Snowboarding in Utah

It was time for my annual snowboarding pilgrimage. Stella and Scott were spending a few days at Snowbird Ski Resort, outside of Salt Lake City, so we arranged a while back to meet up in Utah.

I'd been to Salt Lake City many times, mostly for snowboarding. In Utah, they brag about having "the greatest snow on earth" as if the words came straight out of the Bible. The reality is not too far off (although the locals don't usually mention that the mountains are not quite the greatest even in the West). The westerly wind picks up moister from the Great Salt Lake, and dumps champagne power in the mountains. On a fresh power day, riding down the slopes gives one the sensation of floating on air.

I arrived two days earlier than Stella and Scott, and went boarding at Brighton and Park City. That's one nice feature of the Salt Lake City area. One can base oneself in the city, and decide each morning where one would like to ski because most of the resorts are only an hour's drive away. Over the years, I'd been to almost all of the resorts except for Snowbird, Deer Valley and Alta, the last two being nasty places that to this day don't allow snowboarders. I got rather excited thinking about going to Snowbird for the first time.

Thanks to modern communication, I found Stella and Scott at the bottom of the gondola. In the next two days, we had a fantastic time together. While there hadn't been any fresh snow recently, the conditions were still excellent. From time to time, we went into the trees. While coming down a trail, I had a picture taken by an on-site photographer. As it was the only "action shot" I had of me snowboarding, I paid the exorbitant charge and got the digital file. Now, it's one of my most treasured photos.