Deer Valley Revisited, January 2012

This was only the second time I have skied at Deer Valley.  While everyone there considers it the best ski resort in the country, I could not verify this elite status designation through any objective measure or easily found Internet resource.  And yet I have skied in enough venues to appreciate Deer Valley for what it is…..a beginner and early to moderate intermediate skiers paradise.   Groomed runs that are a mile wide…mild blues, long greens, beautiful views of the mountains, a number of beautifully constructed wooden buildings serving as eating places for weary skiers who are tired and hungry, needing warmth, hydration, and bathroom facilities to wash and decompress. Gosh, how I loved that hot turkey chili with onions and cheese!

Most people who ski - do so for the wonderful feeling of elation and exhilaration that it brings.  More inclined to experience nature when swimming in the ocean at Ala Moana Beach park, skiing strikingly contrasts with tropical Hawaiian living. Indeed, at least in the past, I have made it a habit of taking a long swim on the day of travel to whatever ski resort I was flying to on the mainland.  With the memory of the gentle massage of the salt water still on my skin, the biting cold from the snow covered mountain stings haplessly through my ski wear. The invigorating cold air bruises my nostrils while spawning frozen droplets that become glued to my face, the bright red painful ears, numb toes and fingers, and the weighted burden of  ski clothes layered one on top of another drain heavily on my every move. Skiing as a small dot on the beautiful mountain, pristine and cleansed in white, with trees tall, majestic, their limbs are weighted down and frosted with snow. Such a contrast in every way from swimming in the warm sun drenched ocean, skiing for those of us living in Hawaii is indeed very special.

But the fun is now over for now, and I am just happy to be leaving without a broken bone.  I am happy that I was able to tempt fate and get away without a scratch.  For I have grown a little too adventuresome, a little too curious and a little too hungry to fly down the mountain with speed, to skirt around those in my way, to squirm and zigzag around some nearby trees.  And for the first time, with a little prompting, I began to hover around the outer margins of the ski run intentionally moving closer and closer to the edge exposing the back of the skies over the trail edge into the abyss as I weave back in the other direction.  Without realizing or admitting it, I was rejuvenated by taste and fear of being just a little out of control, of moving too fast, and of not having the full capacity to avoid or correct any looming disasters. 

So what is there more to say?   Well,  you can see by the pictures that there was very little snow (except on the runs).  But what I realized is that you DON’T need natural snow to ski!  Indeed, the Deer Valley groomed runs were groomed to perfection with Deer Valley expensive snow making equipment and thousands of gallons of water working 24/7 to provide what Mother Nature did not.  Monster dragons placed strategically on location along scraped to-the-bone ski trails spewed out a firestorm of white particles for hundreds of feet.

Indeed, if last year produced a record snowfall in Utah, this year is the opposite.  Weather so warm you could ski naked and be comfortable……trust me I was looking…..the sun shining bright, the wind providing only the mildest of whispers, and the snow matted down evenly on 60% of the runs.  These were the most accessible blues and greens that were neatly conditioned for the onslaught of skiers. Sadly, for Deer Valley, the onslaught never came.  The Ski Resort was not quite a ghost town, but neither was it a busy train station.  Happily, there was never a line that imposed more than a few seconds delay on any of the 20 odd lifts except for the next-to-the last run of the day at the base of the mountain.  (Parenthetically, the next-to-the last run was the last run, because so many bad injuries occur on the last run, I refuse to acknowledge any run as the last run of the day.)

The weather and the artificial snow made Deer valley a very enjoyable ski trip.  Still what was gained by experiencing the mild weather, the clear skies and sunshine, the excellent visibility and the uncrowded conditions, did not entirely compensate for the loss of power and beauty had the mountain been entirely covered by snow.  It seemed odd and out of place, almost too easy and dreamlike to be skiing in such curiously comfortable conditions.  I realize from this experience that I prefer to ski when the snow is plentiful and covers the world around you, even when you are forced to navigate down the mountain through a white maze of scattered windblown snow and a barely visible path.