Ski Day #9- Gnarliest Trees We've Ever Ripped Bro (Solitude, UT)

For our first full day of skiing Utah, my ski buddy Ian and I headed into Big Cottonwood Canyon to Solitude. While a little smaller than Snowbird, this place was awesome and had incredible terrain.

We achieved first chair this morning, getting to the lift about 10 minutes before the rope dropped. Our first run off of the front peak was first tracks through about 3 inches of fresh snow. We spent the rest of the morning cruising around the area off of the Eagle Express, a suggestion from one of the lifties we talked to while waiting for the lifts to open. We also hit a a run called Wall Street in honor of our friend Josh.

As we headed in for lunch some weather rolled in and it began to puke outside. After lunch we headed up to the summit where we had a blast. First, Summit chair is an old-fashioned double chair with the bar connecting the chair to the cable in the middle. Riding a double chair in the snow is something special. If you ever get to experience it, enjoy it because there are not many double chairs left out there.

Our first run down through the trees was incredible. We hit some pockets that probably hadn't been skied in 2 weeks so we were treated to blower pow faceshots. Our final run from the summit through Headwall Forest was pretty intense. Once we hit the bottom of the run I looked over to Ian and said, "Gnarliest trees we've ever ripped Bro". I have skied some pretty great glades at places like A-Basin, Loveland, Steamboat, and Gore, but nothing was as steep as what we hit at Solitude.

For après we headed to the Thirsty Squirrel. SKI Magazine recommended the sushi, but they took it off the menu after last season (this is one of the problems with SKI Magazine's reviews, often the places they suggest change their menus when the new season starts). The Thirsty Squirrel still satisfied though. After getting a nice buzz, we had to head back to the Moonbeam Lodge to grab our gear, so we hiked over to the top of Easy Street and popped on our skis to ski down. But we didn't just ski down, we used our poles like guitars and started to sing a new version of Marshall Tucker Band's song Can't You See that I came up with: "Can't you ski, can't you ski, shred that gnar bro, and come ride with me."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCXQycyN_Vs

-Steve
"Born On Ice, Perfected in Powder"

At the top of Wall Street. If I have to explain my pose, you don't deserve to understand the joke.

Had this beer with lunch. The only reason I ordered it was because the can says "Smooth Flow".

I caught a root in the trees and took a pretty epic fall. Luckily the Utah fluffy stuff kept me from hitting too hard.

Normal man spends his life avoiding tense situations. Repo man spends his life getting into tense situations, Beltzer!