Tom Kelly: Skiing the ridgeline

I love the peacefulness of a gondola car by yourself. I looked out to the Jordanelle in the morning light as the sun painted rays onto the snowscape. I slipped off my Stormy Kromer hat, tucking it into my jacket as I pulled my helmet on.

Like many locals, my ski days are carefree cruises for a couple hours. Today would be different — a full tour of the Park City ridgeline from Jordanelle to Murdock and back. A long day.

I had plotted the route in a spreadsheet, calculating lift and run times. It was an endurance test, not a speed challenge. I wanted to be sure to include some of my favorite runs and a relaxing lunch.

After a three-minute wait (my only lift line of the day), an early gondola start put me on skis atop Little Baldy at 9:03 a.m. I was off and running.

The morning air was crisp, the surface was solid corduroy and skies were blue. Heading up Carpenter, I chatted with a freestyle moguls skier ready to start his day of training on Champion. Skiing down to Quincy, I met a woman from Houston with a home at Deer Valley. “I just wish it was a little cooler,” she said. Hmmm, that concerned me — it wasn’t even 10 a.m.!

I bounced around Deer Valley from Little Baldy to Baldy to Flagstaff and on to Lady Morgan. I could have squeezed in a run up Empire, but I wanted to be conservative, waiting for the 9:53 a.m. purple line bus at the Montage. It was right on time, taking me to the Old Town transit center for the short walk to lower Main.

The venerable Town Lift is a good place for, well, let’s say contemplation. After passing over historical remnants of our silver mining era, about 14 minutes later I was atop Park City Mountain and looked down to the line at Bonanza Express. A quick change of plans and I headed to Crescent then a corduroy run to the Quicksilver gondola for the ride over to Canyons.

I broke my norm and hopped off at the mid-station exit, hitting Blaise’s Way and Snowonder, swooping down to Timberline then Over and Out (always watch for moose), racing down to the Canyons plaza.

I was savoring the burger at Lookout Cabin as I slid off the Orange Bubble mid-station. Much to my dismay, a sign on the door said “Closed Wednesdays.” But in the words of my good friend Nathan Rafferty of Ski Utah, “every good explorer has to improvise.” No problem. I headed down to Super Condor and up to the base of Murdock Peak, resisting the urge to hike to the top. It was starting to get soft as I arced turns down Boa then on to the plaza for lunch at The Farm.

It was a great call on what had become a warm, sun-shiny day at high noon. I grabbed an outdoor table. About $20 got me a bowl of Swiss onion soup and a beer. I was starting to think about my chairmate’s comments a few hours ago about the temperature, which had now crept into the 40s. I slapped myself awake and walked 50 feet to the Red Pine Gondola.

Surface conditions were changing. It was quite a slog down Chicane to the lower-elevation Tombstone base. I made a beeline down Another World and Ripsaw to the Peak 5 lift — a real hidden gem with a nice, slow ride through the pines to a landing plateau that feels very private. Heading down my favorite run — Upper Crowning Glory — my eyes were affixed to the peaks of the high Uintas in the distance.

Heading up Dreamcatcher, I chatted with a J1 visa worker from the Waldorf who is spending a winter with friends from Peru in Park City. It had been a great winter for her, learning how to snowboard, making new friends and enjoying a job in a nice hotel. We talked about my own trip to Peru some 20-plus years ago.

I had started to watch the time and not wanting to get too caught up in further exploration, headed down Alpenglow and on to Iron Mountain to start the journey home. I shared a gondola ride with a family that had big smiles on their faces. On landing back at Park City, there was time for a quick pit stop at Miner’s Camp, then I slid right onto Silverlode without waiting a second.

From the top, it was the age-old Park City classic: Home Run to Silver Queen down the cat track and Quit ‘n Time to Main Street, then hustling to the transit center for my lift back to Deer Valley.

Time was getting short as I headed up Ruby, plotting out my route back to the Jordanelle. I was concerned about making the last ride up Mountaineer so I wouldn’t have to hitchhike back to the car.

First, though, was my obligatory stop at Stein Eriksen Lodge. While the aquavit would have to wait, I paid my homage to Stein and his medals before clicking back into my skis for the trek down to Crown Point, taking a look at the time as I cruised down Deer Hollow. That hot chocolate at St. Regis would have to wait as I made a beeline to Mountaineer.

The clocked ticked close to 4 p.m. as I made big sweeping turns down Jordanelle. It had held up well in the heat. I pushed 45 mph on the final face, arcing that left-footed turn into the flats. At the end, a feeling of accomplishment for a ridgeline well skied.

Wisconsin native Tom Kelly landed in Park City in 1988 (still working on becoming an official local). Inducted into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2019, he is most known for his role as lead spokesperson for Olympic skiing and snowboarding for over 30 years until his retirement in 2018. This is his 52nd season on skis.