March 11, 2000
Deer Valley is Not All Flat
©Aaron Lefohn 2000
Setting: Bluebird spring day at Deer Valley. Tickets complementary of Ski Magazine and Deer Valley. We spent all morning skiing with Phil Mahre, Steve Mahre, Karen's family, Stu Campbell and Ron LeMaster (photographers/writers for Ski Magazine). We'd skied up to say hi/by/thanks to Phil and Steve and before we could take off, Stu suggested that we all come along so they could do some "family" shots (Misha became family). Between the excitement of being photographed for Ski Magazine, skiing with my new Uncle-in-laws for the first time, and having a rediculously outrageous time on the snow blades, the fun factor was off the dial.With a little prodding from Misha, I finally agreed to put down the snow blades and get my real skis so we could go over to "The Cornice." As soon as I took the blades off, he grabbed them for 2 runs...but then we made our way over to the Empire Canyon quad to access the only real terrain at Deer Valley.
We ran into Stu and Ron at the top of the quad. Ron didn't have his camera anymore but agreed to come with us for some fun, hairy turns. I sailed off a 10' kicker just before ducking onto the access trail in the trees. The trail leads directly to the top of the enormous cornice that caps the Daly Chutes. The cornice looks to be 5-8 feet tall from the lift, but it looks very different once you are staring between ski tips to see the double-diamond chutes below you. It is actually 10-12 feet high and drops away steeply below it. There is pleny of room, however, to land and dump speed in a horizontal fashion.
I excitedly hop to the edge of the cornice and peer over. Misha anxiously comes up next to me to inspect the drop. "Wow, it is really big," he says. Ron peer into the maw and balks, "That is what we have to do!? No way. I'm going around." I would have been equally jittery, but thanks to a few previous days at Deer Valley, I'd had a number of chances to practice the drop at slow speeds and smaller sizes. I'm amped.
Misha drops in from a stand-still, nicely nails the landing, and skis over to the side. I mark the spot on the lip where I want to take off, then hike back about 25 feet to gain some speed. The top of the cornice is flat at best and is sloping away from the lip in most spots so it is very hard to carry speed over the edge. I check to see that Ron is out of the way, note my in-laws standing 500' below, and push off...hard. I get 3 or 4 hard skate pushes in before bringing my skis together and step up as hard as I can, right on the lip. I had so much frickin' time in the air, I had time to think deeply about how I was going to land...that thought had one recurring theme to it....HARD. Even though I extended into the landing, I got thrown onto my back, bounced back onto my feet and sent too far foward. My tips crossed, left ski ejected, summer-saulted out of it, and came to a rest 15' below my ski.
We wiggled our way down the skied-out, mogully chute to the awaiting crowd. Stu and Ron made a few comments about my mental illness and skied off. Misha and I knew we had to try again. We needed to go bigger. I needed to land it.
...Fast forward back to top of cornice. Misha and I "alone" with 3 or 4 Deer Valley gawkers. We agree on a take-off point...the biggest section of cornice with soft snow underneath (we tried to avoid landing in moguls). Misha drops in. Bigger than before and nails the landing again. Again he wishes he would have gone bigger, but as things work, the little voice has to first be inebriated by experience to keep him quiet long enough to jump. I hiked back up a little farther back than my previous starting stop. Again pole-wave-communicated with the in-laws and fiance below, and initiated the acceleration towards the lip.
Flight was mine. Mind quiet this time. Free to enjoy the flight...
Despite a full extension into the landing, my lack of monster-strength quads sent me flopping onto my side and back upon impact, but this time I bounced immediately back into center and skied it out! We exchanged pole-touch-hi-fives as I zipped by Misha into the trees on our right. Lying there silently in one of the most unlikely lines in the Daly Chutes; in a line riddled with small trees and tipped up to a delicious angle of 40-45 degrees; was 6-8 inches of untouched north-facing powder. I knew the line well and gleefully led Misha blindly into it. We energetically worked the shot in tandem, with only 2 turns of space separating us. I broke the rythm just above a very steep scraggle of rocks and bushes. The launch ramp presented itself just 5-6 feet downhill from me. I took a quick breath, let the smile envelop my face, and jumped into the fall-line. Again I was thrown onto my side after the 10-15' drop, but bounced right back up into high-speed GS turns...all the way down to the in-laws.
I pulled to a stop next to Karen but ended up on the ground in exhaustion and hysterical fits of laughter. I turned to see Misha hiking back up around to get to the top of the cliff. He had skied around it, but could not let me have all the fun and so had decided to go back up. He threw the launch perfectly, but was blown apart on landing...we all have our landings :)
We exchanged another round of pole-touch-hi-fives, need-to-say-nothing-more grins, and pushed off down the Deer Valley groomer with Karen's family. Dripping in sweat, he waved goodbye to us as he skated off towards the chair back to the main lodge. He had to pick up Stacy by 3:30 at Snowbird.
The last run was simply the best orchestrated couloir run of the season for us both...nearly a redpoint for me.
Go find it...
