Sal Tlay Ka Siti 2021 - (Salt Lake City, UT)

[skiincy]

Oops. Here are a few Solitude pics that I found in the Google photo album. They’re not great but hope they help show the coverage.
 

possibly Main Street ? 

 

a skiincy skiing photo

 

the Wasatch range 😍

We had some of our favorite runs from here.

possibly from Summit Express?

and from the parking lot. The amount of clean cars in Utah is absurd, by the way.

Edited January 11, 2021 by skiincy

[skiincy]

6 hours ago, GSSucks said:

I would argue that Este's has the best pizza in SLC, and they have a Sugarhood location so you should be pretty close. Or go to the downtown shop and order a whole pie, and shoot across the street to Johnny's for a beer while waiting for it. 

I passed by Estes tonight. It’s across from the Smiths. I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks!

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Nancy that shot from a distance is badass!!!  

[Justo8484]

I recommend getting a hot'n'ready from lil caesar's on university boulevard. Pretty much the finest pizza you can have while on a ski trip. Pairs well with a game of 7 11 doubles, some captain morgan and sleeping on the floor the night before a pow day.

[skiincy]

Day 4 - Skiincy & Schif go ski touring  

4 miles
3 hours 

Guardsman Pass: https://wbsguide.com/2227.php

Schif & I woke up with plans to hit up Brighton today. Solitude yesterday was fun. It was a bounce house of bumps. We noticed that Brighton had the Great Western Express closed and we were feeling meh about it. 

We considered checking out Solitude Nordic center but ultimately @Schif rented a touring setup from White Pine Touring.

Considering the avy danger was still moderate to high, someone died the day before, and the snow cover was thin in places, we opted for something safe and mellow to mostly stretch our legs & grab some views. This pic is looking down to the Ruby Express at DV.

We drove through Deer Valley and started at the mid-mountain trailhead. We passed through the seven levels of the Deer Valley forest, through the sea of swirly-twirly switch backs, and then we toured through an underpass of a DV trail.

Or, in other words... We ended up skinning under Ruby Express. About 1/2 mile in, we went through an underpass and Bandana trail was above us. Here’s a screenshot of the Deer Valley map. We were in the orange shading for the first 1/3 of the tour.

We made it a mile in and adjusted our boots, quick bathroom break, and checked out the view. The sign pointed out Mt Timpanogos that Cody Townsend did in the fifty project. His tour was WAY more wild than our initial outing... to say the least. Haha. 

Here are some of the views near the Church of Dirt on Guardsman Pass. Mt Timpanogos is in the background.

More views 😍

We went out another mile to a Nordic center then turned around. We kept our skins on for mile 2-3 because it was still relatively flat and uphill. We toured 3 miles somehow and went downhill 1 mile. 

The views were incredible and it was nice to work the lungs & legs. Probably the place I felt least safe was when Mike put on the Atomics boots and when the other cars were trying to park. @Schif can add color to the boot story.

Thanks to our watches that told us “this was harder than your normal effect.” Oh really? Working out at elevation is no joke.

Views: 9.5/10
Fun: 9/10
Ability to breath: 3/10

After the touring, we hit up the Alf Engen ski museum where we checked out the ski jumps, the bobsled tracks, and learned about ski fashion. PASR people, who is best dressed here?

Headed back to SLC and went out for the Schif's last night in SLC. We passed something super creepy so obviously had to share. 

We put our name in at Red Iguana 2 and grabbed a beer from Bewilder Brewing Company. Schif had the Coffee Kolsch and I had the Cranberry Lime Sour. Got some enchilladas from the Iguana and headed back to the airbnb to pack.

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by skiincy

[Shadows]

Nice

[Schif]

Touring was fantastic and I can't wait to do it again. The only issue was those damn Atomic boots. As soon as I put them on at the trailhead I knew they were hurting my feet but after dealing with the guy at the shop that took way too long getting the bindings set up I just said screw it and pulled the footbeds out and headed up the hill. That was a mistake honestly. Almost any time I had to stop and take a break it was because my feet were hurting and not that my legs were tired. I said some truly awful things while trying to pull those damn boots off at the end. 

All in all though it was fantastic day and I love exploring on skis even though it kind of sucked. Views always look better when you earn them. 

[Mixilplix]

Totally baller........

[Schif]

25 minutes ago, Mixilplix said:

Totally baller........

I was actually thinking about you at the touring shop. They had split boards to rent but I ended up going with the skis because I figured they would be easier to climb with. 

[Mixilplix]

5 minutes ago, Schif said:

I was actually thinking about you at the touring shop. They had split boards to rent but I ended up going with the skis because I figured they would be easier to climb with. 

 

I would love to do AT but I suck at skiing ....But I like to think I don't suck at snowboarding so the splitboard works for me...

I would give it a try I you get the chance....

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Nice Schif...PASR has caught the skinning bug...and ski museum looked steezy.  The only skinning I’ll be doing is eating turkey skins thanks to Enjorales. 

[Schif]

39 minutes ago, Mixilplix said:

 

I would love to do AT but I suck at skiing ....But I like to think I don't suck at snowboarding so the splitboard works for me...

I would give it a try I you get the chance....

I suck at skiing too haha. On the way back it looked like there was a bit of a shortcut but since I couldn't tell what was below me I made @skiincy go the long way with me back to the main trail. Didn't trust myself to drop into anything too chopped up or wild. 

[skiincy]

After work tonight, I visited Ensign Peak. If you land in SLC and want to do some trail running with a view, this spot is easy to get to. It’s almost directly behind the Capital Building.

signage for Hell’s Canyon and Ensign Peak

view from the statue area

and more views

On the way back down

And back towards the start

[toast21602]

7 minutes ago, skiincy said:

After work tonight, I visited Ensign Peak. If you land in SLC and want to do some trail running with a view, this spot is easy to get to. It’s almost directly behind the Capital Building.

signage for Hell’s Canyon and Ensign Peak

view from the statue area

and more views

On the way back down

And back towards the start

Nice! I've only ran on parts of the Living Room and BST. I love how easily accessible trails are out there.

[saltyant]

Nice, on my first day my flight lands at SLC around noon so I may very well hike up this trail.

[toast21602]

2 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Nice, on my first day my flight lands at SLC around noon so I may very well hike up this trail.

You should. The Capitol and Temple Square are right there as well. 

[skiincy]

It’s a black out weekend for my pass so I’m trying to find some trails to ski tour in.

Yesterday, I drove a whopping 15 minutes to Millcreek Canyon. I did about 3.5 miles. Here’s a link with the basic information. https://wbsguide.com/1003.php

I had Wally with me so I had to stop to talk to random people who wanted to pet him and it was frustrating to wrangle him since it was his first time skiing. He’s not ready for Burma Road yet.. 

Lots of signage always helps.

and more signs 

I had Wallys 6 foot leash snapped around the bottom belt of my backpack. It worked out well. He mostly stayed to the top right of me. On the downhill, I mostly had him off leash to let him run. Although, the official rule of on-leash on even and off on odd days seemed to be a loose rule there.

Crossed a cute bridge. Lots of family and engagement photos were being taken in this area.

 

this is the start of the trail at the Maple Grove winter gate. When I came back, there were kids sledding on the left hand side of this pick. But, for the most part there were people ski touring on setups like mine and walking with crampons or snowshoes.

We went up to Elbows Fork then turned around. This place had more signs than all of Snowbird.

and we’re off!

Wally did pretty well although he ended up with a small knick near his paw. He’ll be fine.

and we’re back at the parking lot. He was checking out the ski bros in the area. 

all in all, it was good workout and safe ski tour. Since I don’t have a backcountry partner here, I’ve been sticking to the mellow trails like this one. 

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by skiincy

[Schif]

I hope Wally likes touring as much as I do! 

[skiincy]

Yesterday, I headed to American Fork Canyon (kinda by Lehi) with plans to ski tour from the Tibble Reserve with Wally. 

instead, I found an Utah family playground. 

and this kid was adamant about moving a soggy couch by himself. I really see him playing Sausage Sunday with PASR bros or doing keg stands at the ABasin beach in his future.

We putzed around for a bit but the snow coverage was pretty low so I headed back to SLC.

It looks like the snow water equivalent is about 50% below the median. I saw this on a FB Utah touring group. Thought you all might want to check it out.

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by skiincy

[skiincy]

After my adventures earlier on Sunday, I decided to ski tour up Park City Resort because my pass is still blacked & I wanted to ski.

I checked out the website. It says you start at the First Time lift and follow Homerun lift up to Angle Station.

Doing a ski mountain (that you’ve never been to) in reverse with no signage can be confusing. So I kinda followed people around me and took this route instead. Also, there’s a ton of crazy fit people who do this like it’s a walk in the park. 

I started around 6:30’ish. I saw about 10 people coming down and another 10 going up. Mile 0-1 was fine and I was cruising. When I hit about mile 1-1.5 going up Treasure Hollow - my breathing was heavier and it was harder.

After 2 miles of uphill, I got to the top and chatted with two old men and another girl about my age. I skied down to the Pig Pen Salon (I started further down the mountain) and headed back to the car. 

The pictures just don’t do it justice. Would definitely recommend if you’re in the area. It’s open from 6pm-8:30am and it’s free. I heard there’s a good size crowd of regulars in the morning for sunrise.

I was reading about the Park City negotiations with Vail Resorts but didn’t see any protesters. Check out this article if you’re curious

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by skiincy

[toast21602]

Stellar! Keep these coming!

[skiincy]

23 hours ago, Schif said:

I hope Wally likes touring as much as I do! 

I think he would love it again if he didn’t just get 2 staples. I think he got knicked on when he ran up to some strangers on cross country skis. 

in more important news... it finally started to snow!!!! 😍😍😍

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

30 minutes ago, skiincy said:

I think he would love it again if he didn’t just get 2 staples. I think he got knicked on when he ran up to some strangers on cross country skis. 

in more important news... it finally started to snow!!!! 😍😍😍

Where and when are you skiing next?  Blackout is now over right?

[skiincy]

46 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Where and when are you skiing next?  Blackout is now over right?

Might call out sick tomorrow 😷 I’m hoping the dog day care will take my broken dog and that I get to ski Alta.

 

During the week, I’m hoping to skin up Park City again (before or after work) or do Brighton night sesh. This weekend, I’ll be at Deer Valley and Alta.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

6 minutes ago, skiincy said:

Might call out sick tomorrow 😷 I’m hoping the dog day care will take my broken dog and that I get to ski Alta.

 

During the week, I’m hoping to skin up Park City again (before or after work) or do Brighton night sesh. This weekend, I’ll be at Deer Valley and Alta.

Sweetness!!!  Wally is one spoiled pup.