Utah Ski Trip (Solitude)

 

This was the view from our back porch

We stayed in West Jordan, Utah.  We were a 20 minute ride away from Solitude Ski Resort.  This was a local spot.  It was never packed and had a bunch of “secret spots” to ski on untouched snow.  The ride to Solitude was through “The Canyon”  and it was gorgeous!!!

We came here 3 times on our trip. 

Day 1

We took a warm up run down a groomer to get the blood pumping.  The air is really thin and I had to take a few puffs from my “just-in-case” inhaler.   Our 2nd run, and we were feeling ambitious.  We were with a friend that is a Salt Lake City local.  His name was Pete, and he showed us all of the secret local spots.  This was the first one.

Hmmm.  I like to think of myself as an okay skier.  Unfortunately for me, I am a terrible hiker when wearing ski boots and carrying my skis up an extremely steep incline of slippery snow.

After about 25 minutes up the hike, I almost dropped one of my skis down the cliff.  My knee-jerk reaction was to reach for it, instead, I started to slide down the ridge.  Yeah, scariest frikkin scenario ever!  I must have had a guardian angel following me that day, because as I was sliding to my death, I felt 2 strong hands grab the back of my coat yelling “no!” and pulled me back onto the path.  PHEW!  The ski patrol and his buddies were right behind us.  So lucky. At this point, the inhaler was obsolete, and I had a full-blown asthma attack.  My husband coached me through and we finished the climb.  One of our crew members had altitude sickness at this point and had to have ski patrol take him down on a sled. 

I wish I had me some fatty skis.  Mine were skinny in the middle, and definitely not made for powder days.  I had fun anyways.

I pulled myself together, and took a look around at how beautiful and peaceful it was.  The sun was out and there was about 10″ of fresh snow!

 

I figured, I made it up, and I will make it down.  So off I went!I tumbled  got down the mountain in about 2 hours.  Yeah, not cool LOL!

Day 2 at Solitude

This was a great day.  This mountain had electronic passes that let you through the gates without being scanned by a liftee. 

This lift took us to the Honeycomb Canyon.  There was deep snow and steep bowls to cruise down.  This was my favorite spot!

On the lift, we kept hearing loud BOOM noises.  It was the grenades that set off avalanches before they opened certain parts of the mountain.

 

Solitude Day 3

This was the day we went home.  We were just going to relax, pack, and grab some lunch this day, until we heard the weather report of 14″ of snow! 

We decided to ski a half day then drive straight to the airport from the mountain.

The girls skied together this day.  What a blast!

After our last run, we had a celebratory cheers!

We had goggle tan lines LOL!