Oh, so this is why I'm here







Remember my last post, when I complained that I just missed out on the best powder day ever? Well it turns out that last Tuesday wasn't even the best day of the week. In fact, it's probably the 4th or 5th best day of the week. Let's recap the days since:

Wednesday: The storm on Tuesday lasted well into the night, leaving lots of untracked runs available Wednesday morning. Even better, the sun was out, making everyone happy. I was schedule to work Wednesday but managed to get the morning off. After a few runs I decided that there was almost too much fresh snow (about 11 inches), as I kept getting stuck on any run that wasn't a black or double black. Checking back for work in the afternoon, I got to teach an advanced lesson, which meant the afternoon was pretty much just like the morning. I came home and thought, "That was the best day of riding I've ever had."

Thursday: However, the best day ever was soon replaced. Another storm came in Wednesday night and by Thursday morning we already had 10 more inches of fresh snow. Again, I was scheduled to work but managed to sweet-talk my way out of it. With the entire day off I was free to hang out near Jupiter Peak, way at the top of the mountain. Jupiter Peak is about a 20 minute hike up from the highest chairlift and is always slow to open after a big storm (ski patrol needs to dynamite the area to kill the avalanches). After a couple of fantastic runs down McConkey's Bowl, I saw the gate to the top was finally opened. And I was the first person up it! The downside to being the first person up was that I got to break trail in two feet of fresh powder. The hike up was the longest 30 minutes I've had in a long time, but it was worth every second as I was one of the first down Jupiter Peak. Fresh tracks down a double black diamond really can't be described, but rest assured it was awesome. I was able to get 3 or 4 runs in up there without hitting anyone else's tracks. I think at one point I was yelling incoherently on the way down; I was just so happy. Heading back down the mountain at the end of the day I though (again), "Wow, that was the best day I've ever had."

To top it off, I ran in to my boss (Adrianne -- the best boss ever) and she finally processed my change of schedule request. My new schedule has me working Monday through Thursday instead of Wednesday through Sunday. To transition to the new schedule she suggested giving me Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. I had to think about it for a second (actually that's a lie) and decided to accept her proposal. Which leads me to...

Friday: The storm from Thursday kept up through the night, dropping another 8 inches of snow. That's over 30 inches in the last three days! And I wasn't working! So I headed over to the Canyons, a resort about 3 miles from Park City. It was my first time there and overall I was impressed. The resort is absolutely enormous (in fact, it's the largest resort in Utah). It's also quite beautiful. The lifts are spread out so each area you're in feels very secluded (compared to say Park City, where everything is fairly close together). However, there is a very large down side to a huge, spacious, resort: there is a lot of flat terrain. In fact, every single run ends with a flat cat-track to get back to the lift. Some of them even go back uphill! It's truly a terrible, terrible layout.

But with feet upon feet of fresh snow, everything is perfect. I managed to get stuck a couple of times in snow over my waist and had to take a couple of pictures (yes, I'm actually standing up in those pictures). After the main runs were skied out, it was time to head backcountry. The access gates to the backcountry terrain were a little ominous, but the available terrain was just too tempting.

By the end of the day, I could barely stand on my board. My legs were (and still are) completely spent, a sure sign of a great day. The forecast for tomorrow is more sun and I think it might be time to reattempt a trek down to Snowbird. So for now it's time to sit back, relax, and get my legs ready to do it all over again tomorrow.