Park City Mountain Resort 12/31/11 to 1/?/12

Melissa · January 4, 2012

Hello all, I have finally rejoined the winter skiing masses! For background, I moved and started a new job last winter and did not get out at all. A friend got a condo in park city for a week and invited me, so why not? I was like, hey in could learn to ski powder!

Flew in Saturday with a cold and fever. Drove to park city and rallied for NYE dinner out at Bistro 412. Had delish steak frites, Mac and cheese, choco bread pudding with blueberries and a cote de rhone. We went back to the condo and celebrated east coast midnight since we were tired with prosecco (SK--would have been veuve if they sent me to the store). Got up early, made it to the mountain by 9, got tickets and went to ski. I will break here to tell you that costco sells a ton of discount passes. We got 5 day no blackout all day passes for $315. Fully transferable, etc no restrictions. They had them to the canyons and another mountain, forget which.

Lift ticks were the RFID tag ones, but only needed to scan at the bottom if the payday lift (and town life if you take it to town). Skied off of the payday, bonanza, and mcconkey lifts the first day. I was def rusty to start but quickly remembered how to ski. Great grooming, and the temps were pleasant. The snow softened as the day went on but wasn't like piles of heavy snow that I had. Went home for late lunch, napped, and I forget what we did the rest of the day. Ate dinner at home.

Monday we were all sore and tired (and recall I'm still sick), so we headed into town to watch the bowl games at Flanagans. I had some hefe and then some blue moons, it is difficult being in Utah b/c the stuff on the tap is 3.2 and the bottle selection is a bit limited. We shared Mac and cheese, some sort of potato thing, and a brownie. Also we played trivial pursuit which was fun and semi diffifcult since it was the 1980 version--before my time:).

After that we went shopping and I found a stellar panda bear hat, which I might buy later if it's not ridiculously expensive--pic on Facebook. Then we went on a tour of the whiskey distillery and had a ton of whiskey, rye, and vodka samples. Since I am not a whiskey drinker, I basically liked none of mine. I did learn a lot about larger scale distilling. I also learned that you can take the town lift there for lunch.

Then, we went out to Maxwells for pizza and more football. I was not feeling well so I just had water. Then came home and went to sleep.

Today we got up and made it to the mountain by 9 again. Today was fantastic. Skied for a few hours in the am, mainly off of the king con lift. And, I did a black diamond which was very exciting for me. Also, my skiing ability was a ton better today, my legs didn't even get tired. Went home for lunch, then we had so much fun in the am we went out again in the afternoon. Lost the jacket and just wore a fleece, which was perfect. Skied off of the bonanza, silver load, and mother lode lifts. Great fun, snow had warmed up and was fast but nothing was skied off. I really only hit one icy patch all afternoon. Accidentally went down this run that had moguls, WHICH I do not know how to do and have never done. Thankfully it was just two short sections and my friend who used to be a ski instructor gave me the pep talk and told me to go down the center and I did and it wasn't that big of a deal. I did it twice and it was a great intro to moguls. Except then later in the day this guide told us to try some trail and that we would love it. Clearly I look like a better skier than I am bc it was a steep moguled trail! I was so tired at this point that I didn't even try and just went down the side. The lit was super flat too, I could not see at all.

At 3:45 we quit and had a polygamy porter (hoppy and chocolaty--enjoyed) and a Provo pilsner, which was ok. Now I am at home drinking malbac while my friends make dinner. I offered to help, but they said no:)

Will ski again tomorrow and Thursday then I fly home late thurs. A little bummed there is no powder but I did get to ski a real black and try the moguls, so I am learning at least. Tomorrow I might take a lesson to really learn how to ski them. I will do more blacks tomorrow if they are groomed. Mostly I am happy bc this is totally getting me in shape and now I am super motivated to hit the mountains back home! Although I will need to carpool from Philly but we can meet in Plymouth meeting.

Typed in iPad so sorry errors. I'm too busy drinking wine and watching grey's DVDs to fix. Oh and I do have a few pics which I will upload later.

Melissa · January 4, 2012