Wasatch Trenchin' Convention 2006

Saturday, February 4, 2006

Hardbooter.com tried to contact the event manager at Snowbasin and book a tent location for Saturday, but since alpine carving is perceived to be a sub-niche within a niche, we didn't get past the secretary's secretary. Park City came to the rescue, and added Saturday to our tent lease. Yet, it seemed like 5 straight days at Park City might be a bit much, so Skully and I snuck out to The Canyons for the morning. I did so with some trepidation, since it's one of those ASC resorts that specializes in real estate über alles (see photo above). Will the grooming be up to par?

Happily, we were met with exceptional grooming on the Apex Ridge run.
But as it turns out, The Canyons is aptly named, since most runs have precipitous drop-offs on either side.
The Apex Ridge run is medium width, but gets narrow in spots, which requires turning.

groöm.

OK, here's a sampler platter of carving, courtesy of Skully.

Skully uses these Kevlar trigger mittens. Useful for doing things like buttoning a jacket.
Plus, they give a bit of extra support for the small fingers to prevent injury when you accidentally jam them on heelside.

Now it's Skully's turn to wield the camera. Here's me, feeding my Volkl 178 some fresh groom.

I love hero snow. In addition to Apex Ridge, we also carved Lookout run and Boa.

The base lodge area of The Canyons is hopelessly poser. Except for this adobe pizza oven.

On the way from The Canyons to Park City, I passed a dogsled race.
(Yup, I knew Michelle would like this shot).

OK, Skully and I arrive back at the WTC in Park City just in time for some burgers and hot dogs.
Plus, Hardbooter.com provided vegan organic gardenburgers, for carvers visiting from California.

Time to go Madd with the demos.

Over at the King Con lift, Jeff leans it over on the Donek.

Jeff goes mach schnell. You see only a yellow blur unless you set the shutter speed to 1/1000.

oldvolvosrule rails it on the Shamus run.

Decambered.

Today, we had hero snow all around. Tonight, it looks like maybe 2" of new fluff on top of groom,
so I'm hoping for some rooster tail shots. We'll see.