The End of and Era and Beginning of Another.

Tuesday was an extremely busy day in Salt Lake. Dropped Mason off at the airport at 5:30am. Drove to Alta to ski 14" of fresh powder. Took 5 amazing runs, each a different line of untouched snow. Finally got my spare tire mounted to a spare rim at Big O tires (thank god I made it the first 4000 miles without the need to use the unusable spare tire I had separated from the rim on top my truck). Got my tires rotated and balanced at Discount Tire. Got situated at the AirBnB brandon and I were staying at. And last but not least, picked up Brandon at the airport at 10PM.

So staying in one place for a couple weeks makes it much less interesting to write about. Instead of long paragraphs, I'm going to summarize the next few days with 4 parts. 1: Ski Area. 2: Best Run. 3: Conditions 4: Food. 5: Misc Notes. 6: Picture. Brandon joined me for this week of the trip.

Wed Jan. 23rd:

1: Snow Bird

2: GadZoom Chair

3: Extremely Windy and Cold

4: Gad Chalet Chili Cheese Fries and Beer at Gold Miners Daughter

5: Brandons First Day. I got back to the AirBnB and immeadiatly fell asleep.

Thur Jan. 24th:

1: Alta

2: High Traverse and Hammer Head Chute off the Supreme Chair

3: 13in of light fresh snow

4: Sawadee Pad Thai and Drunken Noodles.

5: Backside was sub-par despite new snow. Brandon Demoed Salomon QST 99

Fri Jan. 25th:

1: Alta

2: Supreme again was the best skiing on the mountain.

3: Windy but warm morning, chilly afternoon as the sun gets stuck behind Baldy Mountain early in the day.

4: Made BBQ meatballs and spent far too long at the grocery store

5: We got a late start for some reason. Watched the X-Games all night.

Sat Jan. 26th:

1: Snowbasin

2: Strawberry Gondola and Gordons Gully.

3: Warm and Bluebird day.

4: In-N-Out 4x4 Burger (4 Patties, 4 pieces of Cheese, Onions, In-N-Out Spread) and Vanilla Shake. P.S. I hate thier fries

5: Took a while to get there (hour plus). Parked far away. only did 7 or so runs. Snow got real bad once sun went behind mountain. Brandon got pretty Stuck. I attempted, and landed my first 360 in about 5 years.

Sun Jan. 27th:

1: Solitude

2: Honey Comb traverse/hike was full of fresh snow from the storm 4 days earlier.

3: Another Sunny, above freezing, bluebird day.

4: The Pie Pizzeria BBQ Chicken Cilantro Pizza

5: Brandon took the day off. Don't go to Big Cottonwood Canyon on a weekend. I spent over 2 hours just trying to get a parking spot. Brighton's parking lot was completely closed so I ended up at Solitude.

Mon Jan. 28th:

1: Snowbird

2: Pretty much the whole mountain was the same. Just okay but not great. Little Cloud which was great before was extremely icy and no fun.

3: Partly cloudy. Warm but windy

4: Homemade Philly Cheesesteak Wraps

5: Monday was overall a pretty uneventful day.

Tue Jan. 29th:

1: Alta

2: Found a great run combo that crossed the whole front of the mountain and gave a little bit of everything from groomers to bumps to powder to steeps, chutes, and even a cliff.

3: Partly cloud and low to mid 20s.

4: Caffe Molise had fantastic Scampi Alla Diavola and Large Tiramisu.

5: Brandons Flight got canceled due to extreme Midwest Cold (Air temp -30s wind chill -50s). We were able to extend the AirBnB till Friday morning. I demoed skis for the first time this trip and got hooked on a pair.

Wed Jan. 30th

1: Snowbasin

2: Strawberry gondola was great but taking the mini tram to the top of the 2002 Olympic Downhill start shack was the highlight for me.

3: Bluebird upper 20s. another Beautiful day

4: Combine an In-n-Out 4x4 with a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwhich. No further explanation is needed...

5: I caved in, got up early, drove back to Alta and bought a pair of skis I had demoed the previous day. The Nordica Enforcer 93.

Thur Jan. 31st:

1: Brighton

2: Millie Lift. Snow was great, lots of variation in terrain on this mountain.

3: Partly Cloudy, warm but windy enough to keep you cool between runs.

4: Left overs!!!

5: I fell pretty hard on my shoulder on some a groomer off the western lift. Skied the rest of the day, thought I may have messed up my collarbone. Bright had night skiing. The snow got increasingly better as the night went on. Brandon skied till close at 9pm.