Monday, December 05, 2005

Coming Down the Mountain


We've been getting a lot of snow in Utah over the last two weeks so I had to head up to Snowbird on Saturday morning. Mineral Basin was closed. Only about a third of their runs were accessible but the resort was good enough to charge everyone full price anyway. I have a couple pictures. It was really cold and my face was numb but I tried to look as attractive as possible. The second picture was me and my board taking a break on the bad side of a huge snow bank. For future reference, marching uphill through waist-deep snow should never be considered as a "short cut" to your car.

Powder weekends and holidays are bad times at the resorts because a lot of the people who show up don't know how to ski. The snobby kids scream in fear when you pass them, there's a crowd of wussies loitering at the top of every hill and middle aged men think it looks tough to be hauled down the hill in a tobogan when their legs start to hurt. Surprisingly, nobody hangs out on the bunny hill.

The first few hours are fun but once the soft snow has been chewed up it starts to feel like you've water skied over a hundred miles worth of railroad ties. I went home early. Any day of snowboarding is still a good day.

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