Coester's Salt Lake City Skiing
February 16-22, 2003

Stephen Miller Leaping at Brighton

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       My nephew Dan came up with the idea for a really big family reunion ski-a-thon in Salt Lake City.  A week before the trip we had eleven of us signed up.  Yvonne and I; my daughter Yvette; grandson, Stephen; brother Jan and his wife, Sher; my nephew, Dan, and his kids, Christine and Alexander; and my son, Dean and girlfriend, Judith. Jan and Sher had to drop out days before the trip and Dean and Judith got snowed in in the latest "storm of the century" in NYC so just seven of us started out; Dan from Arkansas and us from Florida.

         We flew on our standyby passes on Sunday from Orlando to SLC but because of heavy loads had to fly all the way to San Francisco and then back to SLC to get four seats. The flights were long but hassle free except for secondary inspections in Orlando for Yvette and Stephen.  Even got first class from SFO to SLC.  We rented a big van ($526 for a week) at the airport expecting a big crowd but Dan had rented a car for his family so we had lots of room for just the four of us.  Later we would need it.  That afternoon we got rental skis for Yvette and Stephen and were set to go (about $126 each).  Our hotel was the Crystal Inn in Murphy just south of SLC. We had two adjacent rooms with two queen beds, a couch, table, microwave and fridge for $79 a night.  The Inn served a fantastic complimentary breakfast each morning with eggs, waffles, French toast and even Swedish crepes. There was a large comfortable pool and hottub.  and best they had two computers for Internet access so I could keep up with email and check flights and loads. Nice place for the price.  Alexander was sick with the flu which eventually hit all of us to some extent.

    Stephen had brought a whole carryon full of schoolbooks along and reluctantly kept up his journal, worked math problems and Science and read 200 pages in his book. After skiing, we'd all adjourn to the pool and hottub where we'd throw a baby football disturbing the other exhausted skiing guests. After supper we'd play motel football which consisted of me sitting in a chair sipping wine and throwing the football to Stephen as he ran across the room and dove onto the bed making fantastic catches and undoubtedly again disturbing those guests on the floor below who thought they had escaped us at the pool. We'd do this for about a hundred throws until I was exhausted (or drunk).

    Monday Alex was feeling better and all seven of us headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Alta ($38 lift ticket) where we were going great guns enjoying some perfect groomed runs.  Yvette had just proclaimed herself the Queen of the Mountain after coming down a good intermediate run when she fell near the bottom and tore her ACL and MCL on her right knee.  The Snow Patrol had to sled her off the mountain and over to the nearest clinic at Snowbird ($603).  That reduced our skiers to six and left poor Yvette to stew in the motel with a lot of pain and swelling.  Plans are for an operation about Thursday the 27th.  Poor thing.  The Patrol told Yvonne and me to keep skiing since Yvette would be a few hours in the clinic so we did with some quilt.  That evening we had a lousy $81 dinner at Lone Star Steakhouse. Really lousy salad dressings plus we were all upset about Yvette.

    Tuesday and Wednesday it was up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Brighton ($37 lift tickets) without Yvette.  Brighton ($37) is probably our favorite.  It has gobs of good trails from easy to super steep and smooth to very rough.  The guys particularly like Thor a narrow, bumpy, twisting run that really challenges your thighs and turning ability.  Yvonne likes the cruisers.  Dan and Stephen found some good jumps and spent a lot of time improving that skill as shown in the photos.  On Wednesday we suddenly lost Alexander who is just seven.  He was last seen heading into some trees.  We searched for over an hour without finding him and notified the Ski Patrol. Finally Christine who was taking a break in the restaurant found him. Alexander was the only one who didn't panic.  When he realised he was lost he just skied down the hill to the restaurant knowing we'd eventually go there.  Poor Dan's blood pressure must have been over the roof.  That night we ate great ribs and bar-b-q at Dave's Barbeque.

    Solitude ($39) was our choice for Thursday.  By now the flu had put Christine in bed and Dan, Yvonne, Stephen  and I were all feeling queasy.  Only Alex felt fine.   Dan and Alex skied a couple of hours and decided to call it quits when Dan's tummy rebeled. They went home and caught a flight back home to Arkansas so Angelika could nurse them on her birthday.  Yvonne and I and Stephen had a pretty good day with Yvonne doing mostly green easy runs and some intermediates and Stephen and I doing Challenger, a long steep Black diamond (expert) several times. The intermediate runs at Solitude are pretty darn challenging with Sunrise Bowl being very steep and intimidating.  We quit about an hour earlier than usual because of our tummies.  After some spa time at the motel we felt better and ate at Hoppers Grill and Brewery with some home brew and fish and chips and shrimp and chicken wings.

    By Friday Yvette had cabin fever bad so we decided to go to Snowbasin ($49 lift tickets) because we heard it had a great lodge where Yvette could gimp around.  We'd never been there before and it is not in one of the Cottonwood Canyons. It is about an hour north of where we were staying. The lodges at Snowbasin were fantastic.  Beautiful wood beams, giant chandeliers, even gold fixtures in the toilets. comfortable couches for Yvette.  For $19 she could ride the gondola to the upper lodge and watch us ski.  It snowed all day and visibility was pretty poor and the snow deep so it was hard work to make it down the mountain.  Because of the heavy snow it was hard to clamp into the ski bindings because the snow would pack onto the bottom of the boots. On one hill I thought the characteristic click of the binding was a little sick so I wiggled my boot around and it felt secure. I started off down the hill and after several yards my left ski decided to go down the hill without me. I was on my face before I knew what had happened and really jammed both of my thumbs and racked my arthritic right wrist. Really black and blue the next day. We had a great day anyway .  When we got home to the motel Stephen was deeply engrossed in his Gameboy in the back seat so I gave him the keys with instructions to lock the van.  Mistake!!  He dropped the keys in the van and Yvonne locked the doors.  Fortunately they wanted me to go out to Sonic for fast food so I discovered that I had no keys.  AAA made it to the van in less than fifteen minutes and jimmied open the door in about thirty seconds.  Cudos to AAA and their wrecker.

     Saturday arrived and Yvette wasn't feeling too keen so we decided to leave her at the motel and do Brighton one last time.  Yvonne, Stephen and I headed up the road in heavy snow and poor visibility. The higher we go the worse it became.  I kept hoping we'd get above the clouds but never did. We got up to Solitude which is right next to Brighton in whiteout conditions and fog.  Couldn't see the mountain at all so we turned around and like at least 50% of the others slowly headed back down the mountain.  Cars were slipping and sliding all over the place and there aren't any guardrails along the steep dropoffs.  It was terrifying except our van had all wheel drive and we didn't have a problem.  When we got back to the motel I checked their computer to see if we could get a flight out on Saturday instead of our planned Sunday departure. It looked okay and we flew SLC-Denver-Orlando even getting first class from Denver. Arrived home about 0200.

Except for Yvette's injury, losing Alexander, the absence of Jan, Sher, Dean and Judith,everyone having the flu and me wrecking my wrist and thumbs we had a great time.

Steve