Ski Utah – Greatest Snow on Earth [Utah license plate slogan]
A
3 day skiing weekend in
Ever
since coming to the
If you heard amazing stories about
Friends
had long recommended skiing in
Friday, February 20, 2004
Leaving
the office just after 2:00pm I pick up Matt Keller, a friend who I met on our
trip to Granite
Peak last fall. We leave
We
get our reserved rental car and head for the Reston hotel south of downtown
Next
we drove downtown to rent gear – I needed skis and poles, Matt had brought his
own. We found a store that was located near downtown, still open until 9:00pm,
and even honored a 10% discount voucher we got in our hotel. I got some Atomic
BetaRiders Carvers, very good gear for a very reasonable rate ($20/day). More
skiing posters with unbelievable powder conditions wetted our appetite and
increased anticipation of the greatest snow on Earth.
Speaking
of appetite: We were also looking for some good food. We asked around and Baci
was recommended for Italian cuisine. Over dinner we reviewed several pictures,
inlcuding those from our
Saturday, February 21,
2004
We
planned to start with Alta. We were told to either get up at 6:00am and beat
the crowds on the road to the ski resorts or risk getting stuck in traffic. We
left just after 7:00am after a hasty breakfast, only to find hardly any traffic
and the huge Alta parking lot empty at 7:45am – no wonder, the lifts statr at
9:15am, so we had plenty of time for a second breakfast. The weather was quite
warm, slightly above freezing, with wet snow coming down and melting on the
ground in the valley. Over hot chocolate I pondered the shortcomings of picking
calendar dates six weeks into the future to schedule weather dependent sport
activities. You can’t control the weather, so you just roll with the punches.
The
suboptimal weather could not dampen our spirits. Hey, this still beats waking
up in
We
studied the Alta resort map and found only a half dozen skilifts or so. They
have plenty of black diamond slopes here with very creative names such as
“Bassackwards”, “Alf’s High Rustler” or “Eagle’s Nest”. We started slow given
the high Alta-tude (8,000 – 10,500 ft), the poor visibility, and the somewhat
unpredictable mix of 1 foot of powder covering icehard moguls beneath.
The
terrain is steep, with the treeline going up almost all the way – much higher
than in the European alps. The lift lines offer a good glimpse of the slopes
and its more or less skiable variations. Often there are rockbands or
full-blown cliffs sprinkled through the steep forest, so every here and there
you’ll find warning signs “Cliff Area Ahead” to fend off would-be skiers and
snowboarders. Actually Alta is closed to snowboarders and reserved exclusively
for skiing – a somewhat unique concept. Nevertheless there is harldy any line
too steep or crazy not to be attempted by some skiers. So while sitting on the
mostly old-fashioned chairlifts you can contemplate the “line experiment” for
the next run.
In
the next days we would find even more unbelievable tracks jumping cliffs 25 ft
high often landing in a tricky mix of trees and rocks. These tracks were mostly
left behind by snowboarders, typically young males with their “brains turned
off” (Matt’s rendition) and defying the laws of gravity as we know it (my
rendition). I prefer skiing with the brains turned off (Whimp!) and gravity certainly
applies to me, so I chose to ski runs uninterrupted by vertical layers of rock
or ice. As you can see from the images, that still leaves plenty of steep
chutes and trees to circum-navigate. There are several double-black diamonds as
well, and it is safe to say that even an experienced skier will not get bored
easily here.
One
run (Alf’s High Rustler) has a very inviting long steep face sweeping towards
the bottom. (It’s the run visible in the morning picture above just above the
roof of the Alta Ski Shop.) To get there I had to traverse along a ridge with
trees and rock formations. Following other tracks wasn’t as good an advice as
you might think, primarily because there were tracks all over the place
literally going down every gully or slope you could fit a ski through sideways
– sometimes that was actually barely the case. Frequent stops in what can only
be described as a dead end - for the “brains-turned-on-skier” anyways - and
some backtracking to a more feasible traverse. The High Rustler lives up to
it’s reputation, but with the legs burning I had to stop frequently to enjoy
the run.
Even
though we took a good long lunch break to refuel and relax a bit, we were both
quite tired with wobbly legs at around 3:00pm. From past experience I knew that
skiing all out on the first day would only result in sore muscles and thus
severe impact for the following two days of skiing. Hence we called it a day
early and checked out the ski shop at the base of the mountain. You could find
all sorts of gear to rent and buy, as well as the usual tourist trappings like stickers,
coffee mugs or T-Shirts with slogans such as “Altaholics Anonymous” or “If
skiing were easy, they’d call it snowboarding”. I later glimpsed another
T-Shirt musing about “10 reasons why a chairlift is better than a girlfriend” -
but such content is not intended for mature audiences. It just seems a very
typical byproduct of the teenage extreme sports scene.
For
the rest of the day, Matt had found an interesting cinema movie called
“Touching the Void” after the book by Joe
Simpson about a mountain survival story. I had read the book and it is
excellent. To anyone interested in mountain climbing, this movie is a must see.
In the words of one critic:
"...the most harrowing movie about mountain climbing I
have seen, or can imagine."
While
this movie does not seem to be shown in all American cities,
Sunday, February 22, 2004
We
had set our sights on Snowbird today, which is in the same “Little Cottonwood
Canyon” as Alta, just a few miles lower on the road. Snowbird features more
lifts, inlcuding the huge, 125 passenger tram covering 3000 vertical feet in 7
minutes. This reminded me of the French ski resorts like Trois Vallees, for
example with the very similar tram in Courchevel.
So
we started off early and high on the mountain. The tram tops out on
Again,
just like many paths lead to Rome, so do many slopes lead down this mountain –
some across open terrain, others through steep forest. Here it is quite likely
you don’t see the forest – ahem slope – for the trees.
As
can be seen in the pictures, there is a growing percentage of skiers wearing
helmets to protect their heads. Certainly in this terrain there is a chance to
hit trees or rocks – as the terrain gets steeper, the margin of error gets
smaller. I had always felt that skiing fast and/or steep represented a risk of
getting your head banged up comparable if not higher than when riding on a
bicycle. Hence I had bought a skiing helmet and new goggles recently at the REI
store in
Due
to the poor weather on the top of the mountain we retreated to the lower lifts
below the treeline, which still offered plenty of steep runs and variety in
slopes and terrain. The best powder was to be found in less steep sections,
where the moguls were still soft, fluffy and invited to smooth rhythms going
down under the lift fall line.
After
several runs we stopped for lunch again. The main resort up on the mountain
reminded me much of the similar places in
In
the afternoon we explored other parts and lifts of the resort, inlcuding a lift
with a snowboard fun park. That includes all kinds of ramps – BIG ramps for
catching big air – slide rails and half pipes. Just like you’ve come to know it
from the popular snowboarding Xbox games ;-)
One
of the first ramps we saw consisted of two big tables seperated by a spectator
area in the middle protected by a large “For Experts only” banner. We stayed a
few minutes and studied other acrobatic jumps. We saw some pretty impressive
360s and even 540s jumps landed smoothly backward at high speeds and continuing
at quite high speeds. I gauged the proper amount of speed by watching where
others tok off. Then Matt posted with the camera and took a picture of me
getting some big air.
Covering
my face with the arms was unintentional, but probably favorable, as it hides
the expression of terror I had at that moment: My speed was apparently higher
than that of the guys jumping before me as I went straight for the ramp without
any last-second slow downs. The ramp was designed such that an incline led up
to the takeoff lip, followed by a flat plateau of about 30 ft, in turn followed
by a steep runoff to ease the landing impact. Just before the takeoff you can’t
see anything but the takeoff line against the sky, and a split-second later I
was airborne looking down some 15ft or more to the landing spot – a perspective
I am more used to when sitting in the chairlift! (The snow jet trailing off my
boots is showing the parabolic flight path.) I easily cleared the flat-to-steep
transition and landed far, however surprisingly smooth after maybe a 50ft leap.
Quite possibly my largest jump ever.
I
did jump several other ramps after that, all shorter but some with better style
points than this one. And we found that taking pictures of fast moving action
is tricky with my digital camera. Timing it right is to some degree a matter of
luck.
We
explored multiple black diamonds and short variations through the forest,
sometimes feeling like in a natural half-pipe. We skied until after 4:00pm that
afternoon. Again we felt tired and stopped prior to being completely exhausted.
Towards the bottom in Snowbird we waited
for a shuttle bus to bring us back to the parked car. One unhappy skier with a
leg injury was brought down in a sled by mountain rescue – reminding us that
the laws of gravity are still applicable to the rest of us mere mortals.
Back
at the hotel we tucked the skis away in our hotel room and indulged in hot tub
to relaxe the muscles, swimming pool to cool off from the hot tub, and hot
shower to shampoo hair and body. In what had by now almost become the daily
routine, we were HUNGRY from all the fresh mountain air and skiing. Some more
asking around led us to the market street grill, which offered a superb
selection of fish much to our liking.
Hard
as we tried, we could harldy think of anything which hadn’t gone smooth and per
plan so far on this trip. Except maybe more sunshine, but then you don’t get
the greatest snow on Earth from sunshine alone…
Monday, February 23, 2004
Hard
to believe, but it was already time to check out and make plans to catch that
airplane home later this afternoon! But first we had another 4 hours of skiing
in store. We selected to go for yet another ski resort, this time to Brighton
at the end of
When
you enter the quad lift at the base, you are greeted by an orange sign
educating you about “Smart Style”:
Inverted
Aerials not recommended and prohibited – ah, thanks for letting us know! Could
have gotten in real trouble otherwise … ok, well not really. Matt was pushing
extending his powder skiing skills in some nice slopes with maybe ½ ft fresh
fluffy stuff.
The
sky brightened up and some mountains in the distance became visible and
beckoned with sunshine. Made it hard to focus on the skiers in the foreground.
How many skiers are in the following picture? Hint: Watch for clouds of powder
;-)
It
was time to refine powder skills, experience the weird JoJo flip turning in the
vertical walls of the above pictured half-pipe and practice some more jumping –
as well as taking pictures of it.
Near
the top the sun broke through and revealed both the fresh snow-covered ridge
line as well as the stunning view down into the
There
was a little bit of everything on that day, from deep shadowy powder to sunny
groomed slopes to spring-like patches of aspen trees to steep rocky faces
attracting suicidal snowboarder jumps and maneuvers.
When
sitting in the quad lift speeding to the top – aptly named with fast sounding
names like Express or Gadzoom – I couldn’t help but feel like a hunter in the
forest on the lookout for fast moving creatures swooshing through the trees and
trying to “shoot” them with digital photos.
Time
flies when you’re having fun, and all too soon we had our last run at around
1:00pm. It was sad to stow the skis away midday given good conditions in a
great resort pratcically empty that day – most people were back in the office
today on Monday…
We
had to say good-bye to this winter playground, but we pretty much vowed to
return again. There is more fun to be had here for future winters. We were glad
we had done the heattrick of three resorts in three consecutive days. We had
skied and seen more terrain than I had in the last couple of years combined.
For me it was a first in many regards: First skiing in 2004, first in
We
returned to
Later
we enjoyed a Starbucks coffee during the layover in
We
couldn’t think of anything we would do different were we to repeat this trip in
the future. Although tired, we were very happy with the last couple of days and
literally a thousand miles away from the day-to-day routine. Thinking of the
next morning, when your colleagues in the office greet you with: So what have
you done this weekend?