AdamFehr.com Blog

Killing time before the Sugar Bowl, Charli and I skied a few runs at Park City Mountain Resort.  Not a very nice day.  Warm and overcast with the storm approaching quickly.  The good news is that storms are on their way…

Oh, and Utah dismantled Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.  Way to go Utes!  Hopefully the AP voters will award the U with a split national title.  13-0.  3-0 against top 25 teams.  6-0 against bowl teams.  Longest win streak in the country (14).  Longest bowl-winning streak in the nation (8).  Most importantly, Utah didn’t lose a game, everyone else did.  When deciding who had the best season, that seems to be fairly important.

I’ll probably post more about Utah later.

The thermometer in my car read -18 degrees when I got to work this morning.  But another storm is on it’s way.  Should have some snow early next week.

08-09 Ski Days: 11

Jeremy Ranch Backcountry: 1
Park City: 2
Preseason Deer Valley: 1
Snowbird: 2
Solitude: 4
Uintas: 1

I can’t be too critical of MSNBC, seeing as how they employ my sister.  But this was a pretty poor job of reporting.  Mainly the section about Utah:

In Utah, four other people have died in avalanches in December.  The problem, the experts say, is the quality of snowpack in the Northwest.

Huh?  Pretty sure no expert has ever said that.  The cool snow cross-section, while visually impressive, also inaccurately describes why people are dying.  Oh well.  Hopefully they succeeded in raising avalanche awareness.

Eighteen inches of snow turned out to be a foot or so of windblown, heavy mashed potatoes.  I caught my first ride on Crescent, PCMR’s newest lift.  The new lift is a welcome addition, potentially eliminating a lift ride to reach the top of the mountain.

Temperatures stayed below zero for the entire day.  It was difficult staying warm while we waited in the line for McConkey’s for over an hour.  All that for four turns in windblown snow.

Fun day.  I think I got spoiled by the recent snow.

08-09 Ski Days: 10

Jeremy Ranch Backcountry: 1
Park City: 1
Preseason Deer Valley: 1
Snowbird: 2
Solitude: 4
Uintas: 1

It’s been snowing like crazy here and it doesn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon.

Solitude reported 21″ of new snow.  Mike and I decided it might be a good idea to do some skiing.  The top half of the mountain was closed until almost 11 am while the patrol finished bombing the area.  We were the 10th chair on the Summit Lift, which had been closed since mid-day Monday.

The snow was unbelievably deep.  So deep that neither of us stopped long enough to take any video.  Definitely the best day of the year, probably one of my top 5 powder days ever.

Check out this helmet cam footage from a run this morning.  The snow was still deep for being so low on the mountain.  Not the best footage, but it’s something.

Helmet Cam Under Sunrise Lift At Solitude from fatbearfehr on Vimeo.

08-09 Ski Days: 8

Jeremy Ranch Backcountry: 1
Preseason Deer Valley: 1
Snowbird: 2
Solitude: 3
Uintas: 1

SkiSolitude.com reported last night that Honeycomb Canyon would open today.  Mike and I braved the fierce winds and were rewarded with one of the best powder days in recent memory.

We got to Solitude just as the wind turned to heavy snow.  Twelve hours later, the snow has yet to stop.

We did four laps on Honeycomb, finding some amazing powder and surprisingly adequate coverage for today’s opening.  We managed to ski a lot more powder than rocks, which was a nice change of pace from earlier ski days this season.

I did a fair amount of videoing today, however the videos did not work out.  My helmet cam battery strategically ran out of power just as I started my way downhill.  Lots of short videos of me retrieving gloves, adjusting my helmet, talking to fellow skiers… but not skiing.  The best video I could get is a low-def video taken from my HD camcorder.  This was from Mike’s first run down honeycomb.  Not the deepest snow, but the continued snowfall added another foot as the day went on.

Mike Skis Honeycomb Canyon from fatbearfehr on Vimeo.

08-09 Ski Days: 7

Jeremy Ranch Backcountry: 1
Preseason Deer Valley: 1
Snowbird: 2
Solitude: 2
Uintas: 1

This forecast for this past week showed a six straight days of snowstorms.  Those snowstorms turned to rain in the lower elevations, quickly wiping out the snow in the hills around town.  The resorts managed to keep a good bit of their snow, but snow quality was pretty poor.

Solitude opened Friday, the third resort to open in Utah.  Solitude unveiled two new high-speed lifts, Moonbeam and Apex.  Unfortunately, neither lift goes anywhere of value unless you are new to the sport or, in our case, if nothing else is open.

We ripped groomers for a couple hours and headed home.  Not much else to report.  But a day of skiing is better than a day without skiing.

08-09 Ski Days: 4

Preseason Deer Valley: 1
Snowbird: 1
Solitude: 1
Uintas: 1

A couple of weeks ago, Charli and I hiked to the top Bald Mountain in the Uintas.  We decided to explore the Uintas for two reasons: 1. to get some exercise before the start of winter, and 2. to do a little reconnaissance work for the upcoming ski season.  We found a couple interesting areas that can be accessed by snowmobile and a short tour.

Yesterday, Bill, Mike and I decided to take advantage of the recent snow and did some skiing and snowmobiling in the Unitas.  With Mirror Lake Highway set to close in the upcoming days, we ignored the “road closed” signs and drove the 28 miles back to Murdock Mountain, an easily accessible peak across from Bald Mountain.  At 11,200 feet, Murdock Mountain appears to be an ideal hill for backcountry skiing, a rolling approach from the south suitable for snowmobile tow-ins, and a steep north-facing bowl with a couple cliffs and chutes.

We did our best to find some skiable terrain, but instead wound up sliding down a combination of four-day-old slop and jagged rocks.  Fortunately, Bill had a pretty good time riding his snowmobile around Murdock Basin and the Fehr Lake Trailhead.

Check out some pictures of our first time skiing the Unitas.

08-09 Ski Days: 3

Preseason Deer Valley: 1
Snowbird: 1
Uintas: 1

As reported earlier, for the thousands of fans that cannot start a day without a visit to AdamFehr.com, Snowbird opened today!  November 7th marks the second earliest opening in Snowbird’s history.  Pretty impressive.  This week’s massive storm left more than enough snow for the resort to open.  Gad, Mid-Gad, and even the Tram were running, allowing a ton of skiers and boarders to enjoy some early-season turns.

Charli, Mike Kisow, Bill Kisow, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to get back on the slopes.  The snow was great througout the morning.  Eventually the weather warmed up enough to make skiing a little too much work on my out-of-shape legs.

Not too many pictures or videos from today.  Check out a picture I got of Charli ripping Regulator Johnson on her new G3 El Hombre’s and Hammerhead tele bindings.  Not the best-timed photo, but you get the idea.

Charli teleing the bird

08-09 Ski Days: 2

Preseason Deer Valley: 1
Snowbird: 1

The Wasatch Front was hit with a full-on, Lake Effect, winter storm early this week.  Alta and Snowbird received almost 4 feet of snow.  Just enough to allow Snowbird to open this Friday.

Charli and I jumped the gun and set out for some backcountry touring.  We grabbed our skis, skins, and dogs and made our way up to Guardsman Pass.  We parked just above Empire Lodge and started skinning our way uphill towards Empire Pass.  After climbing for an hour and a half, Charli, Mogul, Hobbes, Tracker, and I found some waist-deep (head deep for the dogs) powder turns down through a creek bed.  The coverage was pretty minimal, probably not the best choice for a first day of the season warmup run.

Awesome first day.  A respectable 3:1 face-shot to core-shot ratio.  Check out my first helmet cam footage of the season:

Preseason Helmet Cam Attempt from fatbearfehr on Vimeo.

08-09 Ski Days: 1

Preseason Deer Valley: 1

Skied the Bird today. The 8 inches of new snow turned to fresh slush. Not the best conditions for skiing, especially now that I am uninsured. Bill and I did a few runs and returned home.

Skiing in June… better than not skiing.

June 6th and Snowbird still has a 10 foot base