And then it was WINTER!

This morning we woke up to a fresh coating of sticky white stuff outside with more coming down....SNOW! Since Deer Valley (where we're staying) sits at roughly 7,200 feet above sea level, it tends to get early season snowfall, even in October. Our morning workout today was down at Soldier Hollow (the 2002 Olympic venue for nordic ski events) in the Heber Valley, a valley just south of here that is at about 5,500 feet above sea level. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it, the water that was snow in Deer Valley was falling as rain at SoHo. I got really wet, and since it was only 36 degrees out, I also got really cold, but the workout was productive and I shot really, really well.

Here are some photos from the last week here in Utah:

BethAnn and I went to the Park City Farmers Market yesterday. Usually it's huge, even bigger than in the picture above that I found online. Yesterday however, it was pouring rain and really windy so there weren't very many people there. We bought two huge boxes of fresh, local peaches for only $18 and they are delicious. 

Earlier in the week we did a hike along the ridge that runs above the Canyons and Park City resorts. It was 16 miles long and spent a lot of time up around 10,000 feet. Let me tell you, the air up there is thin!

We started down near Kimball Junction and hiked up a whole bunch of single track mountain biking trails till we hit the ridge trail (the single black trail that goes across the top of the map), then we hiked along the ridge until we hit the Guardsman Pass road, where Will was waiting for us with chips, salsa, fresh water, and yogurt covered pretzels. Mmmmmm, good. 

The aspens in the mountains were in full fall color during our hike...we'll have to see what they look like after the snow melts later this week! 

This view is looking east off the ridge down toward the Canyons with Deer Valley and Park City in the background. 

Looking down an enticing trail at an intersection on our way up to the ridge. 

Looking out over the valley during a water/snack break on our way up. 

Hiking the ridge behind BethAnn and Seth. I didn't think about how sunny and warm it would be up there and forgot to bring sunglasses or wear a hat! My face was tired from squinting when we were done...so much sun!

 

Looking west toward Salt Lake and the mountains between me and the city. 

Kind of thought this dead tree was cool looking so I took a picture of it.....

Snack time after a long (and very high) hike and run. 4.5 hours in the sun. There are no complainers in this photo!

A few nights ago my dinner crew, team "Wrangler", made fish, baked carrots and potatoes, salad, and peach crisp. Here Welly is trying to figure out what to do with the huge, whole, frozen fish that Will brought us. We asked for "fish" on the grocery list. Apparently we should have specified "none-whole fish". Welly and Mike ended up finding a youtube video on how to deal with this monster. It was very good when we finished grilling it with butter and garlic, although it certainly wasn't the prettiest looking fish we've ever eaten! 

This is the  main living room in our not-so-humble abode here in Deer Valley. Today, with the snow falling outside, we finally figured out how to work the gas-online fireplace. 

The second living room. In the far corner, under that skylight, is one of the two hot tubs that we have. The other is outside on the back porch. 

BethAnn warming her feet by the fireplace after our cold ski this morning in Heber. 

We are learning lots of different languages in this house: pink is french, orange is spanish, and green is german. If you were to look around you'd find stickies on lots of the items in our condo: pictures on the wall, fireplace, window, door, stairs, coffeemaker, tv, stool, table, refrigerator, microwave, etc. 

***Note*** The green sticky in the above photo has since been corrected 

(should read "der" instead of "das") and no, I did not write it!

Here is a map of the whole area where we are. 

For reference on where we've done some things: 

-The biathlon range and roller loop are at Soldier Hollow (yellow writing on the left side)

-We're living near Deer Valley Resort

-We hiked all around Deer Valley, Park City and the Canyons

-We flew into Salt Lake City

-Some of our group hiked Mt. Timpanogos yesterday...I opted for a classic ski instead (it was windy, raining and cold...not fun on a mountain) but I hiked part of it last year. 

A quick video of me skiing some easy uphill intervals before we left Maine. The commentary is from my coaches, Seth and Will, who were following alongside in a van to give me feedback. You can't hear my responses to their questions because I'm too far away from the camera, but I promise I wasn't ignoring them. Video analysis is a very helpful tool for nordic skiing because we can get an idea what we actually look like as opposed to what we think we look like. 

What's next? Saturday I'll be helping some of the US Ski Team women put on a Fast and Female event here in Park City. The mission of the program is empowerment for young girls through sport and health. I've done two of these same events in the past (one in Bethel, ME and the other in Madawaska, ME) and both were great so I'm really looking forward to it! 

Check back soon for more pictures and stories from Utah!

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