PCMR and Canyons 13-14

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Tuesday Shots

Fathead

Rodger

Fred

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

After years of putting it off, I finally got a smartphone and activated it this morning. Uploading photos from Tapatalk is pretty cool, although I'm not sure how I feel about the files being hosted on the Tapatalk web site. For the record, I uploaded the photos from the phone but am editing this text after the fact on my PC.

The past two mornings have been quite good. Nice and sunny. Morning temps around 10F at the base of First Time, and higher up at the base of Bonanza it was well over 20. The whole area is festering in a high pressure inversion which is fine for Park City, but bad for SLC. By the end of this afternoon it might be warm enough to thaw a little.

Lots of snowmaking going on to get the half pipe ready.

Also taken from the base of First Time, this shot looks up the Payday lift and Payday run.

Sent from my SCH-S738C using Tapatalk

Edited December 12, 2013 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Nice Art!! It looks pretty good all in all.

Sounds like we are getting some moisture today. Hopefully that storm will reach there in a couple days or so.

Looks like they are doing allot with little.

I thank Jim for pushing the tapatalk on BOL. I really like it, much faster, easier from the chairlift than doing it on the actual site. You know you can turn off the subtext that posts the phone you are using. You can change it to say something custom too.

Bryan

[digger jr]

Glad you're loving it in PCMR. I was working in Kimball Jct. today and it was lovely. SL valley is pretty scummy looking right now. Thanks for the treats. Let us know how the cave exploration goes.

R&G

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Friday. 15F at the Bonanza load just after open, but it feels colder because of the humidity brought in by the overcast skies and slight breeze. I saw a girl on a Kessler once, but she disappeared somewhere. My first run down Claim Jumper was directly into the wind, so I mostly stayed on Home Run/Bonanza. I tried one run down Jonsey's but the steep part was a bit irregular and a little scrapy. I should explore more, but I'm content just trying to pump turns on the cruisers to get back into shape. Many of the blue runs don't have deep enough snow on them to be nice and flat.

Here's a cool vid I saw on the PCMR Facebook feed.

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ByMNU7kKCYA" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

Edited December 13, 2013 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Saturday at first chairs. 10 degrees with a layer of clouds mid-mountain, but it is clear and sunny at the top of Bonanza. The ski school is booming at PCMR. There are scores of instructors and likely hundreds of students. I watched a group of snowboard instructors doing some kind of training or clinic. The Crescent lift opened today, providing access to several single blacks. In at 9, out at 10 before the place got crowded.

PCMR is one of the few resorts that tells you in the grooming report if a trail was groomed on the first or second shift. This can be important information if there has been new snow, or in the spring when there is thawing.

[Steve Prokopiw]

I'm having buyer's remorse for getting Canyons Epic passes.After riding there for the second time today, I can see why Vail wanted to operate it;it's so poorly laid out and has so few decent carving runs that it is mostly catwalks connecting to other catwalks-just like Vail. At least Vail usually has a few carveable runs even with early season conditions.All Canyons has is a bunch of stupidly narrow pathways connecting to other stupidly narrow pathways.I'm holding out hope for more snow that will make the steeps rideable,at which point I'll forget about my dismay about the lack of carvable terrain. But ironically,little old Silver Mountain,North Idaho has way better carving from what I can see at Canyons so far...and Schweitzer blows it away.From the looks of the runs I can see from the town of Park City, I guess we should have gotten Park City passes.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Sunday at open. 10F at the base of First Time, 20 at Bonanza, and the Thaynes Snotel is reporting an incredible 33 up near the top. The inversion continues, bathing the Salt Lake Basin in viscous smog that won't go away for days yet. I did a few laps down Home Run until Fred showed up, then we went down Muckers which has an all too short but nicely pitched carveable slope. PCMR has the wide greens covered well, but I'm still waiting for that magical wide, flat, long carving blue run to materialize. Fred says that Assessment is a great run, but there isn't enough snow on it yet. We saw a couple of other hardbooters but know not who they are.

Here's a view down lower Claim Jumper with my ridiculous long shadow, the Silverlode chair and Snow Hut down at the bottom.

Edited December 15, 2013 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Monday was another nice sunny day. Fred and I hit the hill a little late, maybe around 10 AM. Good runs down Claim Jumper, Muckers, and we went over to try Silver Queen, a recently opened double blue that has great potential but could use more snow.

I had to leave early to start preparing for a no-sedation colonoscopy that I did this morning down in Salt Lake City. The smog is so thick down there that I had a sore throat within a half hour of arriving. My insides are looking pretty good, thank you. I even have some non-grainy photos.

[boardguru]

Nice form and photos Art. Looks like you broke out "Mr. Flaccid" for your riding enjoyment at PCMR. Wish the runs at Snowbasin were that empty! Keep posting updates, the conditions there keep looking better all the time.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday, and it is still sunny and warm. The Snotel reports 40F for the top at the 9AM open, while the Bonanza load was around 27. I went up the Crescent chair at open for a change. Over at Payday, the Payday run is closed for racing until the 21st. That run looks pretty decent, but it is always well-used in the mornings and so I haven't been on it yet.

From the Crescent chair I can see up close the various single black runs that are so visible from the base area. None of these runs are open yet, and I can spot some of the taller plants still poking out. From the top of Crescent I go down a cat track to the short 3/4 Load trail which is too shallow to make any turns. 1/4 Load is probably a better choice. Connecting to Claim Jumper, I head down to the Silverlode chair, the trail completely in shadow.

This side of the hill is pretty dark at open, so it is better to ride Home Run, Muckers, and Bonanza in the early morning as they face the sun.

The McConkey's and Pioneer Lifts have been open for a while, but none of the runs there are being groomed. Georgeanna is sometimes groomed, but I understand that it isn't a good carving trail. Similarly, the old Thaynes lift is open, but nothing there is groomed.

From listening to the two-way radio in the evenings, it seems like the snowmaking focus is on the King Con area. My guess is that they are working hard to open that lift for this weekend. The King Con area has a number of good blues, but it will probably take some good snowfall before they turn into decent carving runs.

By 11 AM it was too hot to ride.

Looking up the brief but nicely carveable section of Muckers with the Bonanza chair passing overhead.

Looking down the widest section of upper Home Run, taken from the Bonanza chair at the spot where Jonsey's peels off.

Edited December 18, 2013 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Thursday, 12/19. Snowy, sloppy, sticky. PCMR reports 5" of new. Maybe just below freezing at the base area, 20F at the Bonanza load. There's a layer of clouds just below the top of Payday making the mid-mountain vis just terrible. Up on top it is better, but snow is falling and it is a little breezy. Home Run has a few inches of new on it. I went down Muckers which must have been groomed last night, to find over six inches. Mr. Flaccid was way out of his element and there were a couple of "edge of stuffing it" incidents. It was like taking a knife to a pie fight. I just did shallow turns on the cruisers as they started to get cut up.

Temps up top were just right to keep the snow friction low, but down near the base the warmer air caused that grabby-vibrating spring snow syndrome.

I would have been much better off on my 4WD, but was too lazy to take it out. I don't like the low angles anyway. My Coda swallowtail skwal should arrive within a couple of weeks, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Pic from yesterday, definitely not today.

Edited December 19, 2013 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[forrest]

Hey Steve,

Yeah The CanCan does have limited groomed/carving terrain. I worked there for a year and skied there for two. The best you will find is over on Condor which is all the way to the far right. There is also a bit off Saddleback, the lift up from the gondola, though it will get busy. There is also some when the snow is good on Iron Mountain, which is far to the right take Timberline to get there and save time though no mater what it takes a while to get there. If you ski it is a much better skiing mountain, in the two years I was there I only boarded a handful of days.

You're right as to the layout. Completely assbackwards. I also was rather fond of the claimed vertical for the mountain, Doesn't exist anywhere. The most you find is around 1000'.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Friday, 12/20. Five more inches of new for a total of 10 in the last 48 hours. Overcast with sunbreaks. The King Con lift and several runs in that zone are scheduled to open today, but ski patrol is taking all morning getting it ready. Most of the blue runs in the Bonanza/Silverlode area were groomed last night and have a couple inches of new on them, making it a bit soft to hold an edge well. The greens were groomed this morning and are running fairly well. Temps at the Bonanza load are around 10-12F, so it is brisk. The snotel reads 16F at open. I just cruised around waiting to see if King Con would open, but by 11 AM the place was getting crowded so I bailed. By the time I drove out the parking lots were full and people were resorting to parking along some of the streets.

Looking up the King Con run on its first groom. Definitely bumpy and not yet a carving run. The upper left blotch must be my glove.

Edited December 20, 2013 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[fscott]

'Muckers' @PCMR Dec. 17

Edited December 25, 2013 by fscott

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Saturday, 12/21: I'm not riding on the Saturday before Christmas. It has to be too crowded. This day is the official PCMR 50th anniversary so in the afternoon I went up to the main plaza to watch an outdoor concert by Robert Randolph and the Family Band. The coldest concert I've ever seen, and the first time I've seen a guy play bass with gloves on. The stage had a single portal from a heater, and Robert Randolph had to go warm his hands there periodically. Regardless, it was a great show followed by fireworks to wrap up the event.

Sunday, 12/22: It's kinda snowy, foggy, and low-vizy, so I stay home.

Monday, 12/23: Not too cold, around 25 maybe. Overcast with occasional light flurries of granular, but the clouds are well above the hill. I did a couple of runs down First Time before Payday opened. With racing over for now, I went down the Payday run for the first time. It has perhaps three nice carveable sections with good potential but the light is flat and the snow is soft in places. Up Crescent, down Claim Jumper, up Silverlode then over to Jonesy's which is Groomer's Choice. But Jonsey's has a couple of inches of new on it. It must have been really sweet when it was groomed last night, but now it is getting cut up quickly. How can a run with 2 inches of new be Groomer's Choice? Humbug.

After a while I went back down the Jumper then down Broadway to the King Con lift. Broadway is pretty shallow, but some short turns can be pumped on it. At the top I skid down the King Con run for the first time. It isn't as steep and scary as it seems from the bottom, but the grooming isn't great and the very wide run has a distinct rise in the middle. Give it a few weeks and it might be tremendous.

Going up the lift again, I'm stuck next to some moron listening to a work conference call discussing quarterly sales results on his speakerphone. I want to un-mute his microphone and scream Humbug. The lift crosses many not-yet-open blue runs that are wide enough to be carveable. At the top I go down the King Con Ridge to Temptation, an easy blue with good carving potential but suffering from a scratchy hard underlayer caused by thawing in the late afternoon sun.

When I got back to the Silverlode base at 10:45 the maze was full, and thus time to leave. I made it to the bottom around 11 after a crowded ride down trying to avoid the aggressively slow. The parking lot is full of people driving around in vulture mode.

Looking up Home Run at the base, around 3PM on Saturday

Edited December 24, 2013 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Tuesday, 12/24: In the early morning a storm is blowing through. Around 7 AM the grooming crew is doing upper Home Run and complaining about low vis, high winds, and snow blowing sideways. I had nearly committed to staying home but a check of the weather radar showed that the system had almost completely passed over the area. I got to the parking lot at 8:30 to find broken clouds, sunshine, and lots of wind. 22F at First Time, 20 at Bonanza. At the top, the fresh cord on Home Run is mostly covered by blowing snow. Winds are howling in many directions but mostly uphill on my favored runs, so everything is slow. I went down to the double blue Silver Queen because it is "Groomers Choice" today. Sure it is. It has 2" of new on top and 4-6" at the bottom, but I was one of the first people on it and could stay hooked up to the firm cord below. After two runs there, and some further cruising around I was done with having to go everywhere in a full tuck. Down at the parking lot at 10:30, somebody in a huge truck blocks an entire row of traffic in order to vulture my prime spot right next to the lift. Honking and yelling ensues until a lot attendant can clear it up.

A patroller that I shared a chair with told me that after the resort is done with snowmaking, much of that manpower will shift to grooming. More runs, groomed better is something to look forward to.

Yesterday

[fscott]

(Key Biscayne)

Looking good buddy. It was 83 degrees here in Miami today and its gonna blow 30kts tomorrow so I will be Xmas-Windsurfing, for sure!!!

See you in a week or so for some more carving adventures !!

Edited December 25, 2013 by fscott

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

It was 83 degrees here in Miami today

Merry Christmas! That picture looks a world away. This morning was cold, starting around 10F then warming up to a fine bluebird day. Firm, tight, and fast. I did a run down Silver Queen in the sun but lost my nerve halfway down because of the speed and the intimidating way the trail slopes away on my heelside. I went down Assessment for the first time, but there are some distracting thin spots. It needs more snow. My best turns were in that area under the Silverlode chair where Mel's Alley merges with Prospector. It wasn't very crowded on Christmas Day, maybe only a little more than a non-holiday weekday. The rest of this week will probably be a zoo.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Thursday, 12/26: Another sunny day, kinda cold at open. 12F at First Time, 16 at Bonanza, and even warmer on top. Another inversion is building. After a couple of warm-ups on First Time I went up Crescent at 9 AM and headed straight for Silver Queen. I made some nice turns on it, and I think I'm getting better as I learn its terrain. Next up Bonanza and Pioneer to try the Keystone run for the first time. A few thin spots, but definitely has a couple of nice carveable stretches. I looked around at the various abandoned mining structures down in the canyon then got on the old Thanes double chair for a ride back up. After some bumming around I ran into fellow carver Brandon on Claim Jumper and we made a few runs together. It was getting really crowded really fast. On the way out we found nice carves on Blanche, right next to the NASTAR area. A final run down Payday was a little difficult with many people streaming down it. After 11 AM in the parking lot, it is the most packed I've seen yet.

Looking up Silver Queen, one of the first runs to get the morning sun. The Crescent chair skirts the top of the ridge above.

Christmas riding pics:

Edited December 27, 2013 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Friday, 12/27: Another bluebird day, a little warmer than yesterday. The top of the hill was no colder than 30F overnight. On my first ride up Bonanza I saw a couple of patrollers with a bucket picking up rocks that had come down the small cliff next to upper Home Run. Nice. At my previous mainstay resort I used to throw rocks off the runs all the time during the early season, and never saw an on-snow employee pick up a rock.

Riding PCMR is pretty good in terms of rocks, I think. Snowmaking seems to be well done, and I haven't taken any rock damage yet.

After a few runs I met up with Brandon at the top of Bonanza. We then ran into Michigan Max on a Donek as we went down Claim Jumper. Already the place is super crowded, and the Silverlode maze is overflowing. We went down to King Con and did a couple of runs then eventually made our way out via Blanche, next to the Nastar course. The parking lot is outta control. Tomorrow is definitely a day off.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Art, thanks again for the great reporting.

Curious. So, what do you think about the runs off Kong? Short but sweet , or?

The photos are super, keep them coming. It is great to hear about your meeting up with other alpine riders. I am sure

many feel your posts are very helpful if not inspiring. Ride on!!

[jp1]

Art, I agree 100% with wwwosb ! I love checking out what you and others that post often with conditions and pictures have to say! While we can't be there, we can dream :) !!

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

The runs in the King Con zone look pretty good to me. We rode Temptation and King Con this morning. Sitka is open and groomed now, and it looks enticing at least from the chair view. Shamus has huge piles of man-made that will probably get pushed out and groomed tonight. These runs are of at least an intermediate length, fairly wide, and of a challenging pitch without being intimidating. The downside is that they are in shadow during the early morning, and Temptation in particular cooks in the sun during the late afternoon when temps can already be above freezing. Temptation definitely had a thaw-freeze going on today. King Con feels as wide as a football field when going down it. It is so wide that it is hard to track all of the danger targets all around, especially on a crowded day. Since it is so close to the top lift terminal, many people stream down it rather than go down the ridge to the other trails.

Grooming on the King Con run could be better, imho. I don't think it is flat enough, but it should get better as the season continues and the snow base gets deeper.

I've found that the early morning riding is pretty much a quest to find sunlight and warmth. Riding Payday, King Con, or the Silverlode zone blues at open could be great, but they are all in shadow. When there is an inversion, the top of Bonanza could easily be more than ten degrees warmer than the base of Payday. Cruising down Home Run/Bonanza while mixing in steeper pitches on Muckers, Jonsey's, Mid Mountain, and Silver Queen is a good warm-up with clear lighting, even though these blues are on the shorter side. After the sun comes up some, the light on Claim Jumper, Assessment, Mel's and the King Con area starts to get better.

Grooming on those sunny-side Bonanza blues has been really good as of recent days with no new. Silver Queen could be flatter but again, I think that the base just isn't deep enough yet.

The Prospector double-blue is badass. Coming over the lip of it is pretty scary to me, and there are always many speed demons flying down it. It will be a while yet before I attempt to carve it from the top. I skid the top third of it until I can get over to the right side, underneath the Silverlode towers. From there one can carve a nice wide, flat area where Mel's merges in, and be out of the direct line of fire from Prospector straightliners.

A walk-up lift ticket at PCMR is $107. Wow. You can pay more for the "Fast Tracks" option which allows you to access special bypass lanes in the lift mazes. I was too cheap to add this to my season pass, because when a lift line gets longer than one minute, my solution is to go home. But for any one who visits here during a busy holiday period, I'd say that it is absolutely worth it.

I think that the Silverlode chair maze is the most congested on the whole mountain, probably because the Home Run/Claim Jumper cruise is so good. If one doesn't have Fast Tracks on a crowded day, it is best avoided for other zones.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Art, cool , I enjoy your details as you get to know the area. I just remember that I had some good times on those pitches. In part because I was fortunate on the conditions and the riders I got to meet. I am struggling with his name. He was a semi serious pro that had bought a condo slope-side, by semi serious I mean that he was a good looking strong athlete that enjoys life to the fullest. (I.E. "Playboy") Hanging with he and BB after riding was good fun. That was back when Billy was a Coach/Trainer there.

If I can dig deep to find some photos/ videos of those few days would you mind if I posted a few here?

Thanks again. I think you have some really good days ahead. This is really just the "Shake Down" period. Bryan