Skiing at Alta

Wow, skiing is awesome. We decided that, given our proximity to one of the best ski areas in the world, we ought to do a little skiing while we were in Salt Lake City. I had never been skiing before, but enjoyed it immensely. I went with some of my teammates (Abby, Trisha, Erik and Philip) for a day up at the Alta Ski Area. We got up to the resort at about 9:45 and rented our equipment then headed up to the lifts with snow beginning to fall lightly at the thermometer at about 25 degrees. As I had never skied before, they gave me a few pointers on little things like slowing down and stopping then sent me on my merry way. The first run was great - I only ate it 4 or 5 times - and from there we pretty much went our own ways.


Probably my two favorite things about skiing are riding the chair lift to the top and the adrenaline rush from going ridiculously fast with two pieces of wood strapped to your feet. Going from the hustle and bustle of everyone waiting at the bottom of the lift to the serenity of being lifted 60 feet above pristine powder was calming, especially when I was on a chair by myself and could just sit back and enjoy it. Then, once off of the lift, you almost immediately dive into screaming downhill at 30-40 mph, trying to avoid the people going slower than you (probably because they can actually slow themselves down) and avoiding uneven patches of snow that are almost impossible to see with fogged up sunglasses.


Overall, the day went very well. I became fairly comfortable riding the green runs (the easiest slopes) and tried a few blues (medium difficulty). Although I fell considerably more on the blue runs, I had a great time and was able to put together some good runs and avoiding any painful crashes. I did, however, twice have to unclip my skis and walk uphill after being forced onto the beginning of a black diamond run because there was a wall of skiers waiting at the top of a hill on the blue course. It turns out that hiking uphill through 2-foot deep powder with skis in hand and stiff boots on your feet at 10,000 feet is strenuous, to say the least.


Toward the end of the day I decided that I should try the other side of the mountain, where the more advanced skiers in my group had been skiing. As I approached the top of the mountain, I was immediately greeted by a wall of snow blowing sideways against the mountain, and quickly found the "easiest way." As it turns out, even the easiest route on that side was a little too much mountain for me. 30 minutes, 2500 feet and several falls later I was back at the bottom and heading for the tow line back to the green runs for a little ego boost. Finally, we met up after the lifts closed and grabbed a celebratory beer before being picked up by the rest of the team and heading back to the cabin. Overall, an awesome day. Someday, finances permitting, I think skiing could become a regular outing.