We’ve had a ton of snow fall this week in Utah. Last Wed, the end of March, got a dump that yielded a great early April ride on the second of the month. I was reluctant getting out so soon after a dump as I mostly sleep in on powder days anymore with family and the business keeping me so busy. I pick and choose my ride days very carefully but probably get more perfect bluebird’s than the powder hound gets powder days during a season. It was still snowing Thursday afternoon into the evening but I went for it anyways on Friday. The traffic was minimal early as it seems to be even a day or two after a dump. I gave Judy a jingle on the way up and she’d already arrived at Park City Mountain Resort. I parked on the snow-covered tarmac without any apparent stalls and rushed to meet my friend at the Crescent lift. A quick hello and handshake to Greg McCormick and Martin Drayton, the two premier Snowboard instructors on the hill,was all I had time for before getting on the lift for some Groom Quest. Any lift ride with Judy is never boring as she’s a pretty smart cookie working as a PA with a local Urologist. We got off of the lift and bombed it toward the Silverload lift for some wide open runs on the prospector face. We were pretty much first chair and so crossing any lines was pretty out of the question. This was my first powder day of the season and it sure didn’t disappoint. We scoped out Prospector run on the way up Silverload and it really looked good. I was on a 163 F2 Speedster SL World Cup and thought that I might have chosen the wrong tool for the day. My doubts in my gear choice vanished quickly on our first run down the tough blue. The flat approach was awesome as an alpine board sinks into the Pow and is like a Submarine just below the surface of water with just enough agitation of the fluffy dry snow over the top of the nose that I knew it was there, about 6-8 inches on top of some first shift groom. Descending onto Prospector run, I first tried to sew up some short radius turns down the face. The nose buried itself in no-time and the board recambered and arrowed and my boots disengaged the edges easily and without effort. I immediately opened my radius up into the sub 20 meter range and things began to come together. You might still think that I was on the wrong tool for the day but oh Nellie. With a bigger radius and probably 35-40 mph of speed, the board floated very nicely in transition and sank optimally into the first generation groom on edge. I sensed rooster tales and poofy clouds of snow behind me and indeed the feedback from Judy indicated just that; a cloud of snow and not much Dave to be seen. If you could have seen me though, you might have noticed a shit eating grin from ear to ear and may have actually heard some signature powder hoots of extacy. One run was definitely not enough and we even ditched some people with the unwritten rule of “no friends on Powder Days” I’ve never had a better non-groomer day on hardboots in my life.
As we made our way towards the base and subsequently into later shift grooming on snow that had already been in the sun for a few hours, we were pleasantly surprised at how the new snow had set up for some hardcore carving. Maybe it was just the versatility of the stick I was on but I was actually having my cake and eating it too. After a ton of runs, Judy made her way out and I went for one more down Payday. My legs literally turned to jelly halfway through and I had nothing left but adrenaline to keep linking turns. What a day. I talk all the time of moving to a different resort and exploring around Utah for some different terrain but man, after 12 seasons of absolute carving euphoria at Park City Mountain Resort, how do you mess with a good thing?
See you on the hill!!
