Tough Temperatures

Anyone who lives in Park City, or has visited for at least three weeks, knows how often and fast the weather can change here. One minute you're freezing your butt off in the snow and the next, sunshine cooks every part of your body. I've had my share of these insane weather conditions during the fourteen years that I've been living in Park City, but I don't think it's had enough of me.

For the past week, the PCST U-16s have been training on lower payday run. According to AccuWeather, Tuesday's high temperature was 12º with a low of -9º. With wind chill, the temperatures could have reached -15º. I was hurling myself down a snow covered hill at 9 am, in NEGATIVE FIFTEEN DEGREE WEATHER. It's a miracle that my face didn't freeze off, let alone my toes, which I couldn't feel after the first run. Thankfully Tina, one of my coaches, had a vaseline stick that we passed around and lathered on our faces. But it wasn't over yet.

The next day, it proved to be a little warmer. When I say little, I mean miniscule. The high temperature was 14º and the low temperature was -5º, leading to a wind chill temperature of -15º. After Tuesdays brutal conditions, I came prepared. Three packets of hand warmers, four extra coats, and 3 buffs. Although they did help, the cold air seemed to find ways through all the layers, keeping the constant chill I had those couple of days.

One of the frigid mornings under the Town Lift

Now for the other side of the spectrum. My team and I went to the Utah Olympic Park this afternoon, after free skiing at PCMR. The training there is always productive, with a short hill and a pommel lift to the top. The high temperature at the hill was near 25 or 30 degrees, which felt like summer for us. This led to training the course with full strips (nothing but speed suits on) and even t-shirts. The coaches at the bottom were pleading to be sprayed with snow. How did this happen? Less than 24 hours ago we were dreaming of warm weather.

This is just one of the many examples of Park City's crazy, spontaneous weather. I wonder what mother nature has in store for this town next...