I can’t believe it’s almost over- ski season that is. I’m sitting here at the radio station (94.9 FM The Blaze in SLC) about to tell listeners to expect 80-degree weather tomorrow for the closing day at Alta, Brighton and Solitude. The Park City resorts shut down last weekend. Only Snowbird is left standing. It’s been an incredible ride that started on Halloween and didn’t wind down for me until yesterday. I spent three days shooting this week with three different photographers as they tried desperately to milk those last few powder days. Unfortunately, by Tuesday it was crap. Powder on frozen waves of snow crystals, softnening to mush but not soon enough to make the morning pleasureable.
The weather is supposed to take a turn on Monday and, who knows, we may have a few more powder days on the way. If not, that’s fine. I’ve got a new pair of K2 Cinch bindings coming. I’m slapping them on my new Head Jade snowboard and spending the rest of the season learning to do more than link turns on easy blues. The Bird closes May 31. There’s plenty of time! BTW, you can still get here and find some great skiing. Check out the Bird’s Web site (www.snowbird.com) for some amazing spring package deals.

Yo! It’s been ages since last I blogged; probably because I have yet to crawl out from under my pile o’ crap. After Sundance there was the SIA show in Vegas, the OR show in Salt Lake, my four-day stint at Snowbird U (go to OnTheSnow.com/news/utah and use the search tool to read all about it), a glorious weekender to Brianhead, another where I dove with sea lions in Cabo San Lucas and then, oh, I fired myself from Deer Valley. No more bending over to the man anymore!

After 15 years, I was so done with their nit-picky micro-management. Granted, DV produces a great product and one that guests should continue to be psyched about. But as for a cohesive, ski instructor team with depth, well, that will soon go the way of the dinosaurs if the supervisors keep it up.

They claim they’re cracking down on policy violators to keep the staff uniform and make their job easier but they do absolutely nothing to make an instructor’s job easier. My supervisors were making my life miserable; I hated going to“work”. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another- from the way you wore your suspenders to the form that wasn’t filled out properly to the time you called in your lunch break. Ugh.
With the amount of bitching taking place among most of the instructors you know it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better and the ski school client will be the loser in this game.
What a weird system- you hate your job, but unless you want the unemployment and recognition for your work, you have to get fired but if you get fired, your ego suffers and it may look bad to others.
I blew off my ego. Every day at DV was something else and another hour wasted in a supervisor’s office reiterating DV’s“policies and procedures” to me. I felt like a soldier in enemy camp trying to avoid land mines whenever I got near the supervisors. Not to mention that there isn’t a single supervisor that actually has a positive, nurturing attitude. Ski school had become a three-letter word- JOB.
But not to fear, I’ll show up somewhere else. If you’re in the market for a lesson, drop me a line. Both The Canyons and Alta are possibilities for next season. I’ve met with both supervisors (actually I started talking to the Canyons back in January).
Off to ski Alta. Pray for snow!

In case you’re wondering how the snow is in Utah right now, all I can say is you gotta ski it to believe it. Which makes my leaving home this weekend even that much more insane. But, no, I’m not crazy. I headed straight into the oncoming storm and landed my butt in Lake Tahoe just in time to catch their forecasted 10-foot dump. The storms have been hammering the Sierras on their way to my Rockies and we arrived on the South Shore yesterday as the clouds and snow rolled in.

After the 10-hour road-trip it felt comforting to relax in our in-room Jacuzzi at Caesar’s Tahoe before winning back our gas money at the craps table. This morning we hit Sierra-at-Tahoe for fresh tracks. Though the bigger known resorts often shut down due to wind, Sierra has that North-facing knack for shelter. You can always find good skiing there in a storm. We had a blast in the blizzard, skiing trees. My legs were worked after only a handful of runs. In Utah, our stuff is usually soft, pillowy and forgiving. You can float through it simply by rolling knees and ankles into the turn. In Tahoe, if you even try to relax, you’re catapulted over your ski tips or thrown on your butt by the density of what’s under foot. Sorry, Cali fans, your powder can’t compare to ours; I don’t care what you say.

Today reminded me of those days growing up skiing Mammoth and why I constantly screamed to be left inside to watch Speed Racer rather than feel the painful peck of hard snow crystals beating at my face in the storm. But this time I was out making powder turns behind Sierra’s Ski Patrol Director. Doug knew the goods and for a lesser-known resort, Sierra sure can hold its own! Tonight’s dinner of bacon-wrapped filet and brownie sundaes at True North in Northstar refueled us for tomorrow’s adventure into Northstar’s recently opened expert terrain.

I write again in time to tell you that the now stable avi conditions are about to pull a 180. My weather source, let’s call him Deep Snow, swears we may not see a sunny day until Jan. 10! The storms roll in tonight. You know those rains that are flooding L.A.? Well, we ‘re waiting…..

I’m into day five of Deer Valley teaching. WE NEED NEW SNOW!!!! the over-groomed groomers are close to shoing blue ice by 4 p.m. and all of DV’s snowblowing efforts go to hell by midday after thousands of skidders push the manmade off to the sides. Stick to off-piste when it gets raw like this. I have my fingers crossed that I can stop complaining by tomorrow night. Did I mention that the morning cordouroy is saweet till 10 a.m.?

Hope Santa brought you loads of fun toys you can play with this winter. I got a chiller pair of moon boots from DC shoes called the Chalet, a new alarm clock cause I can’t wake up for work- ever, and new, rad Obermeyer ski clothes. oh and I also got a job DJing part-time for The Blaze. Tune in on the weekends the next time you’re in Salt Lake : 94.9 FM. I’m Nikki Vann!