Enjoy the Ride

The time between hitting the road and actually getting to the hill can be pure torture. Freshies await you, but you're stuck in the car, going as fast as weather, road conditions, other drivers, and the ever-present highway patrol will let you go. If you live somewhere like Salt Lake you may have to deal with canyon closures that keep you from the slopes.

I had my first experience with canyon closure two weekends ago. The snow had been falling for days so we knew it was going to be a pretty epic powder day. Even better, the forecast was calling for bluebird with cold temps to keep the snow fluffy. The night before I checked the interwebs and found out the canyon was projected to open at 8:30 am. This was super annoying; being new to the area and Little Cottonwood Canyon, we weren't sure what to do, but decided to leave the house around 7:00 am. Turns out it was a smart choice. After picking up granola bars at the 7-11 (breakfast of champs, except not all are created equal i.e. palatable) we ended up stuck in a line of cars that was probably 2 miles long. Fortunately we weren't in the eventual 11 mile line that stretched back to the freeway.

We hit the hill around 9:30 and charged hard for about 4 hours. I provided amusement for my ski partner and some folks on the lift by hitting a cat track. . . with my head. Hard. Minor concussion is not keeping me from skiing though, and since nothing happened to my knee we kept at it. We left early to avoid a similar traffic situation on the way back to the city (and because our legs were burning like none other). It was a truly perfect ski day.

So what, you may think, is the point of all this? Well we did our fair share of complaining about the traffic, about getting up early, about all of it. But the ride was worth it. Complaining didn't make avy control go any faster, didn't help us get there faster, or make the day any better (pretty much impossible anyway). It's important to just sit back and enjoy the ride, both on the hill and to it. You're free from responsibility for those hours, so sit back and take it all in.