Utah Ski (?) Week

We planned this spring break back in November with our neighbors, the Munselles: buy Ikon ski passes for the season, ski Tahoe all winter and then spend the kids’ spring break ripping up Brighton, Solitude, Snowbird and Alta in the Wasatch. Can you think of a better week in Utah? No.

Following a killer week in Steamboat the week prior, the four of us drove the six hours from western Colorado to Salt Lake City to rendezvous with the Munselles on the Friday of spring break, everyone pumped for a week of skiing. We spent our first day – the Saturday – at Alta in the midst of some heavy fog and pelting snow, but everyone had a blast and the snow quality was exactly what we’d hoped for. A brilliant start to the ski week.

On a high drinking beers and cocktails after our day at Alta, the expletives really started to hit the fan: corporate behemoth Vail Resorts announced the closure of all their resorts across the country in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19, with Solitude and Alta following suit within the hour. Then Snowbird and Deer Valley dropped. Followed finally at around 10PM by Brighton. The five resorts in Utah on the Ikon all closed until further notice. Pure devastation.

Some of the smaller, family-owned and less corporate resorts across Utah held on through Sunday, so on Sunday we regrouped after a spotty night of sleep for me and purchased tickets for everyone to Sundance, Snowbasin and Powder Mountain. Tough to stomach the additional purchases with Ikon passes in our pockets, but YOLO. And the day ticket prices for smaller resorts in Utah are generally stomachable, unlike similar tickets in California. We spent the the rest of Sunday nordic skiing at Sundance, a quaint resort south of Salt Lake City started by Robert Redford in 1969. It was a beautiful day and I think the kids all had just as much fun as they do on their downhill skis. Great to get out in the mountain air after the roller coaster of emotions in the preceding 24 hours.

After a day nordic skiing, disaster struck again: Sundance and Snowbasin both announced closures for the season. Powder Mountain was the last man standing so we bought two more sets of day tickets for Powder later in the week. Powder typically limits their daily capacity to 1500 skiers, and in attempt to stay below the COVID-19 radar they’d changed their capacity to 1000 during the coronavirus onslaught. We had our fingers crossed…

Maysen turned nine on the Monday, so after a smorgasbord breakfast we drove south through Provo and hiked the 8.4 miles (13.5 kilometers) roundtrip through the canyons up to Fifth Water Hot Springs. The hot springs are naturally occurring but over the years locals have created pools to catch the piping hot water, enabling those who make the hike to soak in the bicarbonate-rich tubs. It was awesome. A great way to spend Maysen’s birthday and Lilia’s single favorite adventure of our two weeks away.

Monday night disaster hit again: Trump recommended limiting gatherings across the country to 10 people or less in the face of the spreading virus, which forced Powder Mountain’s hand and closed the last remaining ski resort in Utah. Again, the night before we were due to ski there. Another domino fell.

With businesses in Salt Lake quickly shuttering their doors and all the ski resorts closed, there were only so many outdoorsy adventures we could find. At Lisa’s cousin’s suggestion (a SLC local) we drove north of Salt Lake to Antelope Island, where we spent the day exploring the beaches fringing the Great Salt Lake and also getting up-close-and-personal with some of the island’s herd of bison. We also hiked up to Dooley Knob and visited the historic Fielding Garr Ranch on the island’s east coast. Definitely worth the visit if you ever find yourself in Salt Lake City in need of a day’s adventure.

We were originally due to depart Salt Lake City on Friday, March 20 but given the events of the prior few days and the fact that there was no chance of any more snow skiing we all changed our flights to fly home on Wednesday. As we were packing up on Wednesday morning another domino fell: Salt Lake City’s most severe earthquake – at a magnitude of 5.7 – since 1992. Time to buy a lottery ticket. WTF? The airport was evacuated and all incoming flights were diverted, all morning flights were canceled. With the US entering shutdown mode thanks to COVID-19 we were not keen on rolling the dice on the airport reopening, so jetted to the nearest non-airport Enterprise and rented two vans, promptly getting the hell out of Dodge. I think we were all pretty happy to see the Wasatch in our rearview mirrors, even though we had an 11+ hour drive ahead to get back to California.

It was a trip of highs and lows, which I don’t always handle well. If we’d planned on a week of exploring Salt Lake City surrounds I think we all would have been pumped. But having our expectations of a ripper ski week dashed was tough to grapple with, especially after the resorts closed domino-style after such a fun first day. I can say the way Munselles handled the constant barrage of disappointment was an exemplary example for me. Hopefully we can have a redo sometime in the future when the core of humanity isn’t crumbling…