fonixmunkee's Blog

I'm only one day into my second trip to Utah in as many months, and I'm finding things I like about this place more and more.
Yesterday we headed to Snowbird for some skiing. The snow started out a little hard in the AM, but soon softened up by the early afternoon. We spied the lift lines in Mineral Basin from the top of the Little Cloud lift and saw that they were massive. We opted to play around in the Gad valley for a while instead. The snow was softer, but still had icy, bare spots. We tore down some groomers in Gad valley for a while (even shooting through a Ski Patroller speed trap, oops!) until the call to Mineral Basin was just too much.

We hopped the Peruvian Chair and made our way to Mineral Basin via the tunnel. We dropped off the cat and found gorgeous, soft corn snow. We were in heaven. We made a bunch of turns around the Baldy Express and then finished the day with the traverse over to the Bookends. Just shy of the gates for the Bookeneds, we found some great--even powdery--snow, that was moguled up but still fun to dive through. We repeated this process until we traversed back out and went through the same gate. We were treated to some great spring snow, loose and un-moguled, that was all to our selves. We lapped this a few times until the sun started ducking down and a layer of crust was forming on the snow (see the pictures).

We took the Baldy Express up, and my friend broke off to hike up the Baldy traverse with another person and check out the snow. I was beat and in need of a bottle of water, so I headed back down, tearing through the small bowls and glades just under the Baldy traverse. The snow was starting to harden up, so I ripped a now very icy groomer back to the car.

We got back, cleaned up, laughed at how ridiculous our raccoon eyes looked from our goggle sunburn, and headed out to SLC. We went to the Green Top and sat out on their expansive patio. It was 71 degrees and we drank beer and watched the sun set (sort of, it was kind of blocked out by the railings). I had a delicious plate of penne, then we packed it up and went to a friend's for poker. I ended up taking $13 from everyone in the luckiest streak I've ever had. We made some new friends, then headed down to the Hog's Breath for the rest of the night to listen to the live band, have some more beers, and just relax in the now 60 degree temps. We finished out the night there, then headed home.

As I fell asleep, I thought of how great this place is becoming to me, more and more. I found a new area of Snowbird that would be absolutely phenomenal if there was snow (even without fresh snow, it was awesome). I had found some really cool people who not only skied, but also knew how to have a good time. I also found some great bars and restaurants that were pretty unique to me, being as we didn't really have anything like that back where I hail from. And then, the temperatures. When you put it all together, it doesn't even seem like a ski trip at all...but in fact, it is.

Today we'll go golfing in the AM with some friends, then head up to Brighton and get into the back country for the rest of the day to beat the crowds. It's another gorgeous day out, so the snow should be deliciously soft.

Yeah, golfing...then skiing in the same day. That's just craziness. But that's Utah. And I'm lovin' it more and more.

Language: Is your comment written in English? Yes No

What language is your comment written in? DeutschEnglishEspañolFrançaisItaliaNorgeSverige

NOTE: We will not post items containing:

• Profanity or threats
• Personal insults
• Reports of violent criminal activity
• Commercial e-mail addresses or phone numbers
• Text entirely in ALL CAPS
• Hearsay
• HTML

See our Posting Policy for more information about our posting criteria.

Please Log In or Register to submit your comment.