Yeti Eleven: Sundance

Whereas ninth grader Joel Emmett tried out earlier in the week and made the Springville High School JV soccer team (yahoo!) and this morning was the first strength training workout and he went skiing at Sundance earlier in the season with one of his friends.

Photo courtesy of Craig Child

And whereas Will went skiing a few weeks ago at Sundance with his friend Harrison and decided last night that he did not want to go skiing this morning (claiming he wanted to sleep in--which his dad interpreted as meaning Will needs an earlier bed time and lights out time--which did not make Will happy).

Therefore Sarah and her dad spent a delightful morning skiing together at Sundance.

The nice thing about Sundace is that it is close--only a 30 minute drive (which means wake up time this morning was 7:45) and it is a local resort meaning on occasion you run into neighbors and friends.

 It also has great views of majestic Mt. Timpanogos.

Looking southwestward from the summit of Arrowhead lift down Provo Canyon with Mt. Nebo and East Bay of Utah Lake in the distance.

From the top of Arrowhead looking east towards Deer Creek Reservoir.

 Where Sarah learned to ski.

Another nice thing is that it has a beginner handle tow that is free. This is where I took Sarah and then Joel for their first few skiing lessons with dad. It takes extra back, arm and leg muscle to ride up the handle tow holding on to the bar with one hand and then using the other hand to keep your child secure against your pinched together legs. The unfortunate thing about the free tow is that it is up the mountain a bit which requires a short hike--if you are too cheap to buy a pass.

Sarah learning at Sundance.

Joel learning at Sundance. (sorry about the quality--these are photos of photos)

The downside of Sundance is that it is lower in elevation that most other Wasatch Front Resorts and as a result it usually gets less snow. It also means that snow days elsewhere can mean rain days at Sundance. A few years ago a fun evening of skiing at Sundance with Young Men in our ward ended in a rain storm which arrived just as we were trying to find one lost boy (who unfortunately had taken a tumble on the terrain park and got a concussion).


 Limited snow at the base of Jake's.

A nice improvement in the past few years has been the addition of Jake's lift. This means that instead of parking in the upper parking lot and then riding a shuttle down to the base of Ray's lift (which is always packed with beginners), skiers can now park in the upper lot, purchase tickets and then start skiing.

 The base of Ray's.

Skiing down Amy's Ridge under Arrowhead. Love the corduroy.  Bishop's Bowl and Bearclaw were our favorite runs of the day.

For an extra credit assignment in her physics class, Sarah has to take a photo of something and then write up an explanation about what principles of physics it illustrates. She decided a photo of a skier would be good to illustrate things like gravity, slope and friction. I was happy to be her model.



By noon the snow was getting softer and stickier. Sarah had a long list of things still to do before the evening dance practice so we decided to make it a short day. From the base of Jake's it was a short walk to our car (red Subaru). Notice Sarah's cute pig tails. Earlier in the week she cut off 12 inches of her beautiful hair which she will donate to locks of love. One thing she did this afternoon was go to the library for a new supply of books--her happy find today was a book entitled "The History of Redheads."

To see Sundance in the summer with its new ziplines go to this blog post.  http://beitemmett.blogspot.com/2015/08/flying-high.html