Snow snobbery at its finest
After a summer in Alaska, I spent the fall of 2004 exploring the West in my beat-up VW Golf. I had the inkling that I would find a mountain town for the winter and become the proverbial ski bum—working as a lifty or something, and riding every day. I handed out my résumé at job fairs in Big Sky and Jackson Hole before making my way down to Salt Lake City.
It was barely November and already the snow was piling up. On the eve of the 2004 presidential elections, two close friends and I ventured into the backcountry near Solitude Ski Resort. We camped overnight in Silverfork Canyon, which is an offshoot of Big Cottonwood Canyon, 45 minutes outside SLC.
While the rest of the country was busy electing GW for a second term, we made laps in 20 inches of classic Utah powder. (Side note: yeah, we should have voted, but none of us were registered, and not to give away our political leanings or anything … but in Utah, our votes hardly would have mattered. So it goes.)
Anyway, I had never experienced anything like that before. It was like being in one of those dreams where you’re floating around underwater but can still breathe. You know it shouldn’t be possible, but you giggle and blow bubbles as you slowly somersault by schools of fishes. Then you wake up. This, however, was real.
Two days later I was in California, visiting family outside San Francisco. We sipped cheap wine; we hiked under a mild November sun. Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about that day in Silverfork. How could I get back? Then I got a call from my buddy Paul.
The Cabin
“Hey dude, we found an A-frame cabin for rent up Big Cottonwood.”
“You what!?”
“There’s this A-frame for rent at the top of Big Cottonwood. Right at the circle, near Brighton. It’s $400 per month. You in?”
“Abso-frickin-lutely.”
And so began my love affair with Utah powder.
Fast-forward four years to the ’08-’09 snow season, my last in Utah. In that time I had morphed from a wide-eyed powder neophyte to a bona fide snow snob. I would wake up in the morning and call the Solitude snow report: “We’ve received seven inches overnight and nine inches in a 24 hour period …”
Meh. Seven inches? I’ll just go to work.
Seriously? Go to work? What was I thinking?
Let’s stop here for a minute. I have to preface all this. I now live in Vermont, where a seven-inch powder day doesn’t get scoffed at. Last season—which I’m told was meager at best—we got two, maybe three days of only seven inches. No matter. Every time I went out with Vermonters, they were grinning ear-to-ear whether we were slaloming through hardwoods or carving on the groomers.
Vermont verve in action (thanks Quinn – www.reelvermont.blogspot.com):
This winter has started off much more promising. The snow is slowly accumulating and we’re one big dump away from full coverage. (Bring it on Nor-Easter!) If there’s one thing I’ve noticed, it’s that skiers and snowboarders in Vermont don’t mess around with numbers: “If it’s good, get it.”
Simple.
Looking back at five amazing seasons in Utah, I blame my snow-snobbery on a combination of beyond-deep resort days and countless untouched laps in the backcountry. It conditioned me to think that I’d only enjoy the resort if it were covered in bottomless fluff.
Don’t get me wrong. Riding deep powder is the outdoor equivalent of smoking crack. But I’ve come to realize that maybe I don’t need the drug to enjoy the mountains.
If and when I move back out West, I hope this time away teaches me a few things. I don’t promise something ridiculous like, “If I move back to Utah, I’m going to ride every time it snows.” I’m just talking about reorienting my attitude. I realize now that it’s not just about deep snow and perfect conditions. It’s just about being in the hills, breathing the cold air, and getting away from things for a few hours. As far as I’m concerned, if it’s in the mountains, it’s all good.
And if it’s good, I’m going to get it.
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Tags: ski resorts, ski the east, skiing, snowboarding, vermont, wasatch mountains
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I dont think I could have said it any better Justin. Great read! It’s great to hear others voice and share the same love of the mountains that we do. No matter where you are or how much snow there is like you said ” go out and get it”.
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Wow, that story was enlightening!!! Sure it’s not all about the deepness of the snow, but if I had a choice between boiler plate ice and 10 inches of blower, or treed summits vs. 14000 foot alpine crag bombs, or 50 tree riddled turns in 1000ft versus 15 GS-pow turns in 2500ft, or freezing my ass off versus bluebird pow days, I’d choose the latter. Agreed, any day is a good day in the mountains, especially when your mountains are actual mountains. In addition, I’ll take the aesthetic of the Tetons, San Juans & Wasatch over the Greens any day, regardless of snow conditions. I’m sorry the said author got “tired” of skiing deep pow. Oh yeah, and said author “bro” spent three of his four years in Utah during statistic anomalies: the 05-06 was a 640″ year and the 07-08 & 08-09 seasons, coincidentally, were both 700 inch years at ALTA!!! When your legs are that tired, and it snows that much (an average of 3.33 inches per DAY during the 07-08 & 08-09 seasons), you have to turn down some pow days! Besides I live in Colorado, not Utah.
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Hey John:
Well said, my friend. Since you ski/guide for a living, I’m curious to see if your prediction comes to fruition.
Thanks Tristan, you got my point.
TK: thanks for the comment. However, I’m not sure where you read that I got “tired” of powder, or that I would choose the Green Mountains over the Wasatch. It’s not a matter of choice. (I live in VT now because my partner moved there for work.) It’s a matter of how you look at your time in the mountains.
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[...] you’re the type who only goes up on the hill on Tuesdays, when it’s bluebird, with at least a foot of fresh snow and a tour bus full of Scandinavian massage therapists giving free backrubs in the parking lot, you [...]
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Great article!
It’s so important to make the most of what you have. And If it happens to be à powder day, youll appreciate it even more!
Arnie
Canada
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