All -I'll be a little more vociferous today. Although me writing about skiing is probably no so exciting.
Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable! There's a bit of a snow storm in the Salt Lake area. Over two feet has come down in the last 24 hours. At least on the mountain. Where it counts.
Everybody keeps saying how people in Utah are so nice but they drive like a bunch of cranky meth addicts.
I had a bit of a slower start today and did not roll out of the hotel until 9:30AM. After yesterday, I knew I was going back to Alta. At a minimum, I could ski over from Alta into Snowbird so it did not make any difference where I started.
As I approached the Little Cottonwood merge I found myself in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I knew it was a big snow but I did not expect to find half of Utah headed up to the mountain. So I curse the whole of Utah and waited for it to clear. What I found out later was that they did not open the pass until 9AM because they were clearing the road and doing avalanche control. Once they were done with that, it was just a zip up the hill.
Although half of Utah was not up the hill, there were still more people than yesterday. Anticipating the snow, I went ahead and rented some fat skis. "Fat" as in wide, not as in "phat". It was a good call. Yesterday was "powder" with a little 'p'; today was "Powder" with a big 'P'. Monsterous. Because there was so much snow they actually shut down some of the mountain (again, avalanche control).
I don't think I've ever skiied in so much BIG powder. I was surfing the powder all day long. The problem with so much snow is that it is easy to get stuck. I only got stuck twice all day but the hill was dotted with people digging themselves out of areas that were just to flat to plow through. Bouncing around in the snow was like flopping in a feather bed all day long.
So I left the mountain at 3PM today. Again, tired. I was thinking about heading down, getting a quick dinner, and getting to sleep early. It is supposed to dump another foot tonight so I have no intention of leaving until all the snow has been skiied. I was almost snowed out of the mountain this morning so imagine my surprise when I was informed that we were temporarily snowed in. They had to dynamite the pass for avalanche control. So I would have to sit and have a beer or two until they finished blowing things up. Then to add insult to injury, the bar was tapped out of PBR so I was stuck drinking Coors Light. For $3.50 a can. It was free in Golden.
Anyway, the road cleared and they released the herd back down the mountain. Tomorrow is another day. If my legs work, I'll venture up to Alta again. Why waste time learning a new mountain in all this good snow?
The journey is soon coming to an end. After tomorrow, I'll be leaving the Salt Lake area and heading out 80 onto Reno, Tahoe, Sacramento, and SF. I may peek into downtown Salt Lake on Thursday; I may stop in Reno to recoupe my trip costs; I may stay over in Tahoe to ski Homewood one more time.
I left San Francisco on December 3rd. I'll probably be back January 11th. The Post Office has been holding my mail. I am sure there is a bill I may have missed. I know there is a speeding ticket waiting for me. I missed a bunch of hockey games. And a lot of holiday parties. I left a bunch of Christmas items sitting on the trunk in my room. The rug has not been vacuumed in over a month. My hotel room smells like Taco Bell and sweaty ski gear.
I'm not going back to Wells Fargo. Not sure where I'm going yet. But I sure know where I've been.
Hank
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