Powder found in Salt Lake with friends

But the drive from Minneapolis is ugly

Skiing with friends is part of the joy of skiing, so for this trip I reached out to friends I have not skied with before.  During the summer I race small sailboats, and many of those same friends are also skiers.

One of those friends is Keith.  He is a very good skier, and has not quite the number of miles on the ski race track I have.  But more relevant is that Keith is a world-class ultra distance bike racer.  By ultra distance I mean biking across the country in a race.  It is a mind bending thing and the level of fitness required is beyond my comprehension.  Keith is like 500 horse power muscle car going down the hill. I am more like an older nice car that is showing it’s miles; some rust showing through and the engine downgraded to 50 horse power. Unfortunately I came down with COVID in early December which knocked me off my minor fitness routine after getting a cortisone shot for my hip. 

The destination is Salt Lake, the plan is to ski Alta, Snowbird, Snowbasin and Powder Mountain. The original idea was to take the camper and park at an RV lot in downtown Salt Lake.  The more I thought about it the less I liked the idea.  My camper is nice but small.  Ok for a 3-4 nights of close quarters but with 4 days of driving and 7-8 days of skiing seems like a recipe to strain a friendship.  We bailed on the camper and changed up to hotels.

Good thing, as another friend raised his hand saying he was interested in joining the adventure.  Charlie is the other friend.  He also comes from the sailboat racing community and is somewhat similar to me in skiing ability, experience and age/fitness of the “skiing car”.  We have known each other for many years but last year seemed to up the friendship ante when I joined him on a ski trip with some other friends.  Three people would not be possible in the camper and Charlie agreed to stay with us in a small suite hotel. As the last man in, Charlie took the couch to sleep on and we learned the fine points on how make a couch as comfortable as possible.

The typical driving route from Minneapolis to Salt Lake City takes one through southern Wyoming on Interstate 80.  This is a desolate section of the U.S. and if the wind blows in the winter it is terrible.  Lucky us, the wind blew.  It was terrible.

We witnessed several cars/trucks in the snowbank and 4 cars tipped on the side.  I do not want to drive this road in the winter ever again. In fact, two straight days of driving to reach a ski destination seems to be getting less fun. (If it is ever was fun)

After one night on the road we arrived Ogden Utah (North of Salt Lake City) with the plan of skiing one day at Snowbasin and one day at Powder Mountain before Charlie arrived.  That night I pulled up Open Snow (a skiing weather app) and the narrative of Utah conditions explained that weather was moving in but the rain/snow line would be at 8,000 feet.  Most of Snowbasin and Powder Mountain is below 8,000 feet so we changed up the plan and went to Alta which is the highest elevation in the area.

In the world of ski area powder skiing, Alta is likely the best known area in the United States.  I have not been to Alta for many years and I can report that the base area seems frozen in time.

Gold Miners Daughter

Alta is known for feather light powder, the kind where you scoop up a handful of snow and it basically evaporates. Today the scoop was more like heavy whip cream. Not so much a problem in years past when lifting your skis out of the whip cream for every turn was no issue. That day, an issue. To put it bluntly, I got my ass kicked.

While sitting in Gold Minors Daughter at 2:30 pm this is the sight. Another old guy that likely also got an ass kicking.

Old guy, old couch & old lodge at Gold Miners Daughter Alta

Heavy snow no problem for Keith

In years past this would have been a short break but today I was done for the day. Keith went out for another lap or two while I slowly migrated to the car.

We changed reservations to check in a day earlier at the Spring Hill Suites Hotel by the airport, thinking that was somewhat half way between Alta/Snowbird and the northern resorts of Snowbasin and Powder Mountain. The hotel was OK but a major disappointment to not have a hot tub. My son Ryan works in the hotel business and took pity on us to make a call to a Marriott Courtyard across the parking lot that had a hot tub. They agreed to let us use it.

The problem with compromises is that they really are not very good at anything. By the time you wait in traffic it is an hour to reach any ski area. Note to self, ski in ski out or a 10 minute drive is the way to go. We sacrificed the après-ski beer and burger after skiing every day because the drive was so darn long. Skiing is fun but so is the total experience which includes hanging out at the area.

Day 2 we went back to Alta. The snow as not as thick and my legs started to show signs of life.

Day 3 Charlie arrived and we skied Snowbird. A bit more snow and the whip cream snow was beginning to lighten up just a bit. Still a long way from “blower pow” but not impossible and some good powder turns were had.

Our tracks and some of our “friends”.

Keith having a bad time at lunch

After showing some video’s to my wife, Jackie. She sent this to prove that our donkeys were having fun without Dad around.

There is an area at the top of Snowbird called Mineral Basin. Sometimes this area opens a day or two after other parts of the mountain have opened. When the area opens during the middle of the day it becomes quite a scene as skiers queue up for the “rope drop”. Rather than jump into the masses, Charlie and I decided to hold back and get a video of the scene.

Mineral Basin before the rope drop

The crowd waiting for the rope drop

Here is me further down the hill.

Same area with Charlie enjoying the snow

What the masses did to the to powder after just one run.

The line after our one run. We could not resist one more run and paid the price of a 45 minute line.

One night we splurged at a nice steak house. The boys having fun.