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2007 Salt Lake City Odyssey - February

In 2006 we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary (September 4, 2005) by realizing Harvey's dream to spend (almost) an entire ski season in Salt Lake City. We spent the months of February and March in Salt Lake, had season passes at Alta, skied when fresh powder fell, worked when it didn't, and became very familiar with the sights, sounds, and tastes of SLC (especially the restaurants). I maintained a chronicle of our activities and included some spiffy photos for our own records and for anyone who might want to browse through our SLC odyssey that year. We enjoyed the experience so much that we figured a repeat performance in 2007 would be just the ticket. By popular request, the chronicle continues this year. Hang onto your hats...

Thursday, February 1, 2007
Thanks to a 24-hour GI virus that Harvey suffered through, we decided to postpone our departure one day. We got everything packed and managed to leave Portland by 3:00 PM on a beautiful sunshiny afternoon. We drove all the way to Boise, Idaho (roughly 450 miles) and checked into a Holiday Inn sometime after 11:00 PM. Kayla took a couple of photos of Mt. Hood (or Mountain Hood, as our grandchildren used to say) on our way out of town, one of which I have included below. Then, we stopped at Multnomah Falls and took another.

Photos of the Day
Mt. Hood in all of its glory.

Kayla enjoys the sunshine while an icy Multhomah Falls flows in the background.

Friday, February 2, 2007
After a good night's sleep, we reveled in our return to a Cracker Barrel for breakfast - what a bountiful breakfast they serve! Drove the remaining 300 miles or so in bright sunshine, arriving in SLC at 4:00 PM. We decided to try new lodging this year, even though our lodging last year was quite acceptable. We were pleasantly surprised by how nice the two-bedroom apartment/suite we had reserved in Sun River Apartments turned out to be - very spacious, a full kitchen, three flat-screen TVs, high-speed internet, vaulted ceilings, nice furniture, well equipped - exceptionally nice. The second bedroom will allow us to have visiting guests stay with us. After unpacking and getting the computers up and running, we went out for a very nice dinner at a Ruby Tuesday's nearby. Then on to Walmart, where we stocked up on groceries and a few household items. As I type it is past midnight, so two tired puppies will be heading to bed very shortly. Stay tuned for late-breaking news ... we hear that there is skiing to be had up Little Cottonwood Canyon...

Saturday, February 3, 2007
Breakfast in the apartment was followed by our first trip up to Alta. Two back country skiers had been caught in an avalanche around 10:30 AM and Little Cottonwood Canyon road was packed with ambulances, helicopters, and police cars when we drove up. They were high up on a very steep part of the mountain and all reports were that it was an extremely difficult recovery. When we finally got to the resort we renewed friendships from last year at the Alta Ski Shop, purchased our season passes, and took Collins lift up the mountain. Skied down to Watson's Shelter and renewed additional friendships at Collins Grill, where we have lunch whenever we are skiing around the noon hour. Spent the remainder of the afternoon skiing in the Wildcat area - it was like riding a bicycle or falling off a log - the skills were still there, but perhaps a bit rusty. It was tough to find any small powder stashes, but easy to find exposed rocks and bolders. The Wasatch Range is woefully short of snow this year - only about half what it had a year ago at this point. Moreover, the forecast for the coming week does not look promising - a storm is forecast for next Saturday night and Sunday morning. It looks like this will be a work week, but surely things will pick up sometime in the coming weeks. We stopped skiing at 4:30, had our traditional latte (Harvey) and steamer (Kayla) before driving down the canyon. Had dinner at Mike Anderson's Black Angus Steak House, which ordinarily is one of our favorite dining spots, but we got unlucky tonight and our server was slammed with a party of ten and several other tables. It took forever for our order to be taken and then our food arrived cold. The Manager came to a partial rescue and cut our bill in half. We'll give them another try a bit later. Returned to the apartment and spent some time in the hot tub relaxing muscles that hadn't been used for ten months. Now for a relaxing evening and Super Bowl Sunday tomorrow.

Photos of the Day
Harvey outside Collins Grill in Watson's Shelter at mid-mountain - our favorite lunch place at Alta..

Our server at Collins Grill was nice enough to take a picture of both of us.

Kayla still has what it takes on the slopes - too bad there was no sun available.

Sunday, February 4, 2007
Today was a lazy, catch-up on rest day. We slept late and spent a very relaxing day awaiting the Super Bowl. The weather was almost spring-like with temperatures getting into the low 40’s.

Knowing how much we would be sitting during the football game, we decided to take a long walk along the Jordan River Trail that is less than 100 yards from our apartment. This is a lovely trail for both walking/biking that goes for many miles through Salt Lake. Today we saw hundreds of ducks (mallards, spoonbills, teal, mergansers, and wood) and geese in and along the river as we walked. Other wild animals we encountered were kestrel hawks and a covey of quail. We passed a fenced in farm that had horses, llamas, peacocks, chickens. We plan to make rather extensive use of the trail during our stay in SLC. The wildlife seem to be permanent residents along the Jordan River and ignored us for the most part.

We loved the outcome of the Super Bowl. Having seen Peyton Manning play at UT while we were still in Knoxville, we have been strong supporters and pleased with his success in the NFL. An afternoon of snacking in front of the TV suited us to a Tee.

There is no chance for snow until next Saturday, at the earliest. Not the kind of forecast we would like to hear. Guess we will get a lot of real work and be ready to head to the mountain as soon as the snow storm arrives. We fear patience will be the operative word in the coming week. THINK SNOW!!!

There will be no photos until Harvey gets our camera repaired. He had just spent over $100 on repairs before we left Portland - then after only two days of taking photos the same "lens error" happened again. He's convinced that it is just a defective camera. May have to buy a new one...

Monday, February 5, 2007
No new snow, so no skiing. A beautiful day in SLC, with highs around 50 and bright sun. We took another long walk along the Jordan River in the opposite direction this time (South). Not nearly as nice as the walk toward the North we took on yesterday. There are no snowstorms forecast until the weekend at the earliest, so it looks like we will get in lots of walks. Harvey finally got his"remote office" whipped into shape today - sturdy new 2.5 by 6 foot table that holds my printer, keyboard, monitor, and file basket nicely leaving tabletop room for folders and papers - totally acceptable. He worked late into the evening catching up on days missed during travel from Portland.

We availed ourselves of the proximity of a Cracker Barrel Restaurant (just a couple of miles away) and enjoyed wonderful southern cooking for dinner: chicken and dumplings (and the dumplings were prepared properly - thin and flat), fried okra, mustard greens with pepper vinegar, green beans, cole slaw, cornbread, and biscuits. We hobbled in, gobbled up, and wobbled out!

Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Once again, no new snow, so no skiing. Another beautiful day in SLC. We returned to the Northern route for our walk along the Jordan River today. We think that the trail could be taken all the way to downtown SLC, but we are hardly up to that many miles of walking. Harvey worked most of the day responding to email messages, requesting and receiving payroll data files from CCC clients, and compliance monitoring for both 2006 and 2007. Tonight promises to be an "eat at home" evening, but one never knows...

Wednesday, February 7, 2007
The fifth verse is the same as the first, no snow, no skiing, just work, our constitutional walk along the Jordan River, and dinner in the apartment. Not very exciting.

Thursday, February 8, 2007
Another day of bright sunshine, warm temperatures (high over 50), one inch of new snow, but not enough to entice us up the canyon, work in the remote office, noontime walk amongst the ducks and geese, and - finally - something different. Harvey's brother Vance and his wife Ann drove down from Jackson Hole for a few days and joined us for a nice dinner at the Macaroni Grill. They returned to our apartment with us for a very nice visit. Vance asked Harvey to experiment with a Canon EOS 20D Digital camera a friend of his had loaned to him. So, I took a few shots of our apartment - see below:

Photos of the Day
Living Room.

Kitchen.

Guest Bedroom.

Master Bedroom 1.

Master Bedroom 2.

Skylights in Living Room.

Kayla at her computer.

Harvey's computer table.

Friday, February 9, 2007
A late breakfast/brunch at the Cracker Barrel with Harvey's brother Vance and sister-in-law Ann got our lazy day off to a good start. While Vance and Ann went off shopping, Kayla and Harvey opened and sorted their first weekly package of forwarded mail (a nice new service provided by the USPS). Early in the afternoon we all went for a walk along the Jordan River, where Vance took lots of photos of ducks and geese, only to have HIS camera freeze up on him. Harvey must just be a black hole for cameras - and he wasn't even touching Vance's camera when it went crazy. So, no photos once again. There is hope for next week, since Harvey's camera should be in transit on its way back to SLC from Portland. Dinner tonight was a special treat - at Rodizio Grill - The Brazilian Steakhouse. Kayla and Harvey had eaten there last year and enjoyed it greatly, so they wanted Vance and Ann to share the experience this year. Back to the apartment at an early hour for a relaxing Friday evening - the Carruths definitely are party animals!

Saturday, February 10, 2007
We joined Vance and Ann at Hopper's Brewpub for brunch around 10 AM and had their famous sticky buns for the first time this trip, followed by a wonderful omlette. Then we took the Jackson Hole guests to the 2002 SLC Olympics Cauldron Park, where we enjoyed the film yet again and wandered around the grounds reading about the various 17 days of the Olympics. Scurried back to Walgreens to pick up Valentines cards and get them off to the children and grandchildren. Then an early dinner at Caffe Molise downtown prior to attending a concert entitled "Hallelujah Sing" by various Grigham Young University choirs (Women's Chorus, Concert Choir, BYU Singers, and Men's Chorus). There must have been nearly 400 singers involved - the Men's Chorus alone had nearly 200 singers - and the music was glorious. This concert was definitely the highlight of our stay so far this year! We actually needed an umbrella for light rain in the valley, so maybe ... just maybe, we'll have some fresh snow in the mountains tomorrow. That would be most welcomed!

Sunday, February 11, 2007
Finally there was fresh snow at Alta!! So, we got up earlier than usual (7 AM), gathered up ski clothes, had some breakfast, and headed up the Canyon to see if it was really true. Never would we have imagined that we would arrive on February 2 and not see ANY fresh snow for the next nine days. The snowfall history for 2006-07 compared to the snowfall history for 2005-06 shows that so far this season Alta has received less than half of the snow it had received by this point last season and well less than half of the snow it had received by this point the season before (snowfall history for 2004-05). It turned out to be a wonderful day of skiing. When we arrived at Alta around 10 AM it was snowing heavily. We avoided the lift lines at the Collins Lift and went straight to Wildcat lift and area. Plenty of powder everywhere and not too many people on the mountain. We skied several runs in the Wildcat area, often with fresh tracks in up to a foot of powder. Had a relaxing lunch at our old standby Collins Grill, then continued skiing in the trees from both the Collins and Wildcat lifts. Kayla gave it up around 3 PM and Harvey made a few more runs until nearly 4 PM (the lifts close at 4:30 PM). We had our traditional steamer (Kayla) and latte (Harvey) before heading down the Canyon. Had dinner at Ruby Tuesday again, sharing a delicious pasta entree (Shrimp Pasta Parmesan) and items from the salad bar. Returned to the apartment two tired puppies, caught up on email, made reservations for our Valentine's dinner (which we always celebrate on February 13, primarily to beat the restaurant crowds), made some phone calls, and Harvey did a little work. All-in-all, a most enjoyable day.

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Sun February 11th, 2007 at 05:30:00 AM
Settled Snow Depth: 64"
MOUNTAIN CAMS
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 7"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 7 "
Snowfall this Season: 193"
Sky Cover: Snowing
Ridgetop Winds: Light WNW
Mid Mountain Temp:(°F) 28°
Highway 210 Status: No Restrictions
Forecast for Today
Sky Cover: Snow
Temperatures °F (9am-4pm): 28° - 35°
Wind: Light WSW
Snowfall: 2-4"
Extended Forecast: Snow advisory through 900 PM tonight. Colder air will arrive tonight. Light snow showers Monday then a few inches likely Tuesday and Tuesday night with light winds.

Photo of the Day
Still no camera, so I decided to just include the Pic-of-the-Day from the Alta website. It gives a pretty accurate picture of skiing conditions today.

Monday, February 12, 2007
Woke up to a report of an additional 5" of fresh snow overnight (failed to capture the morning Snow Report - afternoon report appears below), but Harvey had work to do in the morning, so neither of us made a move for the mountain until noon. At that time Kayla decided not to ski so Harvey went up the Canyon alone, arriving there at 1 PM. He skied one run under the Collins lift, then headed over to the Supreme lift. He skied six or eight runs in the Supreme area, with nice powder in most places, but with some icy spots. He got into a pretty dicey spot on his traverse above Supreme Bowl and had to side-step up several feet on an extremely steep and icy spot - falling was NOT an option. Otherwise, it was a most pleasant afternoon of skiing - one during which Harvey just explored around the mountain looking for undisturbed powder stashes. He worked his way back into the Collins-Wildcat area around 3 PM and took two final runs through untracked powder he had scouted out off of the Wildcat lift. He received a call from a Portland Public Schools employee while on the mountain asking about one of the 403(b) vendors - never far from the office! The traditional latte was consumed during the drive down the Canyon while talking to one of the parking lot attendants who bummed a ride down to the Seven-Eleven in Sandy. A nice hot shower was wonderfully refreshing, as was our chicken & dumpling and vegetable dinner at the Cracker Barrel. Now it is all of 8:30 PM, yet my eyes are drooping shut. I can't figure out whyyyyyyy...... zzzzzzzz.

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Mon February 12th, 2007 at 04:30:00 PM
Settled Snow Depth: 73"
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 1"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 7 "
Snowfall this Season: 204"
Sky Cover: Mostly Sunny
Ridgetop Winds: Light W
Mid Mountain Temp:(°F) 24°
Highway 210 Status: Snowtires or Chains Required in Vehicle
Forecast for Today
Sky Cover: Cloudy
Temperatures °F (9am-4pm): 15° - 32°
Wind: Light E
Snowfall: 0"
Extended Forecast: A storm system will exit the area this morning, with a slight chance of snow flurries during the morning hours. Another storm system is expected to move through the area Tuesday, bringing a chance of snow flurries but no major accumulation.

Photo of the Day
Still no camera, so here is the Pic-of-the-Day from the Alta website. Again, it gives a pretty accurate picture of skiing conditions today.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
No skiing today, but a nice visit from our friend Katy Kendall from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at lunchtime. She has just begun her return trip to Tennessee after driving out to Idaho with a good friend of hers - they were in two cars, both carrying her friend's belongings to a studio. We enjoyed our visit with Katy very much and wished her well on the remainder of her journey. We just received an email message from her letting us know that she reached Cedar City with only intermittent snow showers along the way. Kayla drove downtown for a haircut this afternoon, then we took a quick hour-long walk along the Jordan River - had to go pet "my" dog along the route. Tonight we celebrated Valentine's Day one day early by having a very special dinner at Bombara Restaurant in Hotel Monaco. Tomorrow we are scheduled for a half-day ski lesson with Dave Crans, an outstanding ski instructor from the Alta Ski School. Should be a blast!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007
What a wonderful Valentine's Day for us - several inches of fresh powder on the mountain and a three-hour private lesson from one of the premier ski instructors at Alta (Dave Crans). The morning Snow Report below suggested a "trace to 1 inch" of snow during the day today, but I am betting that the total will be closer to 5 inches. It was snowing hard when we left the resort around 3:30 PM and had been doing so since about 1:00 PM. Harvey is thinking that tomorrow will be another powder morning. We enjoyed a relaxing lunch in Collins Grill following our ski lesson, including a celebratory "Heart of Darkness" desert. We only skied a couple more runs after lunch and drove down the Canyon for a late afternoon nap. We shared a lovely romantic Valentine's Day dinner of leftover chicken & dumplings, pork tenderloin, and filet warmed in the microwave in our apartment. The Duke - Boston College basketball game was on in the background while Kayla wished her mother Happy Valentine's Day on the telephone. Today was our oldest grandson Tristan's seventh birthday and we wished him both a happy birthday and a happy Valentine's Day - also got to wish the other three grandchildren and our daughter Kim Happy Valentine's. We finished off the evening with a rejuvinating soak in the hot tub. Another day of powder skiing is anticipated for tomorrow - sugar plums come to mind...

One thing I forgot to mention about Monday, February 12 were the horrific shootings at Trolly Square, in which five innocent people were killed and four others were severely injured before the shooter was killed by an off-duty Ogden police officer (interviewed by Matt Lower on the Today Show this morning) and a SLC police officer. It made the national news, and we were so thankful that the obviously sick shooter didn't decide to go on his rampage three nights earlier. We were there for dinner with Harvey's brother Vance and sister-in-law Ann on Friday evening before the Monday "night of terror."

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Wed February 14th, 2007 at 09:00:00 AM
Settled Snow Depth: 72"
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 2"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 3 "
Snowfall this Season: 207"
Sky Cover: Mostly Sunny
Ridgetop Winds: Light NNW
Mid Mountain Temp:(°F) 12°
Highway 210 Status: No Restrictions
Forecast for Today
Sky Cover: Snow Flurries
Temperatures °F (9am-4pm): 12° - 24°
Wind: Light NW
Snowfall: trace to 1"
Extended Forecast: Tonight snow flurries, trace to 2 inches possible with temperatures in the lower teens. Snow expected Thursday and Thursday night.

Thursday, February 15, 2007
We got a late start today, leaving the apartment about 11:30 AM and arriving at Alta around 12:30 PM. However, there was deep powder everywhere and we had an excellent afternoon of skiing. Broke for lunch at Collins Grill and then skied right up to closing at 4:30 PM. It snowed the entire time we were there. Drove back down the Canyon to find that the repaired camera had finally arrived, so hopefully we will include photos in future postings. Picked up a camera battery and battery charger at Best Buy and dinner to go at Macaroni Grill - had to get back to the Apartment by 8:00 PM so Kayla wouldn't miss Gray's Anatomy. Harvey did some work up until about 11:00 PM and then we settled in for the night, anticipating another powder day tomorrow.

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Thu February 15th, 2007 at 08:45:00 AM
Settled Snow Depth: 78"
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 5"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 6 "
Snowfall this Season: 213"
Sky Cover: Snowing
Ridgetop Winds: Light NW
Mid Mountain Temp:(°F) 20°
Highway 210 Status: Snowtires or Chains Required in Vehicle
Forecast for Today
Sky Cover: Snow
Temperatures °F (9am-4pm): 14° - 29°
Wind: Moderate WNW
Snowfall: 1-4"
Extended Forecast: Snow advisory in effect from 11am today through 11am Friday. Total storm accumulations are expected to be between 8-12 inches by midday tomorrow.

Friday, February 16, 2007
Failed to capture the morning snow report, which indicated much more fresh snow than the afternoon report below. We headed up the Canyon early this morning, arriving at Wildcat Base around 8:45 AM. Had breakfast at Gold Miner's Daughter, then on to the Alta Ski Shop to put on boots and prepare for the mornign of skiing on lots of fresh powder. Turned out that opening of the Collins Lift was delayed and this is the first day of President's Day weekend, so the lines were incredibly long. We just relaxed in the Ski Shop and waited until Harvey felt compelled to go ahead and go to the Wildcat lift line, which was also quite long. Finally we were able to load and got in our first run around 10 AM - fantastic snow, but quite strong winds and blowing snow all morning. We skied several runs in the Wildcat area - after the first two or three the lift line reduced to nothing - just ski down and hop right back on the lift. Harvey twisted Kayla's arm and convinced her to use our digital camera to take a video of him making turns. I have attempted to incorporate that video into this web page - if it doesn't work, I will place the videos out on Snapfish. Kayla took a break just after noon and Harvey took two additional runs in the Wildcat area. On the first of these solo runs Harvey took a video of the entire run, holding his ski poles in his right hand, the camera in his left hand, and providing commentary along the way. The file is much too large to place on the CCC website (366 MB), so Harvey will definitely place that video on Snapfish. It's a far cry from Warren Miller, but our grandson Gareth thought it was reasonably cool. We had a wonderful lunch at the Rustler Lodge - a first for us. Kayla had half a sandwich and Harvey had an excellent salmon entree. We decided to call it a day at 2 PM and headed down the Canyon. Kayla took a nap while Harvey transferred photos and videos from the camera to the computer and worked at including them as photos of the day (see below).

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Fri February 16th, 2007 at 04:30:00 PM
Settled Snow Depth: 81"
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 2"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 5 "
Snowfall this Season: 222"
Sky Cover: Partly Sunny
Ridgetop Winds: Moderate NW
Mid Mountain Temp:(°F) 28°
Highway 210 Status: Snowtires or Chains Required in Vehicle
Forecast for Today
Sky Cover: Snow Flurries
Temperatures °F (9am-4pm): 17° - 35°
Wind: Light WNW
Snowfall: t"
Extended Forecast: Possible flurries tonight, partly sunny with flurries possible in the morning tomorrow.

Photos of the Day
Kayla models her new ski outfit in front of the Alta Ski Shop.

Another shot in front of the Ski Shop - notice the graphic on the black and white ski.

Kayla gives Tim rabbit ears in the ski shop.

Phil and Opie discuss skis and boots about to be rented.

Katherine makes a sale in the ski shop.

Oops - forgot his name - will remedy soon. Enjoying a Mac-Alta bagel.

Dan enjoys his breakfast MacAlta bagel.

Kayla gets up close and personal with a tree - and nobody got hurt!!

Harvey has chosen his Christmas Tree for next year.

How did this tree jump into my path?!?

Pretty nice scenery, except for that guy in the bright colored ski suit.

Hmmm, let's see, I wonder which trail Harvey will take - there are so few of them...

Recycle that guy ... please!!

For a guy who usually isn't any of the photos, Harvey went overboard today!

Video Clip
This is something Harvey tried for the first time this year - using our Nikon digital camera to take video clips of action skiing. The files are rather large, so they are set up to open a new browser window and download the entire file before displaying with QuickTime software. If QuickTime is not loaded on your computer, you may download and install it free from the QuickTime Download Site. Unless you are interested in QuickTime with iTunes, click on the QuickTime 7.1.5 for Windows 2000/XP radio bullet and, unless you are interested in being kept up to date with QuickTime News, New Music Tuesday, and/or other Apple news, uncheck those three check boxes before downloading the software.

Click HERE for a video clip of Harvey "carving it like a turkey" and allow a few minutes for the video to load.

Saturday, February 17, 2007
No new snow today and besides, this is President's Day weekend, so we didn't even think about skiing. For some reason we stayed up extra late last night, so we slept in until mid-morning. After breakfast in the apartment we spent the afternoon walking around downtown on a beautiful, warm afternoon. The photos below show some of the locations we visited. Had an early dinner at the Vienna Bistro - a rather wierd experience due to the "strangness" of our server. His name was Lance and the fact that he had his nametag on upside down should have been a warning about what we should expect. He was not on his A game, if he has an A game. In any event, the meal was reasonably good: two appetizers - baked brie in pastry and raclette cheese; shared entree of Sauerbraten with Spatlze and Blaukraut; and Apple Strudel and Cheesecake deserts. From there we walked to the Conference Center at Temple Square for A Winter Concert by the Orchestra at Temple Square. Interestingly enough the same young violinist (Eugene Ugorski) who was soloist for a performance of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 77 with the Utah Symphony last year was soloist for a performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 tonight. His perfornance was excellent. Other works on the program were The Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky and Bolero by Maurice Ravel, both of which were most enjoyable. All-in-all, a varied and relaxing day.

Photos of the Day
Kayla leaves our apartment, which is located above the Sun River Apartments Office - very private and very quiet.

Today was "Wedding Day" at the Morman Temple - brides and grooms were everywhere.

Interior of The Cathedral of the Madeline - Catholic Church in downtown Salt Lake City.

Front entrance to the Salt Palace Convention Center.

Pretty mural inside the Salt Palace Convention Center.

Dinner at the Vienna Bistro - the table was interesting, but the server had a difficult evening.

Sunday, February 18, 2007
Another "no new snow day" and President's Day weekend, so once again we didn't ski. We attended church at Christ United Methodist Church this morning - it was Cub and Boy Scout Sunday and the participants did a nice job. Reverend Steve Goodier delivered a thoughtful message entitled "Making Sense of Trolley Square," the essence of which was: When bad things happen to good people, look within. After church we enjoyed brunch at Cafe Trio, where Kayla had the Trio Omelette and Harvey had the Eggs alla Italiano. We spent a quiet afternoon in the apartment, with Harvey watching Charles Howell beat Phil Mickelson in a sudden death playoff at the Nissan Open Golf Tournament and Kayla napping. Not a particularly exciting day, but relaxing just the same. Following a mundane dinner of cereal with bananas, Harvey spent the entire evening catching up on compliance testing for calendar year 2006 while Kayla watched a CNN special on Martin Luther King. A substantial storm is forecast for tonight, so our commitment to not skiing on holidays may face a stern test tomorrow morning...

Monday, February 19, 2007
We had not planned to ski today, since it was a holiday and we thought the crowds would be significant. However, when Harvey checked the snow report at 6:30 AM and realized that the 5:15 AM report indicated 7" of snow overnight, that plan went straight out the window. Kayla stuck with her decision, so Harvey headed up the Canyon by himself, arriving at Alta around 8 AM. It was snowing heavily and the parking lot was exceptionally slippery - so slippery that Harvey slipped and fell flat on his back, with his left leg bending under him and tweaking his knee. Fortunately no real damage was done, and you can bet that he walked much more carefully for the remainder of the day. After a breakfast of sausage, egg, and cheeze croissant, Harvey put on his boots, picked up his skis, and headed to the Wildcat Lift line. He managed to occupy the second chair of the morning with roughly a foot of fresh powder - an epic run with not a track in sight! Life is definitely good! An inadvertent binding release on his second run sent him scurrying back to the ski shop to have his bindings tightened and to attach his powder cords (colorful long cloth thingies that you attach to your skis so you can locate them if they happen to come off in deep powder). He skied roughly four or five runs in each area of the mountain: Wildcat; Collins; Backside; Sugarloaf; and Supreme. By 2:30 PM his "dogs were barking," as his brother-in-law likes to say, so he made one final run in the Wildcat trees and headed back to the barn. A superb day of skiing - all of the locals Harvey rode with said it was the best day of the season to date. The traditional latte was his companion for the drive back to the apartment, where he found Kayla relaxed and rested. Since Harvey had failed to eat lunch and skied hard for nearly six hours, he was famished - just the excuse for a Cracker Barrel chicken and dumpling dinner. Kayla didn't get any exercise today, so she headed for the Mall for a walk while Harvey updated the chronicle/blog and did some compliance work.

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Mon February 19th, 2007 at 10:10:00 AM
Settled Snow Depth: 86"
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 11"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 11 "
Snowfall this Season: 233"
Sky Cover: Snowing
Ridgetop Winds: Light WNW
Mid Mountain Temp:(°F) 19°
Highway 210 Status: Snowtires or Chains Required in Vehicle
Forecast for Today
Sky Cover: Snow
Temperatures °F (9am-4pm): 21° - 23°
Wind: Light NW
Snowfall: 4-7"
Extended Forecast: SNOW ADVISORY THROUGH NOON. Steadier snow will taper off to snow flurries around noon, but areas favored by northwest flow could see snow flurries into the late afternoon.A potent system is expected to bring back snow Thursday night and Friday.

Photos of the Day
A nice view of the tracked deep powder in the Collins trees, with the parking lot in the background.

Another view of the Collins trees - a beautiful snowy morning.

Click HERE for a video clip of the Collins area and allow a few minutes for the video to load.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Only one inch of fresh snow overnight, so we decided not to ski today. Harvey remained pretty tired from his hard day of skiing yesterday anyway, so a day of rest was most welcomed. Kayla made a trip to Walmart to pick up a few supplies while Harvey put our several business brush fires and did some compliance testing. We took a walk late this afternoon, driving to a park at the end of our usual walks and going into new territory, which included a path through a golf course. There was snow on the ground and the course was closed, so the geese had taken up residence. The photos below are of "Harvey's" dog and Kayla with the Wasatch Range in the background. The walk was nice, but the wind chill was bitterly cold due to a very strong wind, even though the temperature was around 40 degrees. The warm apartment felt mighty good when we returned to watch the evening news. We returned to Ruby Tuesday for dinner, but tried new entrees - Kayla had the Minis Ruby Minis & Fresh Salad Bar ™ (two small hamburgers) and salad bar and Harvey had New Orleans Seafood ™ , all of which were very good. The entire time we were there a sports talk show was going on just 20 feet from us with a host interviewing the coach and two players from the SLC Grizzlies Minor-League Hockey team. Our son Mark is a big hockey fan, so we'll arrange for him to attend a game if he visits us in SLC and the Grizzlies have a home game during his visit.

Photos of the Day
Harvey pets his favorite dog on our blustery afternoon walk.

A better view of "Harvey's" dog - poor thing is tethered to a closeline all day - she's always glad to see us coming.

Kayla hams it up with a panoramic view of the Wasatch Range in the background - this is on the golf course.

A closer view of Kayla, the Wasatch Range, one Canada goose full view, and just the head of another above Kayla's left hand.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007
No fresh snow overnight, so no skiing today. Harvey spent most of the day working, but did take time out for our usual afternoon walk along the Jordan River. We had dinner at Hopper's Grill, but they were out of crab cakes, which was the only reason Harvey had suggested going there. We both decided that Hopper's was not the place for dinner and that we would restrict our visits there to Saturday and Sunday brunches, where they serve scrumptious sticky buns. We did a little shopping at Walmart and Bed, Bath, and Beyond before returning to the apartment for an evening of continued work for Harvey. Big storm is still forecast for Friday, so we are making our plans to ski all day. Also, we were pleased to learn that our son Mark will fly down on Saturday for a few days of skiing with us, returning to Portland next Tuesday evening.

Photos of the Day
Canada geese and one mallard duck on the Jordan River during our afternoon walk.

Three peacocks in the yard (and a partridge in a pear tree?).

This alpaca gives Kayla a quizzical look as she snaps the picture. Can Dr. Doolittle be far away?

Harvey stepped toward the river to photograph these Goldeneye ducks, causing four of them to take flight.

Thursday, February 22, 2007
No fresh snow again, so no skiing today. Once again, Harvey spent most of the day working, but took time out for the usual afternoon walk along the Jordan River. We ate dinner in the apartment tonight - General Tsao Shrimp - bought frozen at the grocery store. A big day of skiing is on tap for tomorrow.

Photos of the Day
This gorgeous Ring-Necked Pheasant greeted us from its perch on a wall as we began our walk today.

The mountains were beautiful this afternoon - too bad that creature in the ski jacket detracts from the beauty.

A Mosque along our hiking pathway.

Kind of blurred photo, but the sunset colors were very pretty. Last night they were spectacular, but didn't have camera.

Friday, February 23, 2007
The storm definitely arrived on schedule, so we got an early start, leaving the apartment around 7:15 AM. The Canyon road was pretty slick and snow was falling heavily, so we were thankful for our 4WD Blazer. We were early enough to get a parking spot very close to Wildcat Base - dropped off the brownies Kayla made for the Ski Shop employees along with a couple dozen Krispy Kreme donuts before going to Goldminer's Daughter cafe for breakfast. The line at Wildcat Lift wasn't too long at 9 AM, so we went there and began our full day of excellent powder skiing. I was fortunate enough to get an great video clip of Kayla making wonderful turns in the deep powder - check it out below. We skied hard from 9:15 until noon, then stopped off at the Rustler Lodge for a relaxing lunch. Back onto the slopes around 1 PM and headed to the Supreme Lift - first time there for Kayla this season. Powder, powder everywhere, and not a flake was missed! The only downside of the entire day was a brutal traverse from the top of Sugarloaf Lift over to the top of Collins Lift on Collins Return. It was snowing heavily, the temperature was under 20 degrees, and the wind must have been blowing at least 50 miles per hour right into our faces. Even in the best of conditions this traverse has very little pitch, but in that wind we literally had to pole ourselves the entire distance. That was enough to end Kayla's day of skiing (no biggie, since it was already almost 3 PM) and it almost ended Harvey's day. Turns out Harvey made only one more run in the Wildcat area and called it a day. We beat the heavy traffic down the canyon, arriving back at the apartment before 5 PM. After dinner at the Cracker Barrel two tired puppies did not have to be rocked to sleep...

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Fri February 23rd, 2007 at 04:30:00 PM
Settled Snow Depth: 93"
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 15"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 15 "
Snowfall this Season: 250"
Sky Cover: Snowing
Ridgetop Winds: Moderate WNW
Mid Mountain Temp:(°F) 15°
Highway 210 Status: Snowtires or Chains Required in Vehicle
Forecast for Today
Sky Cover: Snow
Temperatures °F (9am-4pm): 10° - 21°
Wind: Moderate NW
Snowfall: 4-8"
Extended Forecast: Winter storm warning in effect until 3AM Saturday morning. Storm totals in excess of 2 feet expected by late tonight. Another storm is expected to roll in late Saturday through Sunday bringing another round of heavy snow.

Photos of the Day
Breakfast in Goldminer's Daughter Cafe with heavy snow falling outside - prelude to an epic day of powder skiing.

Could it possibly get any better than this? I don't think so...

We felt like Brer Rabbit getting tossed in the briar patch, getting placed next to the wood fire during lunch at Rustler Lodge..

Click HERE for a great video clip of Kayla carving it like a turkey, and allow a few minutes for the video to load.

Saturday, February 24, 2007
Woke up to a report of an additional 11" of snow overnight, so Harvey couldn't resist heading back up to his Mecca of powder skiing. Kayla was pretty tired after yesterday's hard day of skiing and she prefers not to ski on weekends, so she decided not to ski. Bummer!! The road up Little Cottonwood Canyon was closed for avalanche control and the line of cars waiting for it to open seemed to stretch all the way up to Alberta, Canada, so Harvey aborted his attempt to get to Alta today. As nice as it would have been to ski in 11" of fresh powder, fighting those crowds just to get up the mountain, much less the crowds on the slopes, just wasn't worth the hassle. There will be plenty of other days of fresh powder before April 1. We went to Hopper's Grill for brunch and enjoyed their famous sticky buns (see photo below). Then we just napped the afternoon away, went out to Ruby Tuesday for dinner, where hundreds of "cowboys" were circulating before a bull riding competition at the arena where the SLC hockey team plays, and spent a quiet evening in the apartment.

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Sat February 24th, 2007 at 05:15:00 AM
Settled Snow Depth: 101"
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 11"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 26 "
Snowfall this Season: 261"
Sky Cover: Cloudy
Ridgetop Winds: Light NW
Mid Mountain Temp:(°F) 11°
Highway 210 Status: Temporary Closure: Estimated opening at 8:00 AM
Forecast for Today
Sky Cover: Snow Flurries
Temperatures °F (9am-4pm): 14° - 22°
Wind: Light NW
Snowfall: 1-2"
Extended Forecast: A ridge of high pressure will build over the region today. Snow may return to the region late tonight as a pacific storm system approaches. Today - Partly cloudy with isolated snow flurries.

Photo of the Day
Brunch at Hopper's Grill, with the famous sticky buns. Where did the other's go Kayla?

Sunday, February 25, 2007
Only one inch of new snow overnight, but predictions of 4-6" during the day today. However, the forecast is for storm after storm all week, so Harvey decided to work today, knowing that he would be on the slopes most of the week. We went to the Market Street Grill Cottonwood for their Sunday Brunch today, and both of us had the smoked pork chop and egg benedict, which does not appear to be on their online brunch menu. The environment was especially nice, with a beautiful view of the Wasatch Front, and snow began to fall while we were there. Harvey worked most of the afternoon and then we took a very brisk walk along the Jordan River before the Academy Awards came on TV. We watched the entire program, then headed to bed in anticipation of a powder morning on Monday.

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Sun February 25th, 2007 at 05:30:00 AM
Settled Snow Depth: 96"
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 1"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 1 "
Snowfall this Season: 262"
Extended Forecast: A weather disturbance crossing Utah will produce snow over the region today and tonight. This will be the first in a series of storm systems affecting the area through the week.

Photos of the Day
Harvey examines the seafood area of the Market Street Grill & Market.

Kayla preferred to look at the dessert display!

Entry to the Market Street Grill & Market.

Kayla adds color to the stream outside of the Market Street Grill & Market. We were on a "swinging" bridge.

Four mallards consider the possibility of making snow angels on our brisk walk this afternoon. We saw two coveys of quail, but they were too well hidden to get a picture.

Monday, February 26, 2007
Hoo-Ahh!! Thirteen inches of new snow overnight - looks like a super powder morning. Kayla arose at 6 AM and put a large frozen lasagne dish into the oven - planning to take it to the staff at the Alta Ski Shop. Harvey took care of some business before we left for the mountain around 10 AM. The ski shop employees were thrilled to have something different for lunch today. Our first run was off the Wildcat Chair and we returned to the area where Kayla's great powder turns video was filmed. We tried a couple of additional video clips - see below to see if any made the grade and got placed on the website. Our second run was off the Collins Lift and we made the mistake of peeling off into the lower Ballroom traverse. We found that the pitch was insufficient to keep us moving in the two feet of rather heavy powder there! We learned our lesson, but it took a heavy toll on Kayla's quads. After a couple more runs Kayla needed a break, so we rode to the top of Collins Lift, Kayla went one way back to the bottom heading for lunch at Rustler Lodge while Harvey headed out High Traverse heading for Eagle's Next and North Rustler - runs he had never skied before (see the trail map). The staff in the Ski Shop had given him directions for how to get there. Sure enough, the run turned out to be epic - several feet of powder all the way down - and Kayla was able to watch the descent from the Rustler Lodge. The whole point of doing this was preparation for when our friend Amy Brooks comes to visit us next month - she doesn't ski, so she will be lounging in the Rustler Lodge while we ski. Now that I know how to get to Eagle's Nest I can call her on her cell phone, let her know that I'm heading down, and then she will likely see me crash and burn! One thing is for sure, my one-piece suit will be easily recongnizable - its colors are bright enough to be picked up on Google Earth. We had a great lunch in Rustler Lodge, then Kayla made one additional run - her legs were toast - so she packed it in and went in for hot chocolate while Harvey made a couple more runs - one in the Wildcat Trees and the other back to High Traverse, Greeley Bowl, High Nowhere, and the lower portion of North Rustler - another epic run, and one that turned Harvey's legs to toast. As Kayla's brother Henry likes to say, Harvey's "dogs were barking." Harvey joined Kayla at the Goldminer's Daughter cafe, picked up his traditional latte, and two tired puppies headed down the Canyon. We went to Macaroni Grill for dinner, tried a new entree (Vodka Rustica), and though we shared the dish we brought half of it home - huge portion. Came home, updated this chronicle, watched Oprah Winfrey's special on TV, and retired for the evening - new storm coming in tomorrow morning...

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Mon February 26th, 2007 at 05:30:00 AM
Settled Snow Depth: 106"
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 13"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 19 "
Snowfall this Season: 281"
Extended Forecast: Light snow expected today. A more potent storm will increase winds and bring heavier snow beginning Monday night. This storm will last into Tuesday. Storm total accumulations of up to 2 feet are possible through Wednesday.

Photos of the Day
Kayla thanks Shelley at US Outdoor in Portland for helping her select her new ski outfit this year.

Harvey thanks Shelley too, since she made Kayla a happy camper with her new ski outfit.

A view of the Rustler Lodge from the top of Eagle's Nest, which Harvey skied shortly after this photo was taken..

Video Clips
This is something Harvey tried for the first time this year - using our Nikon digital camera to take video clips of action skiing. The files are rather large, so they are set up to open a new browser window and download the entire file before displaying with QuickTime software. If QuickTime is not loaded on your computer, you may download and install it free from the QuickTime Download Site. Unless you are interested in QuickTime with iTunes, click on the QuickTime 7.1.5 for Windows 2000/XP radio bullet and, unless you are interested in being kept up to date with QuickTime News, New Music Tuesday, and/or other Apple news, uncheck those three check boxes before downloading the software.

Click HERE for a video clip of Kayla crashing and burning, and allow a few minutes for the video to load.

Then, click HERE for a video clip of her recovery, and allow a few minutes for the video to load.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Harvey awoke at 6 AM to learn that the predicted storm was sitting just north of SLC and would arrive sometime between 7 and 10 AM. Kayla had already decided that she was worn out from Monday's skiing, so she elected not to ski today. So, Harvey headed up the Canyon very early, leaving at 7 AM and arriving in the Alta parking lot at about 7:40. Harvey's was the second vehicle in the lot! Sure enough, as he walked from his vehicle to Goldminer's Daughter the wind and snow hit with a fury. It snowed heavily all morning long, stacking up 7" according to the Snow Report below, but Harvey remains convinces that the snow was seriously underreported - he was skiing in no less than 18" of powder and often up to 36" in the trees. Pem, (short for Pembroke), the driver of the first vehicle in the lot turned out to be from Richmond, Virginia, but currently living in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Harvey and Pem started up a conversation and decided to ski "a run or two" together, since both were skiing alone. Turns out that their skiing and personalities were very compatible, so they ended up skiing together all day. Conditions were epic - one of the best days of skiing in Harvey's life. Two-thirds of the mountain was closed most of the day, but the Canyon road was also closed most of the day, so even though Collins and Wildcat were basically the only lifts open and High Traverse and all of the Rustler runs were closed until well after lunch, no crowds materialized all day long. Pem and Harvey were in the second chair on the Wildcat Lift, the opening of which was delayed until nearly 10 AM. They skied numerous runs in the Wildcat and Collins trees, taking video clips and having a whooping good time. Lunch at Collins Grill was a welcomed respit for challenged legs. Additional glorious runs after lunch led to the decision to give it up around 3:15 PM. A latte for Harvey and a beer for Pem closed out a wonderful day of skiing and Harvey headed down the Canyon to watch the news with Kayla. Dinner at the Cracker Barrel was followed by watching the Tennessee men's basketball team hand defending National Champions Florida a convincing loss, although Florida made an impressive comeback after being nearly 30 points behind at one point.

Snow Report
Current Conditions as of: Tue February 27th, 2007 at 04:30:00 PM
Settled Snow Depth: 110"
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 7"
Snowfall(Past 24 hrs): 10 "
Snowfall this Season: 291"
Extended Forecast: Winter storm warning through 4:00PM. A strong winter storm will impact northern Utah today bringing a round of heavy snow to the area with the most intense snow occuring along and just behind the front.

Photos of the Day
Harvey revels in his "suit of subdued colors" on a spectacular powder day.

Pem gives two thumbs up for his day of powder skiing in the Wildcat trees, with parking lot below him.

Click HERE for a video clip of Pem Hutchinson carving it like a turkey (allow a few minutes for the video to load).

Then, click HERE for a video clip of Harvey disappearing into a white hole, then rising from the ashes like the Phoenix to continue skiing down the mountain (allow a few minutes for the video to load).

Wednesday, February 28, 2007
No fresh snow overnight, and Harvey was pretty well bushed after his hard two days of skiing on Monday and Tuesday, so we decided to catch up on work and rest today. Did get out for a walk this afternoon (see photo of geese below), out to eat at Ruby Tuesday, and home to watch a couple of excellent college basketball games. Got to bed at a reasonable hour (10:30 or so) anticipating a day of powder skiing tomorrow.

Photos of the Day
Look close and you'll see eight geese (alayin?)..

Click Here For The March 2007 Chronicle