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Show SPORTS The Park Record. Editor: Ben Ramsey sports@parkrecord.com 435.649.9014 ex.15704 Twitter: @ParkRecSports MINERS LACROSSE WINS OPENERS, B-2 PINK PARK CITY RETURNS TO SLOPES, B-3 www.parkrecord.com B-1 WED/THURS/FRI, MARCH 20-22, 2019 Ski bum grows a life on the slopes MOUNTAIN TRAILS REGISTRATION Registration for the Mountain Trails Foundation’s summer events – the Tour Des Suds mountain bike race and the Triple Trail Challenge footraces – is open now at mountaintrails.org. All event proceeds support Mountain Trails Foundation, a local non-profit organization dedicated to building, maintaining and protecting trails for non-motorized recreation in the Park City area. PARK CITY HIGH SCHOOL MOUNTAIN BIKE CLUB There will be an informational meeting Wednesday, April 3, from 6–7 p.m. at the Summit County Library in Kimball Junction for all interested riders and parents. The team will compete in cross country mountain bike riding & racing through the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA). The team is open to fall semester seventh- through twelfthgrade students. There is no need to register in advance. Email Chris Best at parkcitymtb@gmail.com or contact 760-846-1280 with any questions. INDOOR SOCCER TOURNAMENT Basin Recreation is hosting an all-new three on three indoor soccer tournament at The Fieldhouse on Saturday, March 23 from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Teams will play three games of round-robin pool play and then battle their way through the single elimination tournament bracket later that day. All teams are guaranteed four 20-minute games. Cost is $60. Learn more and register at basinrecreation.org. Please see Sports briefs, B-4 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Mike McKinney rifles through glass jars of pickled vegetables, salsa, jam and more on Saturday morning. He and his roommates made the foodstuffs using produce from their garden at their home in Heber. Gardening bolsters Heber resident’s schussing ambitions BEN RAMSEY The Park Record It’s hard to ski all the time if you have to work. But, as many who have been unemployed know, it’s also hard to live if you don’t have work. So people who want to spend their life skiing have a few options, the most prominent being early retirement from a stressful but lucrative career, or aggressively lowering their cost of living. Mike McKinney is of the latter category. The 26-year-old Heber City resident doesn’t just want to work for someone else and take what time is leftover for skiing. He wants to make his own path, which is why he’s infatuated with backcountry skiing. “That’s what keeps me coming back,” he said. “The opportunity to make decisions for myself.” Not surprisingly, he’s applied that ethos to the mores of daily life in Heber. He has eschewed the stability of a 9 to 5 job in favor of skiing. He estimates that he earned $25,000 last year, 56 percent of which came from renting out rooms in his house and 44 percent from his job working at the Salt Lake-based Komrades food truck. But, by his standards, he’s making every dollar count. McKinney has skied 85 days this season as of Tuesday, and is closing in on his goal of skiing all 90 runs featured in Andrew McLean’s “The Chuting Gallery” – a guide to steep backcountry skiing in the Wasatch. His parents helped him with the down payment on his 2,000 square foot house in Heber four years ago, which he lives in and rents to six other people, and, occasionally, to shortterm renters through Airbnb. He himself lives in the laundry room, under the stairs, behind a sheet that demarcates where clothes washing ends and PHOTO BY CHRIS COMSTOCK Mike McKinney enjoys a powder day in the backcountry. He plans on completing all routes in Andrew McLean’s “The Chuting Gallery” by the end of the season. his person space begins. Home soil He saves a considerable amount of money by growing his own produce. His house, inside and out, is dedicated to growing, curing and storing food, making McKinney’s setup as self-sufficient and sustainable as possible. The front yard is dedicated to fruit trees and small garden plots. The backyard has chickens, bees and larger garden plots, where McKinney and his housemates cultivate a vast assortment of produce, including pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, kale, beets, carrots, radishes, tomatillos, jalapenos, serranos, lettuces, greens and sunflowers. FREE Appetizer with Purchase of 2 Entrées With coupon only. Not valid with any other offers. Expires 5/1/19 Ripe veggies and fruit are pickled or otherwise stored, mostly in the garage. Alongside a ski rack and other outdoor gear, stands a rack of large jars and whiskey bottles. The jars are filled with pear and plum jam, garden salsa, homemade pickle assortments using carrots, cherry tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, beets and other produce. About 30 bottles are filled with apple cider vinegar, the product of a project in 2018 when McKinney, his housemates and his neighbor, Dave Collins (known as Skinner) collected all of the apples they could find around the valley and pressed them at home. Please see Skier, B-3 Dine-In • Take-Out Reservations Private Events Full-Service Bar 195 West Main Street • Midway, Utah (435) 657-5494 • www.midwaycorner.com |