NeedhamSkier
New member
This was a slightly different trip from our normal shoestring, bring-the-kids excursions to UT, since we decided to spend part of a recent work bonus on a more luxury trip for just the two of us. As a result we decided to stayed at the Washington School Inn, in Park City. This is a little pricey, but definitely worth it in terms of a great experience. One block from Main St and two blocks from the Town Lift, the location is perfect. The rooms are great, the place is luxe with being pretentious, the staff are friendly, and the breakfasts and apres-ski snacks are delicious. Save your pennies, but this is a really nice place if you’re looking for something special in Park City.
Tuesday we skied Park City. Took a little while figuring things out, and waiting for the sun to soften the trails up, but had about 3 hours of great, fun skiing from about 10 – 1. The run of the day was Blue Slip - short, but oh so sweet. They had groomed it overnight and we hit it just at the right time, for about 20 perfect, regular, identical smooth turns on a just-right pitch. (Sometimes the groomed can be almost as much fun as powder). Then you have a run-out through the woods at the bottom, arcing big turns and hitting little jumps wherever you could. Brought wide grins to both our faces. So good, we went straight back up for more, but the trail faces right into the sun and had already softened too much even in 15 minutes.
Timing was everything on all 3 days, and we tried to get out early, but found that nothing really softened up until about 10.30, so we were skiing hard-frozen corduroy much of the time until then. From then until about 2, you could pick your trails and really find some nice snow. So at PCMR we had plenty of fun during this time cruising down the blues and blacks off Silver Lode and Thaynes lifts. We also trekked over to Jupiter, which was steeper and well bumped up, but with good snow if you looked – I enjoyed that more than my wife, so we headed back after just one run there.
Worth mentioning here that I took my new Volkl Mantras on this trip and loved them. No powder to be seen, but they did everything I asked, up to and including “ski as fast as you dare” GS turns on early-morning hardpack. I ran into a little chatter on those early-morning run, but apart from that they were great. I’m really happy and think that they’re going to work as an East Coast and Rockies ski, which is what I was hoping for.
We really enjoyed PCMR. Trails are well-maintained, the vibe is a good one, lots of terrain to explore and plenty to keep you busy for multiple days. It also feels really great to be able to stay right in the middle of town, but walk to the Town Lift and then ski back almost to the inn and all that the town offers at the end of the day – that’s a big Quality of Skiing thing for us.
Tuesday we skied Park City. Took a little while figuring things out, and waiting for the sun to soften the trails up, but had about 3 hours of great, fun skiing from about 10 – 1. The run of the day was Blue Slip - short, but oh so sweet. They had groomed it overnight and we hit it just at the right time, for about 20 perfect, regular, identical smooth turns on a just-right pitch. (Sometimes the groomed can be almost as much fun as powder). Then you have a run-out through the woods at the bottom, arcing big turns and hitting little jumps wherever you could. Brought wide grins to both our faces. So good, we went straight back up for more, but the trail faces right into the sun and had already softened too much even in 15 minutes.
Timing was everything on all 3 days, and we tried to get out early, but found that nothing really softened up until about 10.30, so we were skiing hard-frozen corduroy much of the time until then. From then until about 2, you could pick your trails and really find some nice snow. So at PCMR we had plenty of fun during this time cruising down the blues and blacks off Silver Lode and Thaynes lifts. We also trekked over to Jupiter, which was steeper and well bumped up, but with good snow if you looked – I enjoyed that more than my wife, so we headed back after just one run there.
Worth mentioning here that I took my new Volkl Mantras on this trip and loved them. No powder to be seen, but they did everything I asked, up to and including “ski as fast as you dare” GS turns on early-morning hardpack. I ran into a little chatter on those early-morning run, but apart from that they were great. I’m really happy and think that they’re going to work as an East Coast and Rockies ski, which is what I was hoping for.
We really enjoyed PCMR. Trails are well-maintained, the vibe is a good one, lots of terrain to explore and plenty to keep you busy for multiple days. It also feels really great to be able to stay right in the middle of town, but walk to the Town Lift and then ski back almost to the inn and all that the town offers at the end of the day – that’s a big Quality of Skiing thing for us.