After you've strapped on your board, slide over the lip and drop in
the pipe. Ride down the wall, pump your knees for power and speed,
race across the flat, and begin the transition up the other wall.
You shoot straight up and, for an instant, hover there in midair.
That's the rush; that brief moment in hang time. On the way down,
push off and slingshot yourself back to the other side. Maybe, with
a lot of practice, you'll be doing alley-oops (180-degree uphill
rotations), inverteds (to get upside down while performing a 180-,
540-, or 720-degree rotational flip), and mctwists (inverted
aerials with a 540-degree rotational flip).
Or maybe not.
You don't have to shoot three stories up to enjoy a superpipe ride.
Site: Park City Mountain Resort, Park City.
Cost: 2002 season ticket prices are $63 for adults, $32 for
children.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Season: November to April. The PayDay Superpipe will be open
to the public through the entire season.
Details: (800) 222-7275,
www.parkcitymountain.com
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
For many Olympic contenders, speed is the thing, but if you go to
Soldier Hollow in Wasatch Mountain State Park, you might just want
to take it slow.
Where cattle once grazed, cross-country skiers traverse gentle
trails that loop through the scrub-oak-covered foothills in a quiet
corner of the Heber Valley. Unlike many cross-country systems,
which follow pre-existing roads, Soldier Hollow was mapped out from
scratch. That means that you meander through almost 19 miles of
trails, but, by design, never venture much more than three-quarters
of a mile from the lodge. The paths twist and wiggle, so the
spacious, rolling scenery in front of you is always changing.