It’s no secret that ski conditions are less than prime. Depending on the run, the sun, and grooming, a run might be pretty skiable, even fun on the first lap, and then completely change on the second. Nicely groomed, hardpack snow is punctuated by patches of glacial ice with an occasional secti on of spring corn.  I’ve been out a fair amount, mostly because my house is floating in a sea of mud and there’s nothing to do in the muck.  Deer Valley is working hard to get more of their new terrain open. That’s been interesting to explore. The Vulcan and Revelator chairs recently opened, and this past week, a run called Redemption opened from the top of the gondola. It’s incredibly scenic, quite steep in places (seriously underrated as double blue) and has the added excitement of being narrow so that anybody missing a turn has the potential to launch off the ridgetop and land in Heber. It’s lined with bamboo poles and ski patrol rope, which certainly will prevent that from happening.  There will be some really nice black diamond runs going off the side of Redemption if we ever get snow. The new terrain is different from the old part of Deer Valley. It’s a lot more rugged, with deep canyons and numerous drainages that had to make it difficult to lay out the skiing. Some of the new runs are very long, with a lot of vertical. They are also very narrow, with deep ravines and cliff walls on the sides. Good skiing if there’s nobody there, and uncomfortable if they are crowded.  I was with a group of friends Tuesday and we skied down Pay Rock. It’s a long, pretty run. Three of us stopped to regroup and let the rest catch up. We had pulled over to the side of the run, next to a snow gun (it’s hard not to be next to a snow gun — they are thick as aspen trees), as far off the trail as we could get without falling into the ditch.  The topic of lunch plans came up, and then we were all flat on the ground. A guy skiing down lost control and smacked into all three of us bowling alley style, going very fast.  The uppermost guy got thrown into the ditch. The second guy took a direct hit and went down hard. I kind of saw that out of the side of my eye, but mostly focused on an airborne ski flying at my head. Then I went down.  Two of us are a little bruised, but nothing to worry about. The third is in the hospital with a broken fibula-tibia and a broken collar bone. Needless to say, lunch was cancelled. A few weeks ago, another friend fell and just couldn’t get his balance back after extricating himself. It was a classic case of “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” syndrome.  Patrol took him down the mountain on a snowmobile. I put their phone number in my phone, just in case. It came in handy.  The guy who hit us, who will be known as the “Defendant” once the health insurance company starts getting the bills, stayed and helped gather the widely scattered gear.  He stayed with us until the sled started down the hill.  He was pretty shaken by it all, too, and was fully cooperative and apologetic. Patrol and a mountain host got my friend bundled up and down the hill to the Vulcan lift. Vulcan is one of those upside down lifts, where to get out of that area you have to be at the top. It seems like the only place in the new area without a cat track exit. So they balanced the sled on the back of a chair, and sent it up the lift. I had watched them practicing that operation a few days before and concluded that if it came to that, I would prefer that they shoot me. My friend was mercifully so out of it that he didn’t remember the ride. The transitions are interesting. He got towed to the base at East Village by snowmobile, then transferred to an ambulance. It moved along efficiently, but there was a lot of distance to cover. It wasn’t clear whether the Wasatch County ambulance was going to take him to Heber City or Park City, but he ended up at the hospital in Park City. A couple of us met him there, and I sat with him while they did the X-rays to determine what was wrong. I’ve known his whole family for decades, but didn’t have phone numbers for his adult children.  His wife was visiting family out of state. We drew straws to see who should call his wife, who says he should stop skiing at his age, but nobody had a number for her. So we had to get him defogged enough to make those calls. Once they decided to move him into a room for the night and his family was on the way, I left.  Thanks to the Deer Valley Ski Patrol and the host who helped us, Wasatch County Ambulance, and the ER staff at the hospital. They were hauling people off the mountain by the bus load that day, and seemed to have it all figured out. Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column since 1986. The post More Dogs on Main: Slow down on the mountain appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less