A Day at Snowbird Resort

This is my last post about my short trip to Utah for New Year’s. Sometimes I wish I lived in the SLC area because with mountains on both sides of you there is so much to do in the mountains. There are also so many ski resorts! Snowboarding at Snowbird Resort was the highlight of my trip!

My brother kindly treated me as a day’s ticket was $98 and I’m a broke student now but let me tell you that money is worth it. There are so many runs and lifts available that you don’t wait long in lift lines, and you can go for an entire day without having to repeat a run.

We started off our day by cramming into the enormous tram they have to take you to the peak! I didn’t take a picture so here is one I found on Google.

The ride up is long and we were crammed in like sardines. Luckily for little old claustrophobic me we were on the outside and I was able to look out the window and not think about all the people crammed in a small space.

When we got to the top the view took my breathe away! It was stunning! The wind was howling but we took a few pics and then strapped in.

I was really nervous since I only go once a season nowadays. We headed down Chip’s Run, a blue run that meanders down the side of the mountain. Even though it’s a blue run it’s a tougher one for snowboarders because it’s a very narrow trail with flat spots and a steep edge. But as we went down I started to get back into the groove and though I came down slowly I was feeling more controlled.

Bruce then suggested we go off Chip’s Run down another run that turned out to be a double black diamond! Not only was thew remainder of the run super steep and covered in moguls, but it was windy and there a lot of icy patches. I thought I was going to fall and break my arm on the first run of the day. Despite ploughing down this run and my quads burning, we finally made it down and headed up on another lift.

We got to the top and made our way to an old mining tunnel that they put a conveyer belt on to take skiers and snowboarders to the backside. The tunnel is full of antique mining tools and photos and is a fun way to go up.

We spent a good portion of the day on the backside. It wasn’t very crowded and the runs were super wide and there were so many chutes going off the main runs that we were able to go down without repeating a run.

I did lead us down one chute which bruce dubbed “the chute of death” because there were a lot of rocks to dodge. I dinged my board pretty badly on one rock and there was one section that we almost hiked down but eventually got up the nerve to plough cautiously down, dodging rocks on either side of us. Ha ha!

It was on the backside that I had my one wipeout that was pretty epic. I caught my edge and face planted and my board went up and over my head for a perfect scorpion! Thank goodness for my semi-regular yoga because that did hurt my back but it would have been much worse if I lacked flexibility.

Now at this point it was so sunny and warm that I felt almost hot. We then saw the thermometer on the ski lift and it read 44F (+6C)- an unfathomably warm day! See, I haven’t done much snowboarding in the daylight. Night tickets are usually much cheaper but in the daylight you can plan your route from the chair lift, it’s warmer, you can enjoy the mountain views- night skiing sucks and day skiing rocks!

We started to get tired and decided to go back down to the resort for a little snack and a drink. It was so warm that eating chili and drinking an ice cold pop felt amazing with the sun warming my face!

We headed back up with plans to hit so many more runs but the problem with taking a break is that your legs rest and then get mad when you start going again. Ha ha! We were halfway down the run when Bruce said his legs were dead and I agreed that mine were getting pretty shakey. We agreed to end our day at 3pm (the resort closes at 4pm) so were satisfied with an almost full day of snowboarding.

We were dead at the end of the day!A few things I noticed while there- everyone in Utah skis! We saw very few snowboarders and a lot of the runs had very flat spots so you can tell that skiing is the more dominant sport in the area. We also noticed that everyone wears helmets now! When Bruce and I started snowboarding in the early 2000’s it was considered “nerdy” to wear a helmet (keep in mind he was in high school and I was a sophomore in college), but now we were in the minority big time! I think I only saw 4-6 other skiers/snowboarders who weren’t wearing helmets. It’s a great idea! If I had a helmet I wouldn’t have had that concussion in 2006.

I had such a blast and this day renewed my love of snowboarding. I’m going to try and set aside some of my money from working this summer into a snowboard fund so I can hit the slopes a lot more next year. I also need to get that husband of mine up on a mountain with me!