Free Falling in the Utah Powder

Free Falling

Tom Petty fans, this story has nothing to do with our favorite vocalist, but I think the title is very appropriate for the feeling of skiing in legendary Utah powder.

My quest for the white fluffy stuff has been frustrating at best. Year after year has gone by as Matt Jon and I have trekked off to Utah and found lots of snow, but alas, packed powder and groomed conditions. Would I ever experience the feeling of floating through the snow, powder over my knees, only seeing my ski tips occasionally and best of all having the light flakes spraying my face as I glided down the mountain?

My ski ability is far short of sons Matthew and Jonathan, but I am good enough to maneuver in the deep stuff without killing myself. Some would say skiing in powder is an orgasmic experience; I cannot entirely agree with that but I can ski for hours. Enough said on that subject.

On a scale of one to ten, the ski conditions were eleven! It snowed most of the time we were on the mountain, and the times we were not. In all we must have had four feet of new snow for our entire stay!

The trip out was not exactly what we had planned however. We never have weather problems in Phoenix so when I saw a major storm coming in from the Pacific, I was more concerned with getting to Salt Lake and out to the mountains than with getting out of Phoenix. Wrong! While all of our party of eight coming from Vermont, New York, Seattle and Portland had no difficulty getting to SLC and the mountain, we were grounded in Phoenix for a day as a vicious storm closed the airport and delayed out trip till the next morning. Giga (married to my niece, making him a what?) had the mis-fortune of booking his flight from NYC through Phoenix and was stuck with us for a night.

No worry, Jon and I took an early flight and were on the slopes of Powder Mountain by noon the next day. Giga arrived a few hours later. I hit the slopes immediately and paid the consequences by skiing poorly, being winded and generally making a mess of the day. Brother-in-law Mitchell convinced me to take a powder lesson with him and John the Ski Guide. Another bad choice, but in spite of my tiredness and poor form, I did have some fun being out on the slopes again.

A word about of Powder Mountain, it is not Vail or Park City, not shi shi at all. But it is a skier’s paradise. Nothing fancy, but if you are there to ski your brains out, this is the place. Powder Mountain is never crowded, lift tickets 40% less than most areas, acres of untouched powder that take days to get skied out and lots of laid back people not out to impress anyone with their ski garb.

So after an afternoon of skiing (a full day for the rest of the crew) we headed down the mountain to our posh ski house. The journey down was but 5 miles. It took about an hour. It seemed longer. It was snowing hard from the time we arrived at 11AM and the steep road down the mountain was not being plowed for another hour. So we carefully navigated our way down the mountain, hoping and praying we would stay on the road and not slide into the nearby creek. Finally arrived in one piece. Tomorrow we go up in the shuttle bus with chains.

We are in this house with six bedrooms, five baths, an outdoor Jacuzzi and a home theater with a huge projection TV. Eight guys, no women, ready to do real men stuff, whatever that is! And to be truthful..We never were into the real men stuff anyway. Skiing, eating, some R rated banter.. That’s enough for me.

Son Matthew has arrived from Seattle with a major cache of new ski equipment and slightly used hand-me –downs, gifts for all from his part-time job at REI. Nephew Jesse has arrived from Portland looking under the weather and a dead ringer for Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam). BIL Mitchell is in from Philly playing with his new toy, a Droid cell phone. Mitchell has actually entered the twentieth century and is now using e-mail! BIL Peter from Vermont is in fine form with his scotch and dry wit. Brooklyn-guy, via Serbia, Giga is the only snow boarder in the group. Nephew Ethan, from somewhere not memorable in upstate New York, is balancing his skiing with installing software remotely on his grandparent’s computer. And son, Chef Jon, is managing the dinner product inventory and preparation for the evening feast. What a fine group.

Day two is a truly “epic” powder day. The ski conditions today were about as good as anyone can remember. The powder hounds, those with the young legs, have hired John the ski guide for a full day of exploring the mountain where fresh track skiing abounds. Mitch, Giga and I are content to ski in the powder on the more conventional trails. I gave up on the black runs after I had the hardware surgically placed in my ankle five years ago.

When we all got together that evening all agreed it was a day that will always be remembered.

Off to Snow Basin the next day. A very posh place compared to Powder Mountain but more crowded. Snow Basin was the site of the Olympic Downhill event during the Salt Lake Winter Games. Skiing here was excellent as well but not comparable to Powder Mountain. The sun actually came out briefly and for a while it was the perfect confluence of sunshine and powder. I did have one unpleasant experience of getting to the summit and finding myself in such dense fog that it was difficult to see even five feet in front of you. But Mitch and I managed to work our way down following the guide posts till we came out of the dense clouds.. Whew! Not fun at all.

On Monday our group dispersed to fly home to various parts of the USA and I sent an e-mail to Bob, the owner of the house, letting him know we would like the place again next year just a few weeks later.

Our group was one member short this year, nephew Dan from DC. Dan, if you are reading this blog you better manage your priorities right next year and be there. We missed your wit and we especially missed not having you to abuse.