The football season is over

I borrowed the title for today's post from Hunter Thomson. On Sunday, April 20th Alta has closed. The ending of 2008/2009 ski season was celebrated by a traditional gathering on top of High Rustler. Many people were dressed in various costumes as if it was Halloween. The "treak-or-treaters" were swapping booze and joints, rather then candy. Leaving the party” meant skiing down. Those who decided to depart were hit by a rain of snowballs – another Alta tradition. The parking lot was taking over by a tail-gate party were more drinking, grilling and dancing went on late into the evening. Hotdog and cold beer made me feel nostalgic and I was wondering if some poor partier would be left sleeping on the High Rustler. As sad as it may be, closing of Alta is not the end of the ski season – there is plenty of backcountry skiing is left to do.

Besides Alta's shut down, I have another announcement for my readers: I have decided to stay in Salt Lake City and not go to California. This means that instead of being a “cool Californian” I am going to be a “weird Utahan”. I am still pondering on the details of the transition from “coolness” to “weirdness”. In the mean time, I have accepted a job with a local software company and as of today I am a regular working stiff all over again. I am going to reflect on my job search and the economy in my next post – the microwave just announced that dinner is ready.

Still Curving Turns

I haven’t been able to write in the last 10 days, but I am still in Salt Lake City and I am still skiing! In fact it was a powder day on Tuesday and Wednesday!

To my none-skiing readers, I am posting a glossary of technical ski terms:

Telemark skiing is a term used for skiing using the Telemark turn. It is also known as "free heel skiing." Unlike alpine skiing equipment, the skis used for telemarking have a binding that only connects the boot to the ski at the toes, just as in cross-country skiing. Telemark turns are led with the heel flat on the outside ski (the downhill ski at the end of the turn), while the inside (uphill) ski is pulled beneath the skier's body with a flexed knee and raised heel.

Backcountry Skiing is skiing in a sparsely inhabited rural region over ungroomed and unmarked slopes or pistes including skiing in unmarked or unpatrolled areas outside of ski resort's boundaries, frequently amongst trees ("glade skiing"), usually in pursuit of fresh fallen snow, known as powder. More importantly, the land and the snow pack are not monitored, patrolled, or maintained. Fixed mechanical means of ascent such as ski lifts are typically not present, but may be used to gain initial altitude. Backcountry skiing, ski touring or ski mountaineering can involve single or multi-day trips through snow camping or the use of mountain huts where available. Backcountry skiing can be highly dangerous due to avalanche danger, exhaustion & mountain weather. Other hazards include cliffs, rock fall and tree wells.

Powder is a fresh snow that is both dry and light. For most skiers, skiing in powder is the ultimate experience on the slopes.

I will write more in the next few days. (It's not me on the picture, but perhaps I could look like that in the near future...)

Powder Skiing in April

In the last two weeks there was almost a daily snowfall in the Little Cottonwood Canyon. The conditions were either perfect or nearly perfect, which gave me enough time to hone the tele-turn in the waste deep snow. My powder skiing skills went from “better”, to “I am too tired", to “my quads are burning and I can’t ski anymore”. On Sunday my friend Bill Tatton ripped down the Devil’s Castle (curving a text book tele-turns) and made the “Picture of day” on Alta’s Web Site. I was skiing right behind him, but didn’t make the cut. Bill has lived in Utah for almost 20 years and skied here even longer. I am guessing that fame is based on seniority and my picture could be going up on Alta's site some time in the next 20 years, if I stick around.