The past few days have brought us a great break of blue skies and mild temperatures which reminds me of a topic that might help some of you better experience our mountain - how to ski or ride Park City Mountain Resort in the Springtime...
Most importantly, ALWAYS follow the sun around the mountain! This is the cardinal rule of spring skiing and can make or break the quality of your run. Never go to an area of the mountain that is still in the shade and never go to an area that has been in the sun longer than a few hours. Here are my suggestions for a plan of attack that should keep you in optimal spring skiing conditions:
- Start out making a few morning laps off Bonanza lift on Muckers, Jonesy's and Silver Queen.
- After this, I might take a peek at our grooming report to see what Signature Runs were groomed off the Ski Team Lift and take a lap or two over there to check them out.
- Next, I would think about taking a few runs of the Southerly facing part of Pioneer Chair, runs like Sampson, Comstock and Red Fox can get to an almost creamy consistency after they've been in the sun for just a couple of hours!
- After a relaxing and solar fueled lunch on the Summit House Patio or Snow Hut Deck I would make a couple of laps off Silverlode Lift on Assessment, Dynamite, Prospector and Parley's Park to get my legs back under me.
- I'd then head to the multitude of blue cruising options off King Con that will have come into the sun around lunch time and are softening up nicely by this time.
- I might even think about doing some bump runs off Motherlode or Thaynes Lifts, slush bumps can be a blast (even on the Telemark equipment that I ski on) as the slush slows you down enough to handle almost anything!
- I usually like to come down via Heckler at the end of a day as that usually gets enough softening sun in the mid-afternoon that makes it the perfect capper to a mellow and fun spring cruiser day.
Anyone have any other spring skiing suggestions or tips?!
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