That evening we had dinner with Robin, Seanie, Jim and a few others at the Blind Dog Grill in Park City. It was Jim's 49th birthday. Good meal and great company. Another evening of excess but what are vacations for anyway?
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Day Twelve - Park City, Utah
Waking up was a little rough. I am not much of a partier. Really! Two days in a row was taking its toll. Nonetheless, we rallied and headed over to Mike's place in Deer Valley for breakfast and some skiing. Josee was kind enough to rustle up some eggs and toast and that along with some juice and coffee fortified us for the skiing day ahead. Paul and Anthony had left for Seoul and Shanghai respectively that morning (poor guys didn't get much sleep) so it was Don, Deb, Nancy, Don, Richard, Alan, Josee, Bettina and I; a respectable gang for a day of fun. There was not much new snow so we opted for a few hours of social skiing and a nice lunch at the Empire Lodge. A soak in the hot tub, a nice shower and a glass of wine later it was time for dinner, but not before seeing off the rest of the Hong Kong crew who had a late afternoon flight out of SLC.
That evening we had dinner with Robin, Seanie, Jim and a few others at the Blind Dog Grill in Park City. It was Jim's 49th birthday. Good meal and great company. Another evening of excess but what are vacations for anyway?
That evening we had dinner with Robin, Seanie, Jim and a few others at the Blind Dog Grill in Park City. It was Jim's 49th birthday. Good meal and great company. Another evening of excess but what are vacations for anyway?
Day Eleven - Park City, Utah
Woke up early this morning which was easy yet painful on account of the sake I had consumed the evening before with Robin, Coni and her date, and headed down to Salt Lake City to pick up Bettina at the airport. The wonderful thing about skiing in Utah is that you can literally get off a plane and in less than an hour be on the slopes and that is exactly what we did, taking advantage of being on the west side of the mountains to ski at Snowbird. The Hong Kong crew were headed to Alta but since Bettina is a snowboarder and Alta is skier-only, we decided to visit the mountain next door.
It was snowing most of the way up there and we quickly donned our gear, got our tickets and hit the slopes. It was beautiful. There was almost a foot of new powder and lots of largely untouched terrain. I have to say this was one of the best ski days of my life. I was in good form and skiing well and the conditions were lovely. Bettina of course led the way and had me skiing a number of challenging blacks which is exactly what I needed to improve. We skied for about four hours before calling it quits; her because of having had such an early morning to make the flight to SLC; me because of having had such a late night. Nonetheless an unforgettable experience.
Afterwards, we repaired to our hotel, a lovely Swiss-alp style resort called Zermatt in Midway, located not too far from Park City. The staff were all dressed in clothing reminiscent of the stereo-typical Bavarian ledderhosen and bloused shirts, and the decor was very faux Swiss ski chalet. Charming non-the-less.
Dinner that evening was at '350' located in historic downtown Park City. Why is it called 350? At a time where coming up with a catchy name for a restaurant is a challenge, how about just using the street address as the name? I am actually thinking of naming my house '1000' for the same reason, as in "let's meet at 1000 this evening" or "what's happening over at 1000 today?" We were a big party with the Hong Kong crew, Coni, her date, Seanie, Robin, Bettina, Huang and I. Lovely meal which we celebrated in the name of someone's birthday (the wine was flowing so liberally that I am ashamed to say that I can't remember whose. Maybe Don or Paul?) Afterwards we went across the street to a no-name club/bar where the women got in free and we had to pay a cover charge. I tried to argue that we were bringing more women but that didn't wash. Oh well. My, what a meat market! Bettina and Huang (an attractive 30-something Park City Realtor who had attached herself to our party some time the day before) were cornered by a couple of twenty-somethings when they strayed too far from our herd and had to extract themselves from a pickup-artist-like scene. Having never actually picked up anyone in a bar and seeing how transparent the scene is I have to admit that it must work sometimes otherwise no-one would do it. But that is the subject of another post.
So around midnight or maybe 1am we decide we have had enough and head back to Zermatt for the night but not before being asked in the elevator on the way down from the club by some twenty-something guys cut from the same cloth as the aforementioned whether Bettina and I had met that night or had arrived together. I replied, "Does it matter?" and left it at that.
It was snowing most of the way up there and we quickly donned our gear, got our tickets and hit the slopes. It was beautiful. There was almost a foot of new powder and lots of largely untouched terrain. I have to say this was one of the best ski days of my life. I was in good form and skiing well and the conditions were lovely. Bettina of course led the way and had me skiing a number of challenging blacks which is exactly what I needed to improve. We skied for about four hours before calling it quits; her because of having had such an early morning to make the flight to SLC; me because of having had such a late night. Nonetheless an unforgettable experience.
Afterwards, we repaired to our hotel, a lovely Swiss-alp style resort called Zermatt in Midway, located not too far from Park City. The staff were all dressed in clothing reminiscent of the stereo-typical Bavarian ledderhosen and bloused shirts, and the decor was very faux Swiss ski chalet. Charming non-the-less.
Dinner that evening was at '350' located in historic downtown Park City. Why is it called 350? At a time where coming up with a catchy name for a restaurant is a challenge, how about just using the street address as the name? I am actually thinking of naming my house '1000' for the same reason, as in "let's meet at 1000 this evening" or "what's happening over at 1000 today?" We were a big party with the Hong Kong crew, Coni, her date, Seanie, Robin, Bettina, Huang and I. Lovely meal which we celebrated in the name of someone's birthday (the wine was flowing so liberally that I am ashamed to say that I can't remember whose. Maybe Don or Paul?) Afterwards we went across the street to a no-name club/bar where the women got in free and we had to pay a cover charge. I tried to argue that we were bringing more women but that didn't wash. Oh well. My, what a meat market! Bettina and Huang (an attractive 30-something Park City Realtor who had attached herself to our party some time the day before) were cornered by a couple of twenty-somethings when they strayed too far from our herd and had to extract themselves from a pickup-artist-like scene. Having never actually picked up anyone in a bar and seeing how transparent the scene is I have to admit that it must work sometimes otherwise no-one would do it. But that is the subject of another post.
So around midnight or maybe 1am we decide we have had enough and head back to Zermatt for the night but not before being asked in the elevator on the way down from the club by some twenty-something guys cut from the same cloth as the aforementioned whether Bettina and I had met that night or had arrived together. I replied, "Does it matter?" and left it at that.
Day Ten - Park City, Utah
Woke up early and packed the car for the drive to Park City. After a few days of scritchy-scratchy in Jackson Hole I was ready for something different. It was snowing lightly on the drive down and got much heavier as I went on. Almost a blizzard! At one point a truck ahead of me almost fishtailed off the road. Nonetheless, the drive went quickly and I soon found myself in Park City where I went immediately to Robin's office. We moved my ski gear into her car and headed up to Deer Valley where we wanted to ski a couple of hours and meet with some friends for a late dinner. We were fortunate to be able to be able to use Mike's house as a home base. It is a lovely place offering terrific ski-in/ski-out and excellent apres facilities.
Robin, Alan and I did a few runs and met the Hong Kong crew at the Empire Lodge for a nice long apres before dinner. I ended up going to dinner with Robin, Coni and her date a pretty decent sushi place (given how far Park City is from any large fish-bearing body of water). This was the start of what would be six days of partying unlike anything I had done since college.
Deer Valley is a nice if not particularly challenging ski area. Most runs are green or blue with some moderate blacks. Suitable for 'social skiing' or perhaps tailored for those who have already had their ACL surgery.
Robin, Alan and I did a few runs and met the Hong Kong crew at the Empire Lodge for a nice long apres before dinner. I ended up going to dinner with Robin, Coni and her date a pretty decent sushi place (given how far Park City is from any large fish-bearing body of water). This was the start of what would be six days of partying unlike anything I had done since college.
Deer Valley is a nice if not particularly challenging ski area. Most runs are green or blue with some moderate blacks. Suitable for 'social skiing' or perhaps tailored for those who have already had their ACL surgery.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Day Nine - Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Did not ski today. Was a beautiful day, sunny and warm and the slopes were not fun looking. Instead, after a late breakfast I headed into Jackson. The downtown is quite quaint with old frontier-style buildings and wooden plank sidewalks. However, the area is dominated by chain stores like Coldwater Creek and other outdoorsy-type retailers, and art galleries all featuring overpriced paintings and sculptures with wildlife and landscape themes. Whatever happened to quaint and unique shops where you can buy something authentic and local?
I headed north out of town and drove along the Grand Tetons, stopping occasionally to snap pictures from slightly different perspectives. In the sunlight with the snow still cloaking the mountains, it was truly a glorious sight to behold.
I headed north out of town and drove along the Grand Tetons, stopping occasionally to snap pictures from slightly different perspectives. In the sunlight with the snow still cloaking the mountains, it was truly a glorious sight to behold.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Day Eight - Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Skied only a couple of hours today. The weather is kind of overcast and the slopes are really scritchy-scratchy. It was on a double blue with no edge control whatsoever on account of how slick it was that I decided that skiing is for enjoyment and not for the masochistic satisfaction of being able to "tough it out" under any conditions. This is not to say that it was all bad, just that it didn't meet the threshold of enjoyment versus other things I could be doing such as reading, writing or just sitting down with a cup of coffee and thinking. Now I am sitting in a little cafe in the hotel and doing all four!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Day Seven - Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Not all ski areas are created equal. Jackson Hole is a cut above almost anywhere else I have skied in terms of terrain and variety. First of all, they are not content with the standard green, blue, black and double black designations. No, they have inserted a double blue in there. Secondly, the mountain is steep. What many resorts call a black, Jackson Hole labels a double blue. Their blacks are some other place's double blacks. The difference between double blue and black? From what I can tell it is mainly whether they are groomed or not. I talked to an instructor on the chair today and remarked at the steepness and compared the terrain to Big Sky. He shared that locally they refer to Big Sky as "Big Lie." I can see his point; this mountain pretty much blows Big Sky away by most measures.
As this was my first day, I did a survey of the mountain taking various chairs and runs to see what was what. They haven't had any new snow in several days which has made most of the snow pretty scritchy-scratchy (my term for runs that are not icy but kind of crusty). It was a glorious day here with the sun beating down from a cloudless sky and temperatures well into the upper thirties. This was good as by late morning it helped soften the snow and make it more easily skiable. I ended up skiing until 2pm with a quick sandwich break around noon. After a beer in the sun slope-side, I retired to my hotel where I took a sauna and a jacuzzi which definitely took any edge off. Tomorrow, I have a late afternoon massage scheduled.
I do hope for new snow in the next couple of days, but will settle for another sunny and warm day like today.
As this was my first day, I did a survey of the mountain taking various chairs and runs to see what was what. They haven't had any new snow in several days which has made most of the snow pretty scritchy-scratchy (my term for runs that are not icy but kind of crusty). It was a glorious day here with the sun beating down from a cloudless sky and temperatures well into the upper thirties. This was good as by late morning it helped soften the snow and make it more easily skiable. I ended up skiing until 2pm with a quick sandwich break around noon. After a beer in the sun slope-side, I retired to my hotel where I took a sauna and a jacuzzi which definitely took any edge off. Tomorrow, I have a late afternoon massage scheduled.
I do hope for new snow in the next couple of days, but will settle for another sunny and warm day like today.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Day Six - Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Last night was the annual Dirt Bag Ball in Big Sky with a lot of the festivities held at Buck's T4 where I was staying. It was fun seeing everyone dressed in bizarre outfits and they looked like they were having a great time. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling so well so I spent the evening writing and watching movies.
This morning it was overcast and about freezing so I decided to skip slope-time and head down to Jackson Hole where I will be for the next several days. After breakfast, I packed up and hit the road. The drive south was beautiful through snow-covered meadows, mountains and the vast open plains of Idaho. Took a little more than three hours, faster than I thought, and I arrived at the Jackson Hole ski area at about 2pm.
I am staying at Terra, an "eco-hotel" in the main village. It is well-appointed and more importantly ski-in. The have an Italian osteria called, well, Osteria where I had a delicious lunch. The white bean soup was terrific and the bread was very authentic (unsalted and the same texture as that I had in Tuscany).
The slopes here look terrific and I can't wait to get out there tomorrow morning.
This morning it was overcast and about freezing so I decided to skip slope-time and head down to Jackson Hole where I will be for the next several days. After breakfast, I packed up and hit the road. The drive south was beautiful through snow-covered meadows, mountains and the vast open plains of Idaho. Took a little more than three hours, faster than I thought, and I arrived at the Jackson Hole ski area at about 2pm.
I am staying at Terra, an "eco-hotel" in the main village. It is well-appointed and more importantly ski-in. The have an Italian osteria called, well, Osteria where I had a delicious lunch. The white bean soup was terrific and the bread was very authentic (unsalted and the same texture as that I had in Tuscany).
The slopes here look terrific and I can't wait to get out there tomorrow morning.
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