Speeding Down the Mountain

April 8, 2002

We are back, and now it's time for the memories.

Speed and snow and 6 days of sunshine, and smiles, Gatorade and debating to jump into the pool from our balcony is primarily what I remember.

Oh, and a birthday. . .

Meeting the new boyfriend. . .

the fear of falling off narrow icy mountain trails before I could get to the groomed slopes. . .

11,000 foot high deep blue skies. . .

The windswept treeless expanse of snow. . .

Spring down in the city of Salt Lake. . .

And since I'm the one with the camera in the backpack, I paid for this image so I would at least one shot of me on the mountain.

The rest will find their way into a gallery.

Just before we left Detroit I checked the weather report for Salt Lake City and was surprised to see that temps in the city were projected to be in the low seventies.

I worried that we might not have good snow, or that the snow would turn to slush.

Sun at the bottom of the mountain, sun at the top of the mountain, but generally the snow was fabulous at the summit and the top runs.

Prescription for Diamox in hand, we all took our pills faithfully and no one came down with any altitude sickness.

After our first day of skiing the worst problem that confronted us was a very sunburned boy, even though he had been wearing sunscreen.

We all gladly took the next day off and drove over to see Park City and what was left of the Olympic Sites just on the other side of the mountain.

The skiers among us agreed that we would have another "off" day in honor of the birthday girl (eldest) so we wandered down into Salt Lake City again after 2 more days of sun and snow.

It really was a bit strange to lay by the pool in the sun and look out at skiers as they came down the mountain for their last runs of the day.

Strange, but worth every minute of it.

Can you believe that I overheard someone on the phone complaining that he didn't like it there because it was not overcast or snowing?
I heard others complain that there was no nightlife or shopping to be had at Snowbird.

Well, folks, is has the second highest vertical drop in Utah, and some of the steepest runs that you can get your skis on.

I don't think I could even spell the word nightlife after a full day of skiing, much less go out and find any.

As an example, if you wanted to ski in the deep stuff all you had to do is go right over the edge and follow the slope right on down.

The slope on the right of the image is pretty similar to much what we skied most of the time - but we stuck to the groomed trails. The deep snow was just too heavy and wet in the afternoon sun for our taste.

Meanwhile Mrs. did the spa thing, skied the bunny hill, did the spa thing some more, and skied the bunny hill some more.

And of course, on the last run, of the last day, after the eldest had switched to her snowboard, there just had to be some kind of mishap.

It happened in the slush, and I was standing taking some pictures as she took this little fall.

"Dad, I think I broke my ankle."

Then she stood up, boarded down a bit, then took off the board and hopped down for a bit, then sat on the board and slid for a while until the pain caused her to stop.

NO WAY AM I GOING DOWN ON ONE OF THOSE SKI PATROL THINGS!!

I'D BE TOO EMBARASSED.

Guess that's why it's good to carry a camera with you.

The clinic said torn Achilles.

Oh, and by the way, there is this cyst on the bone. We think it's benign, but we have to wait till after you have gotten home to let you know.

I just talked to her tonight, still in high spirits. It may have been that getting into the University of Hawaii Law School had bit to do with it. However, the fact that the Achiles is not torn, the cyst is benign, and the broken bone in her foot does not require a cast might have helped.

 

Now I can say that it was all good!