You probably know this feeling. You're on a chair lift, approaching the top of a mountain, it's one
of the most gorgeous days you've ever had on the slopes, and the mountains seem to stretch in
every direction. There are peaks, bowls, and valleys that are overflowing with heaps and heaps
of snow, and although you pan and scan as hard as you can with your camera, you realize that
there's simply no way you can capture the size of what you're seeing in that tiny lens. So, you
sit back, take a deep quiet breath, and try to write the memory of the moment onto your brain.
You know you'll be back in the hustle and bustle of the city in a matter of days, so you work to
truly take in the atmosphere around you.
This was our weekend in Utah. The season had
dumped record amounts of snow on the Wasatch,
and we arrived on a Wednesday after a foot of
fresh pow had landed at Alta and Snowbird, ready
to soak up the sun. We were up each day at 7, then
skied and rode hard each day. Our burning quads
were ready for the bar by 4, we were ready for
some shut-eye each night by 10, and we'd earned
our sunburned noses by day 2. :) The Radisson in
Park City found us chowing down on their delicious
breakfast buffet each morning, invading their
outdoor hot tub in the afternoon, and riding the
shuttle buses down to Main Street each night for
delicious dinners and great local beers, like the Polygamy Porter!
Our adventures took us to several of the Salt Lake City area resorts
-- including The Canyons and Park City -- but the biggest surprise of
the weekend was our trip to the stunning Snowbasin, Utah's newest
resort. This spot underwent a new expansion for the Olympic Winter
Games in 2002, and features the most ridiculously gorgeous ski
lodges any of us have ever seen. Marble bathrooms, gold-plated
chandeliers, and a wind-screened sundeck at the top left us giddy,
only to be topped by the mavericks who treated us to a lunchtime
show as they flew down untracked chutes above us, complete with
death-defying jumps and mid-air tricks. The tram delivered us to
awe-inspiring views and untracked corduroy for our own races down
the men's and women's Olympic courses. By the afternoon, forty of
us had grouped up for the kind of sunny springtime outdoor après
ski that you dream of, warm enough in a t-shirt, snapping pictures
right and left in the hopes of simply remembering what a great
weekend we'd had!
Copyright 2006, SKI BUMS.