January 12, 2013
Today I hit the slops again with my new ski setup. Last weekend I went to Brighton in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Today I thought I’d hit the other resort in BCC, Solitude. Over the last couple of days we were hit with a storm and the lower elevations actually got hit more. At my house there was at least 16″ of super fluffy stuff. To give you Eastcoasters and idea. Imagine running a shovel down the full length of the driveway and never having so much weight in front of the shovel that you had to stop. Granted I didn’t shovel the whole 16″ at once, but I probably did 8″ or so.
Heading up BCC the sign for 4×4 and chains was illuminated but they weren’t at all necessary since the uphill side of the road was down to the pavement. If you were headed down canyon they probably would have been helpful. Either way I got to the resort about 45 minutes from my house. It took a little longer than normal because of the traffic and many of the regular roads were a bit snowy.
I was able to get on one of the first dozen or so chairs headed up the hill, which meant first tracks on some of the trails I took to get down. Since I’m still trying to get my skiing skills back I stuck to the greens and blues again. My fitness nor skill are at the point where I can make it down the whole run without stopping 3-4 times. But that gave me a chance to enjoy the sun coming through the low clouds and see the shimmer of flakes in the air. Though it was cold it was a beautiful day.
I hit just about every lift at Solitude and thought it was a great resort. Most of the trails were in good condition. There was powder, though tracked, to be had almost all day. There were also nicely groomed wide trails to carve on too. There was also plenty of terrain which was above my head that I could see from the chairlifts and from the safe side of the rope warning skiers of expert terrain. Not sure who someone could miss it but whatever. Awesome day out on the slopes!
PS Though I’ve spent a bunch of money on a ski touring kit, I would love to get onto a snowboard sometime.
