Retired professor still skiing at age 91

At 91 years old, or young, Wayne Rich just purchased a new pair of Rossignol skis for the upcoming season. He plans on using his new skis at Beaver Mountain ski area where he has been skiing five to six days every week for the last 14 years.

“I got new skis, bindings and boots,” Rich said. “I’m ready. I call Beaver every snowstorm to check how many inches it reports.”

Rich said all the guys he started out skiing with have passed away. The people Rich will ski with this season are the kids he taught at Logan Junior High.

“They told me if I was going to ski with them I had to get new ski pants,” he said. “So I went and bought myself a pair.”

Rich recalls the beginning of his skiing experience on the family skis – they were tall and over his head with a toe strap.

Rich grew up skiing but didn’t always go as much as he does now.

“I really got into skiing after World War II and after I got married and had a family,” Rich said.

Rich’s wife, Gene, said she doesn’t worry one bit about him skiing.

“I’m happy he’s healthy enough to go,” she said. 

“She’s so happy I leave every day,” he said, while looking at his wife with a grin.

Rich taught in the math department at Utah State University for 35 years. He said he would set up his teaching schedule so he could go skiing on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“I’ll see you up there,” said Rich, on what he would tell students who skipped class to go skiing.

Rich thinks the new generations of skiers have been just fine.

“The equipment is so much better,” he said. “People can become a better skier in much shorter time than they ever could before. The new skis are so easy to use it’s hard to believe.”

Rich taught all four of his kids to ski.

“He wouldn’t take them skiing until they knew how to lace up their boots and put on their own skis,” Gene Rich said. “It made them learn quick.”

Rich said his favorite part of skiing is “going down.”

“I think it’s also the speed,” he said. “I shouldn’t be doing it but I think once or twice every time I ski that I’m really going to cut loose and go wild. I’m just a little bit beyond my ability but it’s kind of fun.”

Rich believes that skiing is not a sport – it’s an addiction.

“I haven’t tried to quit though,” he said.

Rich said he would have to die to get rid of that addiction, but he’s not ready for that and won’t be for a while. He said his 92^nd birthday in March will “just be another year” full of skiing and laughter.  

(Some of Wayne Rich's skis he has used over the years.)

Snow conditions force Alta to close Sunday

Alta opened for the first day of its’ season on Friday. Two days later, the resort made the decision to not open on Sunday due to unsafe snow conditions. Alta reopened this morning at 9:15 a.m.

According to Alta’s webpage, it has received 36 inches of new snow from Saturday’s storm.

There was potential for the resort to be open by 1 p.m. on Sunday, but as the day progressed, Alta officials decided that wasn’t enough time to finish preparations.

Connie Marshall, the public relations director for Alta, said conditions to open on Sunday were not appropriate for skiers.

“There was natural slide activity occurring,” she said. “The thin early season layer of snow was not bonding well with the new snow.”

The retail and ski shop at Alta remained open.

“We were still in the shop taking care of other things,” said Ryan Binzley, who works in the ski shop.

Binzley said management crews were setting off dynamite all day to trigger avalanches and make the snow conditions safe.

“There was avalanche danger for most of the day,” Binzley said. “The early season snow was just super unstable.”

Marshall said the overnight snow has caused a lot of excitement for Alta’s skiers.

“Alta is God, period,” said Kyle Ross, after finding out Alta was not able to open Sunday due to too much snow.

Marshall said things were safe and ready to ski this morning.

Al’s sells popular K2 and Line skis

The most popular skis this season at Al’s Sporting Goods in Logan, Utah come from the brands Line and K2.

Thad James, who works in the ski department at Al’s, said as soon as the season gets closer and resorts start to open, Al’s sells about 20 pairs of skis a week.

“Right now we’re selling a bunch of skis, boots, poles, goggles and helmets,” James said. “Popularity goes by brand.”

“The most popular women’s ski for K2 is the Remedy 102,” he said. “As for the guys, it’s the Shreditor 102.”

According to James, the Remedy is versatile – good for soft snow, groomers and crud. As for the Shreditor, he said it’s good for any kind of snow you encounter.

The women’s Remedy and the men’s Shreditor both cost $549.99.

“The Line women’s ski, Soulmate 90, has done really good,” James said. “Line’s Sick Day 110 has been the most popular setup for the guys so far.”

Soulmate was made to be quicker and have high-speed power on hard snow while still being able to float on soft snow, he said.

“The Sick Day is basically for anything on the mountain,” James said. “It’s super light and will do whatever you want, wherever you want.”

Al’s has the women’s Soulmate listed for $499.99 and the men’s Sick Day for $699.99.

Anna Segal, a professional skier from Colorado, gave a review for the Remedy 102 as a good combo for an all mountain ski.

“They have the skis I want,” said Hayden Karren, a customer at Al’s. “I think Al’s has the skis for anyone whether you’re still doing snowplows or want a backcountry set.”

James said Al’s receives shipments of all the new season skis in October so people can start looking early.

Nordic Valley name change well received

Nordic Valley will officially open the 2014-15 ski season on Friday with its new name. Previously known as Wolf Mountain, Nordic Valley has made changes for the upcoming season and is pleased with the results.

Tanisha Fritz, who works for Nordic Valley, said part of the name change goes back 30 years ago – that’s how long the owners have lived in the valley.

“We wanted to go back to the original roots,” Fritz said. “A lot of locals remember the name that way, and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback about the change.”

Marla Rawlings, Nordic Valley’s ski school director of seven years, also said she thinks the name change is positive.

“Most of the locals never stopped calling it Nordic Valley,” Rawlings said.

Fritz said the resort did have to change many logos and signage from the name Wolf Mountain.

“It wasn’t too expensive because we did trade outs with locals,” she said. “We would trade with season passes and things like that.”

Fritz said a number of trails have been added to the resort. One of the new trails is on private property which skiers and boarders will now be able to access.

“It has a minimal additional charge,” Fritz said. “We’re really excited about it.”

Susie English, the director of communications for Ski Utah, said costs to change the name and logo for Ski Utah would be minimal.   

Based on information from Utah’s 15 ski resort websites, 11 have never changed names, but many have had ownership changes. Brian Head, Canyons and Eagle Point are the other three that have had name changes.

 

Brian Head awaits more snowfall before opening new high-speed lift

Today Brian Head Resort started running one lift for the first day of its 2014-15 ski season. However, the new high-speed detachable quad ski lift will not be running until the resort receives a larger base of snow.

Brian Head reported the Blackfoot lift, along with three runs and the terrain park are currently open.  

According to Brian Head’s website, the new high-speed lift replaced the old Giant Steps lift and will reduce riding time to the top of Giant Steps Mountain from 12 minutes to five minutes.

Marilyn Hughes, an employee of Brian Head Resort, said the lift replacement went quickly and was completed this past summer.

Hughes said John Grissinger, the owner of Brian Head Resort since 2012, was the reason behind the $3.5 million spent on improvements to the resort’s lodges, ski lift, new terrain park and night skiing.

“The decision to get the new lift came at the end of the last season,” Hughes said. “John wanted to do something special for the guests.”

Susie English, the director of communications for Ski Utah, said it’s always exciting when resorts make improvements over the summer.

“For Ski Utah, it gives us news to tell through all our channels – including social media, our website and public relations,” English said.

Hughes said Brain Head’s changes hope to impact more advanced skiers so they can bring their families and not have to fight long lines like those at bigger resorts in Utah.  

JDHgroup explains the virtual ski jump design

Connie Nelson, the executive director for the Alf Engen Ski Museum, said more than 120 people attended the grand opening of the virtual ski jump “Alf Engen’s Take Flight” at the museum in Park City, Utah on Wednesday.

“We had a fabulous grand opening,” Nelson said.

The JDHgroup, a company that designs brand experiences, was chosen by the museum to design the jump.

Coty Creighton, an employee for JDHgroup, said the company has worked with the museum on quite a few exhibits over the years.

“When the time came to update one of their older exhibits, they relied on us to propose what a new modern take on an installation would be,” Creighton said. “Their older exhibit was dated and constantly broke down.”

Creighton said the old exhibit was designed as a marble style game where the users would guide a marble off a jump to go for distance.

After proposing the current design to the museum, the group started by making sure the “environment responded.” Creighton said in order to achieve this, the experience needed to include wind generators, vibrating transducers in the floor and audio that surrounds the user.

“The result is a life-size game where players can experience ski jumping in a safe manner,” he said.

According to Creighton, the project had a “very wide range of challenges to meet.” Those included mechanical engineering aspects, software development and the custom electronics that drove the experience.

“From the onset of the project, the museum wanted to accomplish something no other museum has done before,” he said. “Both of our expectations were high from the beginning.”

Creighton said the technical project turned out well because of the relationship JDHgroup has with the museum and the trust it has with its abilities. To learn more about the museum visit https://www.engenmuseum.org.