Summer Skiing - Jared and Spence

 

Jared and I went up to Snowbird on June 25 for some summer skiing.  Just off the aerial tram, here's Jared about to head down the backside for several runs with me in the terrain serviced by the Mineral Basin Express.  The tram and two upper lifts were operating.  You could ski to the bottom of the resort, but there was an extra charge for another tram ride up, so we skied the top without going down.  I had arisen early to help Gayle get garage sale stuff out on our driveway.  Jared and I still got off shortly after 6:00 a.m. and were on the tram before 8:30 a.m. (after just missing a previous tram).

 

Here's what it looks like on the front side of the mountain from the tram disembarking area.  That's Jared's shadow.  The lift operating on this side was the Little Cloud lift.  Jared and I plastered on the sun block.  Unfortunately, his bandana slipped back a bit and he fried a band across his unprotected forehead.  

 

This is a view looking down the Mineral Basin terrain, towards the southeast approximately.

 

Here's Jared looking at folks on the Mineral Basin Express.  The snow was OK in most spots, but in some flatter areas the slush about grabbed your skis out from under you.

 

Yours truly.  We should've used backpacks.  Instead, my camera is slung around my neck, my right pocket had keys, my bulky glasses case with my regular glasses (in case I really wanted to see clearly), a map of the area, and a bottle of sun block (which accidentally squirted in my pocket and on my wallet and phone earlier).  In my left pocket I carried my wallet and cell phone (which had no reception up there, even on the peak).  Nonetheless, I skied unencumbered and didn't notice any of this.

 

Jared, down near the lift base of the Mineral Basin Express.  There never was more than a minute wait.  Most of the time we were able to ski right up to the chairs.  This particular one is a quad (4 person lift chairs).

 

"Can you hear me now?"

 

Here's looking up at the Little Cloud lift.

 

Jared, taking a breather between turns.  He only wiped out once (our parabolic rental skis differ from the older, longer, straight skis we used to use, and they can wander on you).  In the wipe-out, his hand punched the snow.  It wasn't until later that we noticed he had cut up his fingers in the snow. 

 

This is the view down Little Cottonwood Canyon into Salt Lake valley.  Note that the peak with the tram landing (named Hidden Peak) is right at 11,000 ft.  Two years ago Gayle and I were in Cuzco, Peru.  Cuzco is a good-sized city situated at an elevation higher than 11,000 ft.  There are Andes peaks not far away from Cuzco that are considerably higher still and are snow-capped.  And Peru is not far from the equator.

 

Jared on a run on the Little Cloud side.

 

Although the snow was not fast, and run-ins to jumps were slow, there were a couple of nice looking jumps on the slopes.  Later in the day we watched several young guys do some gutsy, twisting, flipping, tip-crossing jumps.  Most of the guys landed them too.  It's hard to see, but I shot this just as someone was twisting into some kind of trick.  Generally, it was so bright I couldn't see the camera screen and just had to point and click.  As we drove through Salt Lake City en route home, we saw the car's outside thermometer reading go up to 91 degrees F.