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By 2:30 we were all spent, but I decided to take my last run solo under Golden Eagle. When’s the last time you skied an open run at 2:30 pm on the Saturday after Christmas and had stretches of 8 turns without crossing a track?? You might call it isolation…I call it one of the days you dream of. This pic of Kendall’s “o-face” will give you the idea. This was directly under the lift at 10 in the morning on Saturday…and still untracked. Unbelievable.

After all was said and done, the Wasatch Mountains in Utah got pummeled! Enough to go from 0-inch base to 50-inch base in 3 days!

Little Cottonwood Canyon, home to Alta and Snowbird ended the storm with 50-inches of new… and it’s still coming down!

All-in-all, Utah has been hurting for snow, with this being one of the latest opening days of skiing in recent past.

The Canyons Resort in Park City was our destination of choice for opening day 2001. Couch-surfing at the Card Hotel near the base of The Canyons Resort, I was able to sleep in and still be one of the first on the hill. A quick stop in the season pass office and I’m set for a season of skiing.

After a couple of warmup laps on the groomers, with pow-seeking sessions here and there, I dip into The Pines where leftovers reigned supreme. I’m not talking about the turkey and mashed potatoes in your fridge… this was over a foot of freshies, just barely tracked out. After a couple of runs in The Pines, I meet up with my trusted cohort, Kendall Card.

Skiing with the K-man means one thing… pow stashes beware! We bombed a few untracked lines, then called it quits. Opening day jitters are over.

Now I have two core-shots, a blackened big toe and these pics to show for it. Oh yeah, not to mention the HUGE smile on my face!

Winter has arrived in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Come, enjoy the bounty!

This video was taken a few years after we stopped teaching at The Canyons, which was in 1998. Even though there’s a million-dollar home at the base of 12:30, we still love our little stash.

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You see, I work at the resort and one would think that nailing fresh lines on opening day would be easy. The fact of the matter is that come opening day I am so slammed trying to get things in order for the season to start that fresh lines on an opener are a fairy tale. Well, my fairy tale came true this year, but it’s not what you’re thinking…it’s better.

Utah was blessed with a generous offering from the snow gods this fall, mid October to be exact. November came and…tales of waist deep were becoming more than I could stand.

Utah was blessed with a generous offering from the snow gods this fall, mid October to be exact. Hiking at Alta and the greater Wasatch was becoming the norm. November came and the snow continued. Tales of waist deep were becoming more than I could stand. The resort wasn’t supposed to open until November 17.

As the 17th neared I thought that for sure I would make it up for fresh lines on the opener. This was to be my year. On the afternoon of the 15th the Marketing Director came over to my desk to ask if I would be interested in joining 4 others who would be going up tomorrow to get some footage and stills for a promotion needed in L.A. on Friday, the 17th.

” You’ll need to be at the Gondola by 8 a.m. Think you can make it?”

“Are you kidding?” I quipped. “You don’t even have to ask. I’ll be there at 7 if you want!”

8 a.m. There we were, five of the most giddy riders on the earth that day. The resort would be opening the gondola and a one lift just for us. One lift was plenty. I had to tighten down my boots to be sure this wasn’t a dream. The lack of circulation and tingling in my toes told me it wasn’t a dream.

The tales of waist deep were true. Face shots in The Pines and an untracked paradise were my first turns of the year. I kept looking back at the lift to see that it was running…but no one was riding it. It was running and waiting for me. The cold nights had kept the pow-pow extra dry, some of Utah’s finest. After 4 laps of filming and photos they let us loose for one final run. I knew exactly where I was headed.

There was not a track in sight and no one to snake my line. The face shots I had been dreaming about all summer were finally here. Effortless turns led me from one glade into the next…

Skiing down Elk Ridge, The Pines are to the left. Open glades of perfect pitch open up continuously. It’s like a “choose your own adventure” skiing down Elk Ridge, you just dive off when you can’t stand it any more. What inevitably happens every powder day is that the temptation is too strong and despite the number of tracks, people drop in way too early. This day wasn’t any different. One, Two, Three, Four and there they went. I continued on down Elk Ridge. Lucky for me and a few other “Saintly souls” is that on powder days we resist the temptation and are rewarded with the final couple of glades. That’s not to say I haven’t ever given in to temptation. But this time, I was rewarded with a most bounteous feast.

There was not a track in sight and no one to snake my line. I didn’t even pause or check my speed, rather I dove in making big GS turns. The face shots I had been dreaming about all summer were finally here. Effortless turns led me from one glade into the next, and down to the tree line at the bottom. I stopped and looked up. It was snowing lightly with the sun’s rays shining through. My solo line and the scenery was an image I’ll not soon forget. I had earned this. Fifteen years in the waiting, and here it was.

I dove into the trees, out the bottom and down to the top of the gondola. I arrived to find the others waiting and I looked around to see that we all had huge smiles on our faces. I’d like to think that the snow gods were smiling too.

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