30, 2014, by hosting the 2014 U.S. Freestyle Championships, again. Actually, the Championship moguls and dual moguls were at DV in 2008. Aerials took place at the Utah Olympic Park and the superpipe at Park City Mountain Resort. This year’s event was supposed to be at Heavenly Resort for the second year in a row but the dearth of snow in the Tahoe region prompted the move to Utah.

Two-time Olympians Ashley Caldwell (aerials) and Pat Deneen (moguls), and 2014 Olympian Bradley Wilson (moguls) are expected to be among those vying for the U.S. title in the final freestyle event of the season.

Deer Valley will make the bid for the World Championships when the FIS (International Ski Federation) meets in Barcelona, Spain, at the end of May.

Vysera Kisses My Ass Goodbye

It’s weird to have your boyfriend complain about your weight…When you’ve lost it. He says that I dieted my ass off. Literally. He can go to hell. Or better, he can lose weight too then talk to me about it.

I’m super psyched on the skinny me and I’m not about to let him rain on my parade. And I’m sure my butt will look just fine once I get jeans that fit. Seriously, who would have thought I’d have this problem where none of my designer jeans fit right. My True Religions, my James Jeans, even my favorite Joes Jeans. They’re fitting like lounge pants. However, I’ve been afraid to buy anything new. I don’t trust the pounds won’t come back. Sure, three months after my Vysera experiment I’m not only skinny but skinnier. I have lost an additional five pounds. My arms are thinner, I’ve lost five percent body fat, my thighs don’t touch. I’m amazed. But will it last long enough to re-tool the wardrobe? Like Ryan missing my ass, I’m missing my jeans on my ass. On the bright side, Ryan appreciates my leaner tummy.

I didn’t actually need to lose weight. Basic Research in West Valley, Utah, wanted a few test subjects to spend 30 days on a carb-blocking supplement called Vysera and they threw in a personal trainer and a nutritionist. The idea that I could be my college weight again if only for a few weeks was the carrot that spurred the 8-pound drop.

There have been only three times in my life when I weighed nearly 112. In high school I weighed 108. In college, I fed my emotional pain with dorm fries and milk shakes after breaking both my leg and thumb during the ski season, ballooned to 125 and dropped 15 the month after my casts came off. In grad school, I took a job serving cocktails at The Cheesecake Factory in Marina Del Rey (the most awesome job in the world btw) and quit after regularly stuffing on cheesecake and nachos. I was back to 120. A month of weight training later, I was 112. Slowly, though, I moved to the mountains, lived a full life as a ski bum, became a mother; suffered a bout with cancer and chemo and eventually settled in at 123-125 depending on the day. I figured that was my meant-to-be weight. No matter what I ate it hovered there. Ryan would tease that I ‘could stand to lose a few’ because of the infamous baby belly but it didn’t bother me. He was right.

Then came the Vysera challenge. I went to bed starving every night and I went from 125 to 117 in 30 days. The only thing that kept me on the straight and narrow was knowing that in four weeks I’d be back to eating PF Chang’s and Cheesecake Factory. Funny, I’ve only eaten at Chang’s once since December.

The strict diet of fruits, veggies and protein not only overhauled my kitchen but my tastebuds. I’m into ‘portion control’ as well. I get one serving and don’t go back for seconds. I tend to grab an apple instead of a brownie for dessert. Weightloss was inevitable considering I stopped eating pasta, rice, potatoes and McDonald’s. The more impressive aspect is that not only did I keep the weight off but lost four more pounds after the ‘diet’ and the supplement officially ended.

Did the Vysera work or was it all the other stuff? I can’t say for sure. My trainer can. He says that the women he trains who don’t take the pill only lose half of what I did. Not to mention that my diet was right over the freakin Christmas holidays and I still lost weight. Each week I was 2 pounds lighter and leaner. I’d like to think it was the supplement too because it’s depressing to think I had the power to change inside me all these years and was just lazy.

The goal now is to rock the gym and keep everything slim and tight at least until my Disney cruise in May. I’m going to leave the tankini home and wear a bikini. OMG I haven’t done that since Sage was born. Without the Vysera I never would have been inspired to go for it so I guess in a way the twice a day pill DID help me lose weight. If only the project came with money for new jeans. Just saying.

To Rent Or Not To Rent …That is the Ski Question

Skiers and boarders often make excuses why NOT to rent skis when they go on vacation. You trust yours. The rental shop won’t have the quality or length you expect. You hate standing in line on your first day out. You paid good money for your skis and you want your money’s worth back. But if you plan ahead those reasons are moot.

Call around and you can find your perfect pair at a price that might outweigh the cost of shipping or checking your old sticks. Let’s face it. If you’re hauling around a 10+-year-old pair of skis, go ahead and let the airline lose them. Even this year’s low-end rentals outperform those clunkers.

rent skis

Yeah, $50 a day for demo skis may sound steep – it is! But you can get by with “sport skis” for $30 right? What about $40 a day if it meant your kids’ rentals were free and you got a free lunch? With Rentskis.com you can do just that. At first I thought I wouldn’t write about this. After all, it sounds like I’m advertising for them. But as a ski instructor, I see hundreds of rentals go out every day. Wouldn’t you want to know if you could get some extras thrown in? I would.

Most rental shops let you swap out and try a variety of skis while you rent from them; you can leave them for free overnight storage during your stay; keep them waxed and tuned every day. Rentskis.com sweetens the pot by offering free delivery (no standing in line at 8 a.m.), free kids rentals and $15 lunch vouchers at Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, and Breckenridge in Colorado; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in Tahoe region; Canyons here in Utah.

The next time you plan that ski vacation make sure you do a bit a of research to see what you’ll save by renting your gear.

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