Greatest Snow on Earth

Yes, I live in Utah – home to the “Greatest Snow on Earth.”

No, I don’t ski – at least I didn’t...

In my Quest for the Spice of Life I have tried things I never thought myself brave (or stupid) enough to do. Skiing was one of those brave things. For some reason, I never trusted myself to strap two sticks to my feet and head down a hill. To be really honest, I sometimes get scared going too fast on a sled. Yeah, I’m chicken. I’ve just never been a fan of broken limbs or head injuries.

This excursion out of my comfort zone was made possible by my hubby’s new job. It’s hard to come up with good excuses when the lift pass came free. He wanted to take me for our anniversary and I flat out refused. I didn’t think having my hubby give me ski lessons was a good way to spend the day. (Every woman I’ve talked to about this agrees with me – I haven’t asked any men.) So he dropped the anniversary thing and started working on our February birthdays. I was a little more inclined to spend a birthday in possible strained silence, but still not so keen on the idea.

Well, all this was taken care of when Hubby decided to teach the kids (who also get to ski free) and their local cousins (not free but hugely discounted.) I figured: if I go when he’s really wrapped up in teaching the kids, I can listen in, do my thing, and see if I like it without the pressure of him wanting me to love it. It turned out to be the perfect solution.

The first couple times down the bunny hill I didn’t understand how to stop or slow down. By the end of the day I went from a pizza slice to French fries as needed and even swooshed my way through Candy Land (an obstacle course.)

Here’s the crew at the end of the day. I wasn’t really tired, but the kids were toast. Berkie (my niece) fell asleep before we hit the mouth of the canyon. Cokie stayed awake for the ride, but sledged through the evening and slept sound that night. Rub slept in the car, and, by the way, ate everything in site! I think he ate more than me and Hubby put together. My calves were a little sore the next day, but all in all, I felt pretty good.




Me and Cokie on the chair lift. The chair lift was something of a problem. At least one of us fell, or lost a ski, every ride up but the last two. One time, four of us fell. It was comical. Thank goodness for patient lift workers. They were great!



The result: I loved it. I’m dying to go again. Rub took to skiing like you would not believe. He’s wanted to ski since he saw the last Winter Olympics so this was a life-long dream come true for him. (Doesn’t matter that he’s only 4, it’s still his whole life.) I’m afraid we may have a ski-head on our hands. The summer may be very long for him.