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The Canyons, Utah
December 14, 2004
Hi all:
The weather over the weekend was stunningly beautiful and the temps were HOT. It got up to 60 degrees down in SLC and 45 on the south facing slopes at 8000 feet! So, all our amazing snow that we got last week, melted and refroze. As many of you know, the weekend was a dangerous one in the backcountry due to the wet snow that fell at the end of the storm as well as the soaring temps. There were 4 deaths within about a 15 mile radius of The Canyons involving a snowmobiler, 2 snowshoers and a skier. All of them could have been avoided if they had heeded the avalanche warnings. Thus, we have steered well clear of the dangerous ground and have started to concentrate on specific skills with each student to improve their skiing/riding skills. Additionally we have spent a couple afternoons taking advantage of a new piece of technology. A consortium of groups have come together to build an avalanche rescue station that electronically mimics a burial scenario. There are pads buried in the ground that emit a signal with the same frequency of an avi tranceiver. This allows the user of the station to search and probe for these "beacons" to hone their skills. It is absolutely fantastic!! We have set up similar scenarios in the past and it takes us about an hour just to set it up. And, our rudimentary system does not perform quite as well. This opportunity gave the kids a huge jumpstart on familiarizing/refamiliarizing themselves with the search procedures for the season- a huge opportunity for all!
Cheers,
Sam
December 10, 2004
OK, now I have enough time to fill you in on the happenings here in Utah. This trip was intended to be a pure skiing trip to get the kids a large number of early season days that would approximate the kind of days that we will have in France. Our purpose here was to jumpstart their ski/snowboard legs on real terrain, with variable conditions so they would be stronger going into January, and then hopefully France. We have been incredibly lucky getting all the above. We started the week with soft snow, but fairly limited terrain due to early season snowpack, and as the days have progressed we have seen huge amounts of powder (the official total is 40 inches in 80 hours), followed by very wet heavy “Sierra Cement”. The latter will get you in shape faster than anything else. The forecast is calling for very warm weather this weekend followed by a cold start to next week. We could be on very interesting snow if that forecast holds true.
The kids have been amazing. The daily routine has been very full. We arise at 6:45 and eat breakfast, study from 7:15 to 8:15, get the first chair at 8:30, ski until 3:30, study again from 4:00 to 6:00, cook dinner and head to bed. The kids are arranged into cook teams and have been doing all the cooking and cleaning on alternate days. They have actually been assisting with the shopping as well so don’t let them slack over the holidays when you say you are going shopping, they are well versed. They will get tomorrow off from skiing if they want. I am sure that some of the young ‘uns will take advantage but would bet the older kids will get up and charge hard for at least a couple hours. We will keep you updated!
Cheers,
Sam
December 9, 2004
I am in a huge rush today so the update is brief. We have gotten about 2 feet of snow in the last 48 hours. We are supposed to get another few inches tonight. Yesterday we skied the entire day from bell to bell. The skiers of the group got 39,000 feet of vertical in, and the snowboarders not much less. It was a quintessential Utah powder day. The pictures should tell the whole story. I will send more text as soon as I get the chance.
Cheers,
Sam
December 6, 2004
Everybody arrived safe and sound. After an early start from the Bucks house in Topsfield the crew showed up at the condos at the Canyons by 11:45 am. We rushed to get lunch together and everybody quickly donned their gear to hit the slopes. Utah has gotten a huge abundance of early season snow. The amount that is on the ground now is equivalent to a typical mid January snowpack. The latest round of snow arrived last weekend, and the highest elevations of the ski area received about 25 inches. Since this is still considered early season, there have been few people on the mountain, which in turn means if you are willing to look for it you can find “the goods”. The pictures will testify to that. We are already settling into a routine of studying and skiing. The kids slept hard last night and were raring to go when we set out to ride this morning. We will keep you updated as we work our way through the two weeks here.
Cheers,
Sam
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Spring Fundraiser - CVA Biathlon5/17/2008 2:00:00 PMStudents, parents, alumni, and friends are invited to be a part of the annual student spring fundraising event - this year it\'s a biathlon of running and biking. To sponsor a student hit the "Click Here" above. Enter your name as the Attendee, enter your payment option, click the amount of your sponsorship. Also please enter the name of the student you are sponsoring in the
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