Pdw postcards
Park City
o
The weather forecast is more than just a matter of passing interest in this epicenter of skiing. Roger Toll eyes the skies—and the slopes.
er Photos by Chris Rogers
38 Sky january 2008
january 2008
Sky xx
postcards
There are no friends on a powder day. You ski as fast as you can, not waiting for anyone, focusing on your line through the cloudlike bed of virgin snow. xx Sky month 2008
january 2008
Sky 41
just one thing
Park City
I
n Park City, Utah, it’s all about powder. You live for its arrival, scanning arcane Web sites for the promise of storms still weeks away. Expectation builds as one nears, adrenaline starts pulsing, work withers. Powder is priority. When the state emblazons its most famous product— “The Greatest Snow on Earth”—on its license plate, it’s clear what is most important here. Credit the ski gods if you will, but it seems Utah’s first flakes start flying in the late afternoon or evening, providing plenty of time for snow to accumulate before lifts open the next morning. But storms can build hopes, then capriciously pass by, so you sense hesitation, doubt. Will it last through the night? Will it leave behind 3 feet, or a mere 3 inches? Weathermen in nearby Salt Lake City analyze the storm’s potential for powder like exegetes parsing the Dead Sea Scrolls. Will it pick up moisture as it passes over the lake? Will it hang up on the peaks for days and turn into a historic dump? Will Park City get it this time, or will it flow off south, or north? Waking during the night, you look out the window, open it to catch some snow. How cold is it outside, how dry are the flakes? It’s still coming down, and it’s heavy! At first light, you check the Ski Utah Web site (www.skiutah.com) for snow accumulations at each resort. A flurry of phone calls to friends: “Where’re you skiing today?” Rumors race around town. “A friend who grooms slopes at The Canyons called just now, says it’s epic,” says one. “Eighteen inches at Jupiter so far, and it’s
Powder is priority. When the state emblazons its most famous product—“The Greatest Snow on Earth”—on its license plate, it’s clear what is most important here.
42 Sky january 2008
coming down heavy,” says another, referring to Park City’s expert terrain at the top of the ridge. You plan your strategy like a SWAT team leader. Coffee, toast, long johns, layers, gloves, fat skis . . . and don’t forget your season passes. With three of Ski magazine’s top-20 ski resorts only a few miles away, who knows where you’ll end up today? Gary calls, says they’re opening Empire Canyon this morning, Deer Valley’s primo stash. “We’ll get five good runs on un-
tracked powder,” he says, “then we can head into the trees or 40 people yo-yoing up the lift and down through the for fresh all day.” It’s Deer Valley’s secret. Every inch of Alta— featherlight snow again and again, it begins falling like a Utah’s most famous powder-magnet on the other side of the fresh soufflé. You head to the trees—Ontario Bowl, X-Files, Sunset mountains—gets skied out by noon on a big snow day, but at Glade, Triangle Trees, Narrow Gauge— Deer Valley, where most skiers cling to the groomed runs, you can ski powder in its offwhoop in delight, and keep skiing through piste glades for days. leg burn and wrenching fatigue. Finally, The Deer Valley regulars are in line 10 thirsty and hungry, you head to a lodge, one minutes before the lift opens, sliding their of several that do what Deer Valley does best: serve up spectacular food. You order skis back and forth like anxious thoroughThe Canyons Resort 4000 The breds in the starting gate. On the first lift, a turkey chili, the house favorite, and trade Canyons Resort Drive, Park City, Utah; you sit back and, grateful for another day tales of the morning’s courageous exploits 435-649-5400; www.thecanyons.com; on the mountain, absorb the beauty of trees e-mail: info@thecanyons.com and stupid stunts that, like fish stories, grow draped in snow. At the top, you drop into a ever bigger—and faster and steeper and Park City Mountain Resort 1310 tuck and speed down the long trail to the much more dangerous—with each beer. Lowell Avenue, Park City, Utah; 435bottom of Empire lift, then leap on it. There 649-8111; www.parkcitymountain are no friends on a powder day. You ski as Sky Contributing Editor Roger Toll is no .com; e-mail: info@pcski.com fast as you can, not waiting for anyone, foDeer Valley Resort Park City, Utah; stranger to Park City’s Main Street and cusing on your line through the cloudlike 800-558-3337; www.deervalley.com; its first-class ski resorts; he lives within 10 bed of virgin snow. Within an hour, with 30 e-mail: cenres@deervalley.com minutes of the base area of each of them.
Take a Powder
jaNUARY 2008
Sky 43
F
☞ How to ☞
Now in its 27th year, the Sundance Film Festival is dedicated to the development of emerging directors and screenwriters with an independent vision and to the exhibition of their films. “We don’t program with an eye toward commercial interests,” says Robert Redford, Sundance’s inaugural board chairman and driving force. Nevertheless, success has made the festival one of the world’s biggest, America’s answer to Cannes and the premier showcase for thoughtful, independent film. (Delta is the festival’s official airline.)
xx Sky month 2008
Photos by (clockwise from top right) Sam Mircovich/Reuters/Corbis, Scott Halleran/Getty, Frazer Harrison/Getty and Fred Hayes/WireImage, and (opposite page) chris rogers
Sundance
or 10 days in January, the movie world focuses on Park City. Everyone, it seems—from Hollywood executives to aspiring filmmakers, from avid cinephiles to tabloid celebrities—arrives for the festival’s opening weekend, infusing the town with something close to chaos. Full of spontaneous and surprising moments, the mood is fun, informal, buoyant. For those without tickets, it can also be frustrating. Purchasing a ticket package takes planning and luck, including preregistration by early October just to enter the ticket lottery. Failing that, the only way to see a festival film is through the wait list, which means getting to a screening two hours early, signing the list—almost all screenings are sold out—and waiting in line, then seeing how many regular ticket holders don’t show up, which in the later part of the festival can be quite a few. Regulars know the strategies: 1) Skip the first weekend, when demand is greatest and festival mania is at its height; 2) Devote energies to Salt Lake City screenings, where wait lists can be shorter (and lodging is more available and less expensive than in Park City); 3) Expand your want-to-see list to films with less festival buzz, and you increase your chances for entry. Carnival-loving celebrity-spotters, however, should stroll down Park City’s lively Main Street over the opening weekend, when much of Hollywood hits town and madness reigns. Even For information on service to Delta’s nearby hub, Salt Lake City, visit delta.com. if you can’t get into any films, there are plenty of other ac tivities. Filmmaker
panels discuss relevant topics at the Filmmaker Lodge. The Sundance Online Film Festival introduces original work by leading independent newmedia artists. The Digital Center is the festival’s forum to view and learn about new filmmaking technology. The Slamdance Film Festival offers edgy, alternative film fare. And the Music Cafe showcases singer-songwriters and other musicians, day and night. For festival information, go to www.sundance.org/festival. For lodging, restaurant and other Park City information, visit www.parkcityinfo.com. Make hotel reservations early. The festival has created a one-stop shop called “Destination: Sundance Film Festival” at the official Web site to help with travel plans. Remember, don’t try to drive in Park City; stick with the free shuttle buses that follow different routes every 15 minutes. And don’t forget that some of the best skiing of the year is during the festival. Everyone else in town is sitting in a theater or walking Main Street, so the slopes are all yours.—R.T. january 2008
Sky 45