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Show Park Record Thursday, December 21, 1989 Page B5 Boarders are back! by RON GEORG Record staff writer With the opening of ParkWest Dec. 14, the ski season in Summit County is in full swing-and local snowboarders can ride lifts without having to drive to Brighton or Snowbird. The ski area had been holding out until there was enough snow to ensure en-sure adequate coverage through the holidays, especially on places like Ironhorse Ridge. The ridge, which is a crucial route to some of ParkWest's best advanced terrain, faces heavy winds which scour the slopes. To keep the snow up there, ParkWest expanded their snow-fencing snow-fencing efforts on the ridge, and they've been packing the snow with Snow-cats as well. And the wait paid off; while mountain moun-tain crews at the ski area worked to groom some of the thinner sections, snow piled up in the trees and on the north-facing slopes, making for an unbelievable opening day. Beginning Beginn-ing skiers found good coverage on the front of the mountain much of which is man-made; intermediates had plenty of terrain between between bet-ween Tomahawk, Slaughterhouse, Short Swing, and Ironhorse; and experts, ex-perts, enjoyed countless untracked powder runs throughout the day. What made the day unbelievable was it went contrary to all the empirical em-pirical evidence. To the casual observer, the conditions are looking sparse around Summit County but while the coverage is thin on south-facing south-facing slopes, the snow has been collecting col-lecting for some time on the north faces. Even during the first lift ride up at ParkWest it was hard to believe the hills were covered but all doubts were erased with a quick drop over the edge into Bear Claw Gulley. In fact, ParkWest couldn't have timed their opening better; the weekend they opened was graced with a slow but steady snowfall which kept the tracks fresh. By the morning of Dec. 18, when ParkWest was boasting eight inches of fresh snow, both the groomed and ungroomed runs were in great shape. And with the cold weather forecasted for the next weekend, the ski area should be able to live up to its goal of good skiing for the holidays. ParkWest is also featuring some new landscaping. Most notably, 0 A A snowboarder enjoys the opening day at Parkwest. Ron Georg Sweeney's Alley, which funnels skiers from the south side of Ironhorse ridge and Massacre run down toward the lifts, has been graded grad-ed to accomadate all the traffic it sees. Devoted ParkWest tree skiers are also likely to stumble upon some unnaturally straight and long powder shots which weren't around last year; the sawyers who thinned and cleared some of ParkWest's trees last summer are also powder hounds who appreciate the value of secret tree shots. Snowboarders who aren't screaming scream-ing down James Bond Gulley a mile-long natural half-pipe which is already well-covered are even happier hap-pier this year with ParkWest's man-made man-made half-pipe. The ski area used bulldozers during the summer to improve im-prove the shape of the snowboarder-only snowboarder-only area. Of course, the ski area is also concerned con-cerned with making ParkWest a well-rounded experience for visiting families, so a number of facilities and programs are being continued and expanded. Kid's Central, ParkWest's day-care facility, has been renovated to fill the entire second se-cond floor of the businessTrail's End building. ParkWest is also maintaining last year's expanded food service. Trail's End will feature a dinnersleigh din-nersleigh ride package on Friday and Saturday nights, in addition to their regular restaurant service. And Buffalo Bob's soup, served in a bread bowl, is still my hands-down favorite food break during a day of snowboarding. Coming up on New Year's Eve, ParkWest will hold a 9 p.m. candlelight parade as well as offering offer-ing dinner and dancing at Trail's End. ParkWest has maintained their 198889 ticket prices this year, at $24 for adults, $12 for children. A half-day half-day pass is $15 for adults or $8 for children, Boonstra, Endestad earn points For the first time in six seasons, the U.S. Ski Team had two men in the top-15 in a cross country World Cup ski race Sunday when Alaskan Audun Endestad finished 11th and Vermonter Todd Boonstra 13th in a 50-kilometer race in Canada. Jochen Behle of West Germany won the classic-style (diagonal stride) race on the 1988 Olympic trails at the Canmore (Alberta) Nordic Nor-dic Centre in two hours, 15 minutes, 40.0 seconds. Endestad finished in 2:22.22.5 and Boonstra had a time of 2:23.06.2. Many European skiers boycotted the race to protest the wave starts in which five skiers started in one minute intervals rather than the normal nor-mal 30-second interval starts for each skier. "It wasn't the strongest field," Endestad said, "but we did what we had to do." Endestad scored the last World Cup point in cross country by a U.S. man when he finished 14th in a 30-k race Dec. 14, 1985 in Biwabik, Minn. The last time the USA had two men score World Cup points was March 17, 1984 when Endestad was 13th and Dan Simoneau 15th in the 15-k event in Fairbanks, Alaska. Endestad had his best finish ever in Saturday's 15-k freestyle event; his time of 33 minutes, four seconds was only 3.8 percent greater than the time for first-place finisher Christer Majbaeck of Sweden. Majbaeck finished in 32: 49. In the women's World Cup 4X5-k relay in Thunder Bay, Ont., the Soviet Union won easily while the USA women were eighth. Nancy Fiddler of Crowley Lake, Calif, led the U.S. women in the 15-k classical technique race Saturday in Thunder Bay. Fiddler was 33rd behind winner Larissa Lazhutina of the Soviet Union. Park City's Leslie Thompson finished 43rd with a time of 55:53. s Mzvvy Christmas . : ftas&a C&vystal Miriam $at V A Kick Xtttfra tavvi Camera & Dappy ftefo Sear from all of us at DEER VALLEY mOUIlTflm PHOTOGRAPHY I m tt it it firm Wflwh: Ecfc. r1 if in " OWN THE WATCH WITH A GOLDEN PAST In rich 18 karat gold-plate, featuring extra flexible bracelet ana hidden clasp. Also available in steel and 18 karat gold-plate. Fitwjeuvlen Park City Resort Center 649-1187 I hope you and your loved ones have a safe and joyous Holiday Season. I hope you have a healthy and prosperous New Year! V- "'if Max O. Vierig Compark Plaza 1950 Woodbine Way, Suite 1 (1 street east of Anderson Lumber) Vm looking forward to serving you for many years in the future (P. T Like a good neighbor. 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