Creativity

Lately, I have become more creative in how I've planned my ski runs. In the past, I have relied on maps, but lately, I have been taking pictures of runs from lifts and then planning out highly technical descents at the summit. My most extreme example is shown on the right here, where I planned a run from the aerial tramway at Snowbird. There, I planned this run down from the summit, including 5 spots where I could relatively safely jump off a cliff, which is, in my opinion, the most fun kind of jump. While I missed one of the jumps, this route ended up being a ton of fun, and my advance planning allowed me to take a unique route not displayed on the trail maps. As a result, the snow was relatively untouched, and thus both pristine and soft, making a more technical descent safer, more pleasant, and less taxing on my knees. In addition to taking photos, I have also done some planning from 3D Google Earth imagery, but this is, of course, much more difficult since it does not display current snow conditions (or any snow at all, as imagery is done in the summer).

This creative planning ultimately allowed me to execute an incredible run (Learning outcome 3).