Days 46 and 47: Making turns with the Sis Admin.
My sister hasn't been on skis in 12 years. She's also only previously visited in Utah in summer, so when she had the chance to layover for two days in Salt Lake City en route home from a business trip to Palm Springs, she took it.
We spent Thursday at Alta cruising the groomers and reintroducing her to the sport. Mira and TRam were also along, and they'd ski some runs with us and then jump off to ski on their own on others. Sis Admin's technique was solid; what she needed was more confidence, which comes from skiing more often than once a decade. After a few runs she gained that confidence, but toward the end of the day she began to tire and that confidence began to fade. By 2:30 she called it quits, and I joined Mira and TRam for several more challenging runs -- Eagle's Nest and the secret spot among them. It felt peculiar to have fresh legs at 3 p.m.
There was some reasonably fresh snow to be found, but while the day began with some glimpses of sun the light quickly went flat and we got some nuisance flurries.
Friday was a much prettier day at Park City Mountain Resort, where there's more of an abundance of blue groomers to suit Sis Admin. The day started out with some clouds mixed with sun, but it just got sunnier and warmer as the day progressed. By mid-day the snow on the lower half of the mountain was wetting slightly in the springlike conditions.
We skied into town for lunch at High West with my friend Ken from Connecticut, who dislocated his shoulder on Wednesday at Canyons to cut short the skiing portion of his vacation. He was in good spirits about the whole thing nonetheless.
In the afternoon we headed toward King Con, which was the one portion of the mountain we had yet to ski. Congestion was a bit hectic near the base of the lift, however, so we headed down the deserted Silver Star runs to have a cup of coffee on the beautiful patio at its base.
Thanks to unexpectedly finding the road from Eagle to the Resort Base closed, we didn't finish our day until after 4 p.m. A quick shower and it was off to Suehiro to join other out of town friends and take over the restaurant.
My sister hasn't been on skis in 12 years. She's also only previously visited in Utah in summer, so when she had the chance to layover for two days in Salt Lake City en route home from a business trip to Palm Springs, she took it.
We spent Thursday at Alta cruising the groomers and reintroducing her to the sport. Mira and TRam were also along, and they'd ski some runs with us and then jump off to ski on their own on others. Sis Admin's technique was solid; what she needed was more confidence, which comes from skiing more often than once a decade. After a few runs she gained that confidence, but toward the end of the day she began to tire and that confidence began to fade. By 2:30 she called it quits, and I joined Mira and TRam for several more challenging runs -- Eagle's Nest and the secret spot among them. It felt peculiar to have fresh legs at 3 p.m.
There was some reasonably fresh snow to be found, but while the day began with some glimpses of sun the light quickly went flat and we got some nuisance flurries.
Friday was a much prettier day at Park City Mountain Resort, where there's more of an abundance of blue groomers to suit Sis Admin. The day started out with some clouds mixed with sun, but it just got sunnier and warmer as the day progressed. By mid-day the snow on the lower half of the mountain was wetting slightly in the springlike conditions.
We skied into town for lunch at High West with my friend Ken from Connecticut, who dislocated his shoulder on Wednesday at Canyons to cut short the skiing portion of his vacation. He was in good spirits about the whole thing nonetheless.
In the afternoon we headed toward King Con, which was the one portion of the mountain we had yet to ski. Congestion was a bit hectic near the base of the lift, however, so we headed down the deserted Silver Star runs to have a cup of coffee on the beautiful patio at its base.
Thanks to unexpectedly finding the road from Eagle to the Resort Base closed, we didn't finish our day until after 4 p.m. A quick shower and it was off to Suehiro to join other out of town friends and take over the restaurant.