The Wasatch slopes have claimed their first Utah avalanche victim of 2014/15.  A snowboarder was swept away yesterday after he and his buddy triggered a slide in Hells Canyon near Snowbasin Resort, accessed from the Mt Allen Tram gates.

Twenty-one-year old Blake Ford was found by Snowbasin’s ski patrol rescue dog an hour after the 1800-foot avalanche. He was apparently pushed through a narrow gully and buried under three feet of snow. Both men headed out of bounds without backcountry gear or beacons, into an area that has been known to claim lives. Not a smart move. Ever.

Utah mountains saw seven human-triggered slides yesterday alone as eager backcountry skiers skinned out on this bluebird powder day. However, the two feet of fresh powder on top of our thin snowpack has created some scary, slab avalanche conditions.

The beehive state averages about four avi-related fatalities a year and experts are begging folks to stay on lower-angle terrain for the next few days when they go out of bounds to avoid reaching that average.

Weather forecasters are predicting balmy temps in the 50s this weekend and next week with no winter weather in sight. Of course, that can change in an instant. Just take the time to check in with the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center hotline before choosing your route.

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.

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 18^th 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

 

Still no snow! It’s blue skies and white clouds over my house this morning. Sigh. I keep seeing the California forecasts and wondering why Utah has become the big hole in the weather donut. I couldn’t help shaking my head at the greeters at the base of the Cabriolet yesterday after spending a couple of hours on the hill. Canyons is not looking too good unless you want to spend all day in the terrain park.

I know what the marketing machine would like me to say. Of course I can highlight the positive, putting on the spin but that’s a PR person’s job. They’re paid to convince you that the skiing’s wonderful no matter what. Go ahead and spend your thousands of dollars on that once a year ski vacation. If it were me, I’d wait a bit longer to see where the storms wind up. Or least consider skiing over in the Cottonwoods until we get something more substantial in Park City. Face it, Folks. People are golfing and biking in Utah right now.

I’m not saying don’t book a trip to Utah. The weather is ideal. You couldn’t ask for better weather… if it was May. It’s warm; it’s sunny; lodging is cheaper; it’s a vacation, you’re getting away; and if you’re a beginning skier, the runs are well-groomed and empty. These are all terrific reasons to visit.

The scary thing is that it’s December, when thousands of people are supposed to show up to ski the runs and hills of Park City and there’s just not enough snow for everyone. Those were my thoughts as I rode that cabriolet. About two hours prior I was going up the people mover, then the gondola then Saddleback Express all to ski four groomed runs off Saddleback (and finish off through High Meadow- the bunny area). They were hoping to get Doc’s open this weekend but there are some mighty big dirt patches that would reveal themselves before the end of the day
if they did.

Tombstone was still roped off; same with anything over on the Conder side. The snow itself was soft. The warm temps had stirred the manmade that’s making up the groomers so that it felt more like spring skiing without the water content.

All this doom and gloom really isn’t a big deal if you have an Epic Pass (and you should!) like most of the people who live in Park City. You can take a couple of runs, practice a few things, feel good about getting outside and then you go home. However, if people are planning to purchase a ticket at the window and they’re an intermediate skier and above, my recommendation is to buy trip insurance and watch the storm system. $90 is an awful lot of money to throw away on four runs.

The good news is that there is snow forecasted for tonight. It’s not supposed to be more than a few inches but you can still be optimistic. I will be. Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley have a lot more open so I’ll try to get there this week and report back.