X-Mas Ski Trip 2003!

It was my first ski trip in three years. We used to go a lot but we haven't been in a while. First of all, I'd just like to say Utah is an awesome state. It's beautiful, and it's a winter wonderland half of every year. I'd love to live there. But anyway, about the trip, first, we didn't have a direct flight, so we had to stop in Las Vegas at around 5:30. Our plane was delayed several hours to Salt Lake due to all the snow in the area. But they had slot machines in the airport, and my mom and I played five dollars each. Then helping my mom play a video poker game(she didn't know how), this old, bitchy woman came over and told me to stand ten feet away from the machines since I didn't look twenty-one. And that's when I flicked her off and had to be bailed out of a Las Vegas jail for several hundred dollars. Well, actually that didn't happen, but I did want to flick her off.

Day One: Park City
Weather: very cold, snowing heavily
We didn't arrive until 2 AM because our plane was repeatedly delayed and the road to the mountain was so icy after we arrived, so I just skied a half day. The mountain had about three feet of fresh snow in the past few days, so the snow was unbelievably good. It also snowed the whole day, and it was so cold I don't think I could feel my toes for several hours. My fingers were certainly freezing too from taking my glove off to take pictures throughout the day. It had been three years since I'd been on skis, but I didn't feel a need to warm up. The way I see it, skiing is like riding a bicycle: once you learn the skill, you're capable of it for a long time. So, First run: diamond. Second run: double diamond. Third run: powder covered bowl. Fourth run: Unmarked backcountry I had to hike to. I fell hard on that one avoiding a tree, but I had all this done by 3:00 without break. My dad wouldn't leave the blues and ski any of them with me, so I had to do all of them alone. I wish I had a girlfriend who was a badass skier or boarder and would ride alongside me and challenge me the whole way. A real mountain girl who doesn't shave is what I need. Haha, just kidding, that would be really gross. But after that, we went and got a cookie and hot chocolate at a restaurant on the summit. I was pretty happy since my back really wasn't hurting at all from skiing, and I was worried it might. After that my dad went down to a lift that serves primarily blues for a while, and I skied lots of moguls for a good leg work-out. For the last run of the day, I couldn't resist and skied underneath a rope to get to Widow Maker, a diamond marked off as a current avalanche risk. The barely-skied slope was great until I saw a big jump I couldn't resist going over. I caught lots of momentum going off it and tried to slow myself down in some powder. Unfortunately, the powder was about two feet deep and my left ski got caught in it and came off. This left me face-planted, with snow all down my back and in my face. And then the back of my right ski, still attached to my leg, flung back and nailed me in the back of my head. It really hurt. I hiked twenty feet up, retrieved my left ski, and continued down. Only a few minutes later I went over a rock and scraped the bottom of my right ski up real bad. Eh, my skis need tuned badly anyway.

Hardly able to contain my excitement	My dad riding up the lift with me	A nice, scenic shot	A fun, little run
A nice shot of the bowl I'm about to head down	I see these signs all the time, but I just love the wording	A good shot of the bowl	Preparing a long walk to a more badass bowl
Mmm...	I just decide to jump down here	Another good ride	Sweet
Sweet	Sweet!	Entering a fun tree run	Me happy after skiing

A short video clip

Day 2: Deer Valley
Weather: cold, snowing heavily
We were supposed to go to Alta today, but the road there was too icy and a lot of the mountain was marked off as an avalanche risk. I came back and watched the ski channel here, and it makes me really want to go to helicopter skiing. One day, dammit, I will.. with my unshaven mountain woman. But anyway, Deer Valley was a lot of fun with lots of fresh snow. I twisted my right knee a little on one bad fall, though.

A scenic shot	Another scenic shot	One more scenic shot	Following someone's tracks on a tree run (The camera has a way of making steep look flat)
Trees are fun =D	More steep tree skiing!	A zoom in on the ledge I got some air off of entering a bowl	I'm about to go that way.. would be better if background came out clearer

Day 3: Park City
Weather: Blizzard
Once again, we were supposed to go to Alta today, but the road was still too icy and a lot of the mountain was marked off as an avalanche risk. It was so cold and windy though, I could hardly ski. That's why there aren't many pictures. I was really wishing I had brought my snowboard today with all the fresh powder. I stayed in the trees mostly since it was so cold. Somehow, when my dad and I were getting on the first lift, he got his pole caught in a rope and fell over trying to get it. Then I somehow fell over looking to see what happened to him. When we got on the lift, the guy working it attempted to help us as if we were two novices. My dad was embarrassed, but I just found it funny. But towards the end of the day, I was going down a pretty steep run when I saw two little kids flying through the forest to my right. I thought to myself, "There's no way those kids are going through that thick brush that fast. They must have found a cool chute of something." So I skied over there, and they were, in fact, skiing through the brush that fast. I thought, "Damn, that's dangerous," but I followed them anyway. Then there was a fallen tree. The short little shits skied right under it without problem. I had to manage to stop and find a way around it. A little further, I got going way too fast, but before I could slow down some, I took a tree with my chest. I also hurt my left knee a little on that fall. So I decided to just lay there and chill for a few minutes and take a couple pictures (4 & 5).

Damn I love skiing through trees!

Trees!

More trees!

Those little shitheads made me wreck; now my knee hurts, and I'm taking a moment to break.

This is taken uphill; you can see my tracks if you look closely. It's steeper than it looks, I swear!

Day 4: Park City
Weather: relatively warm, light snow, some fog
Once again, we were hoping to go to Alta today, but the road there was still too icy. But today was really cool. Both my knees were feeling better, and I knew this was the last day, so I skied pretty hard. Lots of fun crashes too. The jumps in pictures 2 and 3 were incredible. Well, I only skied off the cliff in picture 3 once because it scared the crap out of me the first time, but it was still fun. I spotted it while going up a lift and saw an adrenaline rush coming. When I got over to it, two little kids riding up the lift yelled, "Look out! There's a cliff there!" I yelled back, "I know!" Then when I got a little closer, two guys riding up the lift yelled, "Jump! Jump! Jump!" I yelled back, "I am!" Then some woman yelled, "Don't do it! You don't have a helmet!" I then started laughing and jumped. I plummeted down, and my left ski got stuck in powder, and I rolled a little while. People on the lift were clapping. It was funny. It took me about 10 minutes to get through the deep powder and back to my lost ski. People riding up the lift had to direct me to it since only part of the binding was showing. There's nothing like a good adrenaline rush though. Ah, memories. At the end of the day, I tried to radio my dad to see where he was on the mountain. Some other guy on our channel, thinking I was someone else talking to him, said, "What did you say?" He sounded quite feminine, and I instantly recognized it wasn't my dad, whose nickname is Harry, and said, "You aren't Harry." He replied in a very feminine voice, "No, I'm quite a smoothbody myself." I was too disturbed to try to contact my dad again and just found him at the bottom of the mountain later.

Another pretty picture

The coolest jump ever!

The cliff I jumped off of

Watching the end-of-day ski traffic

I wonder how many millions those houses cost!

Aroon, I can't wait to ski with you over Spring Break!

-Greg
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