Powder Land

Day 156 - Salt Lake City, UT and Solitude Ski Resort - Snowy to Sunny Mid 40's:

Today was another early day! It snowed all night because Swain was headed back to Gunnison for surgery we wanted to get a full day skiing. We loaded up the car and made our way to Roy's house to pile into the Ski Mobile. We were excited when we learned that it had completely dumped snow overnight and the mountains had received 24 - 28 inches of fresh POWDER. We were going to make our way back up Little Cottonwood Canyon but the road was closed until at least noon because of avalanche bombing so instead we made our way up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We were still planning to make our way into the backcountry for some skiing but once we got to Solitude Resort to park we decided that given the amount of new snow it was probably safer to ski on the resort for the day. Solitude was also running a spring special for only thirty-nine dollars, so we couldn't go wrong. The skiing was amazing to put it lightly, it was by far the best day of skiing that I have ever had! We got tons of runs in the fresh powder and had a hard time leaving. Unfortunately we had to so that Swain could get on the road to Gunnison for his surgery. It was truly an epic day of skiing and I'm glad that I got the chance to ski with Roy and Swain again this year. Once again work called for Heather and she spent her day catching up on Bar Harbor stuff and doing some laundry.

After a bit of resting we made our way back over to Roy's house to make some dinner, drink some beers, and watch some Biggest Loser. Jen made it home early form work and we enjoyed hanging out for a while before it was back to the Swain's for the night. It's so nice to see people who you rarely see. We've been so luck to be able to visit with our friends as we travel the country and even luckier that they have let us CRASH!!

Day 155 - Salt Lake City, UT and Alta Ski Resort - Snowy & Windy Low to Mid 30's:

We woke up early and Swain helped me gather up some of his ski gear since I left mine back home. He got me fitted into his resort gear and Heather drove me over to meet Roy. After I got to Roy's house he fired up the Ski Mobil (which is a old 1970 army ambulance that Roy has painted and remodeled. It pretty sweet it has all time 4-wheel drive, so no problems getting up the canyons in the snow and Roy has set up a place to sleep inside if there is ever a need.) We decided to try and head up into Little Cottonwood Canyon and hit up Alta ski resort. This resort if the ultimate ski resort because there are no snowboarders allowed!! There was a big storm blowing in and it was snowing the whole day. They even had to close the lift a couple times because of lighting on top of the mountain. It kind of sucked because it takes awhile to get up to the top of the mountain and then they would close the lift and we would have to make our way back to the lodge. It was a great first day of Utah skiing but with the weather forecast tomorrow was shaping up to be an epic day.

While I was out playing all day Heather was back at the Swain's house working away and making us some money. She wouldn't have enjoyed the weather outside so it's better that she was at home taking care of business. After she finished a bit of work Larissa returned from school and they made their way over to the Botanical Gardens at the University of Utah. There were a few varieties of blooming flowers but the cold is still a little tough on most of the plants. It was nice for them to be able to get outside though before the rain hit!!

After I got back from skiing and Heather returned with Larissa we went out to rent a back country setup for me to use tomorrow when Swain, Roy and I were going to venture into the back country and all the powder. Swain was working tonight, so we hung out with Larissa and she whipped up some homemade Pad Thai which is Heather's favorite and really delicious. We finished off the night playing a game of Phase 10 waiting for Swain to get back from work.