The Saunders come to town

This weekend we had a visit from the Saunders. They are neighbors and friends from our Raleigh abode. From left to right are Jim, Alexandra, Briana, and Carmella.



We skied all four days over at Deer Valley. The first day the two young ladies were in an all-day ski school, while the adults went off on our own. The next day, we got to see what they had learned.

Alexandra was always the first one down the hill, not stopping when the adults paused to gasp for oxygen. Welcome to 7500+ feet of elevation!



Here she is on Hawkeye demonstrating her transition from "pizza turns" to "french fry turns".



Briana, with Deer Valley and Park City slopes in the background.



How is it that even young women learn to make men do whatever they want. Briana decided that her boots had too much snow on top so Jim was brought over to clean them.



Carmella went through some of the same learning curve as her daughters, but without the help of an experienced instructor. Instead, she got Julie and I. Carmella hadn't skied more than a few days over the past ten years so she had to relearn the feel but during that time skis have changed dramatically.



Carmella posing with her primary instructor (me). She gives out nice compliments, but her tips would be hard to live off of.



Jim is an excellent skier. He had great form, especially in the bumps. I contrast that with my own skiing style, which when applied to the bumps, looks like a seizure on big sticks.



Even after a long day, they seem quite happy.



Of course, if you know us, you know we eat as much or more than we ski. We did the Sunday Brunch at the Stein Erikson Lodge. This is Alexandra's 3rd or 4th plate of food. If you'll notice, there are five desserts on the plate. She, unlike Jim and I, has the figure to eat all this and get away with it.



An excellent visit with tons of great snow, skiing, food and friends.

Dog sled racing

This weekend Jasper and I went to see the annual dog sled race. The race is a series of stages that start in Wyoming and finish at Park City. You can find more info about the race here.

We mostly go to let Jasper watch hundreds of barking, frenzied dogs. He does remarkably well, only letting out an occasional bark. I can't tell if he is barking at them or cheering for them. He even sits still enough to let me use my camera.



One of my biggest surprises is the choice of dogs. We've all seen TV and movies from Alaska with a long line of fluffy Huskies. Talking to an ex-sledder, she said that the Huskies had gotten too stocky over the years. They mix them with hounds to get a smaller, leaner dog but still keeping the Huskies' double coat. At 55 pounds, Jasper is way to big to be on a team. He was heart broken.



These dogs live to run and to eat. That's it. When they get hooked to the sled's harness, they just go berserk trying to pull. Notice that two of them are bouncing up in the air and the one in front of them is already pulling hard.



It might be hard to see in the picture, but they had to tie the sleds to a parking sign to keep the dogs from leaving ahead of time. The rope was very tight.



This guy was doing just fine until one dog, so excited that he was finally running, bounced in the air and landed on the other side of the dog next to him. Of course, this tangles the harness and makes a mess of everything.



You have to stop the sled, pick up the bouncy dog, put him back on the correct side, and start again, hoping you haven't lost too much time.



These are some of the more Husky-like dogs, just past the starting line. Look at how hard all of them are pulling.



In talking to the ex-sledder, she mentioned how physically demanding it can be on the human. Keeping everything going smoothly and in the right direction with eight crazy dogs pulling can be quite hard. This girl, who was in second place overall, is only 15. She is the youngest driver to ever run the race. Most of the drivers were in their 30s and 40s. You go girl!!



Jasper and I took a behind the scenes walk to see what you had to do to compete in dog sledding. The travel vehicles were hilarious. They looked like some screwed up version of the truck on the Beverly Hillbillies. Sleds go on top. Dogs each get a little kennel. Lots of room for food, harnesses, repair equipment, ....




I'm guessing these aren't stock trucks you go down and order at your local Ford dealer.



As always, it's a lot of fun to get out and see something different. There are just so many hobbies and sports to pick from. I don't think this will be my choice. Julie might be ticked if I started bringing home dozens of dogs and breeding them.

We killed Barbie!!

For those who have never seen South Park, this reference is probably lost.



OK, maybe we didn't kill Barbie, but we came close.

Barbie Reid, our friend and neighbor from Raleigh came out to visit. Barbie's husband Mark was off on business and couldn't join us this year.



The main focus of the trip was improved skiing. Julie and Barbie signed up for a 3-day women's ski clinic at Deer Valley. Julie did this clinic two years ago and had great success with it. We had fantastic weather and both ladies were extremely happy with what they learned.



This shot was from the day before the clinic. Being a guy, I wasn't allowed to go along for a photo shoot during the class sessions. Barbie started somewhere between beginner and intermediate. She was cruising down blue slopes, but with form that would make it hard to get much further.

At the end of three days, she had made some big improvements and was starting to carve her turns. For non-skiers, this is a big deal. Many skiers skid their turns and it is hard to improve.



Julie's an excellent skier but has lacked the confidence to tackle some of the hardest slopes. I'm the opposite, lots of confidence and less kills. I think they call that "male".

Her group in the clinic did Deer Valley's Daly Chutes, a double black diamond. Her confidence has grown in leaps and bounds. She went bounding down through some moguls fields, one of which laid me flat on by back two days later.

Now I am going to have to try and catch up!



Then we killed Barbie, or maimed her at least. Late on her last day of skiing, she took a fall skiing off the Empire lift. She gave her knee a bad twist and couldn't stand on it.



This earned her a toboggan ride down the mountain, provided by Deer Valley's ski patrol, followed by a trip to the doctor. In the doctor's office, there were several skiers with leg injuries and one with a possible concussion.

A big thanks to the Deer Valley Ski Patrol. They were quick to the fall, very nice, got her off the mountain quickly, and even dropped her rental skis and boots off for her. They made a ski injury a lot more tolerable.



So far, it looks like a sprain rather than a tear, which is great news. You have to wait a week or so for the swelling to go down before they can really tell the extent. She's in a brace and hopping around in crutches.



Living in Park City, you get this reminder all the time. That legal crap on the back of the ski ticket says something about "Skiing is dangerous and you may suffer great bodily harm". All it takes is one bad turn, one surprise under the snow, or a meeting with a reckless skier (or more likely, a snowboarder). Be limber. Be strong. Be balanced. Most of all, be lucky.

Heal quickly Barbie!

World Cup Skiing

This weekend was huge for the local Park City sports scene. Deer Valley and PCMR (Park City Mountain Resort) got together to host skiing's Freestyle World Cup. This includes the moguls, aerial jumping, and the halfpipe. I took advantage of the nice weather and went out to shoot some pictures.

This is the view from the halfpipe looking down at the Park City golf course. During the winter, this area is used as the base for cross country skiing. Between the golf course and some public trails, they have full 5k and 10k courses to ski.



If you haven't ever seen a halfpipe, this is a big one. It is 22 feet from the lip down to the bottom. That means a lot of vertical to gather speed for big tricks, and a long way to fall when you screw up. A decent crowd had gathered to watch the finals.



The most amazing thing is to watch the skiers come flying out of the pipe, twisting and spinning, only to drop back out of sight seconds later. If you happen to be standing where someone pops up, it's a rush!



The main trick for the skiers is to come up spinning. The difficulty increases based on number of spins, crossing skis, reaching down for grabs, or adding a flip.



Big points come to those who get big air. This guy is probably 12-15 feet above the lip, putting him 35-40 feet above the bottom.



You wonder if they ever get a chance to take in the view as they fly by.



Some things look more like "oh my God" moments than intentional tricks.



The next set of pictures are kind of an accidental bonus. Next to the halfpipe is one of PCMR's biggest terrain parks. It has a series of fairly large jumps, and any person (idiot) is welcome to jump in and go for a ride. I was right across from this jump and turned to catch some locals enjoying the day. I think they were as exciting as the international halfpipe competitors.

Notice that there are two people in the air here.



Not hindered by the monstorous halfpipe, these guys just came sailing by, twisting every which way.



A nice grab...



It doesn't look like you should be able to recover from this.



Some actually hit the jump backwards and go from there. I wonder if the person who first thought of twin-tip skis envisioned this. Twin-tips are skis that have the curved up edge on both the front and back, so you can go either direction.



Every once in a while, there would be two guys in the air at once, one right behind the other. You have to wonder what the wreck would look like if the first guys takes a spill.



On that note, it was quite the busy day. Although the competitors didn't get too banged up, PCMR had 4 trips out by AirMed and 4 more by ambulance. Mosts were from the terrain parks and one was another victim of "skier versus tree". If you haven't played that game, the tree always wins.



Now we change venues, heading to Deer Valley. I shot these pictures one night from up near our house. They were holding the aerial jumping finals, and around 7,000 people attend. The jumping area and the mogul runs are lit up for the competitions. I like this view because even from a mile away, the lighting is amazing.



Zoomed in a good bit, you can see the race course and the jump (bottom right). Double click on the picture for a better view.



Trying to squeeze 7,000 spectators into the base of Deer Valley was a bit of a parking disaster. I took this 15 second exposure to get all the car lights and the lodge.



The next afternoon we stopped by to watch the women's mogul competition. These competitors hit a small jump, blast through a long run of moguls, do a second jump, and then a few moguls to finish. Your score is based on speed through the moguls and the quality and ifficulty of your jumps.

Just watching them makes my knees hurt. They are firing up and down like steel pistons.



It is hard to see the size and shape of the moguls in the late afternoon light, but trust me, they are big and frequent.



The jumps aren't nearly as spectacular as anything shown up above, but they are landing into a set of moguls on a steep run!



... and sometimes the jumps don't work out. One competitor was injured after the first jump, and apparently it was bad. This is the ski patrol working to get her onto a tobogan to get her down the hill. They were being very slow and very careful, so I would guess she got banged up pretty bad.



A lesson: if you get hurt in the moguls, do it near the bottom. It took a good half hour to get the tobogan down the run and I am sure it was quite painful. The ski patrolers at the top left are roping the tobogan down as the patrolers on the bottom right try and wrestle it through the bumps.



The AirMed helicopter was back in the picture again. It landed while they were getting her down, but I later heard that she didn't have to fly out. We got cold standing around because the competition had stopped for 45 minutes, so we took off for home.

It was an impressive weekend. A great international competition. The local sports heros did well. The crowds were large and enthusiastic.

Its great to live in a place where all this entertainment is provided for free!