Blower.

This is more like it. Sick day today, Bluegrass concert/dance party tonight, sick day tomorrow, New Years, in that order. Should be awesome.


Photographer: Jon Tran

Catching up

So, it has been quite some time since I have updated this, but life has been pretty busy and really, really fun.

Ill begin with Christmas.
This Christmas was my first Christmas away from my family, which turned out to be harder for me than I expected it to be. For those of you that know, there is a lot going on on that aspect back home, and I think that this year was a great learning and growing experience. It would have been nice to be home, but hard just the same. I feel that getting away this year was exactly what I needed to help clear my head and focus on figuring out who I am. I sure missed the magical feeling of Christmas, as here it felt like just another day, just with some gifts and some tree with lights on it. Going to the bar we frequent on Christmas was nice, as thats where most of the friends I have made were, and it made it feel more like Christmas. Next year, I will definitely be back east with my family, where that actually occurs, who knows.

We have not received snow in quite some time, so on Monday, Porter, his brother Dwyer, Jon, and I hiked up out of bounds to the Summit of Wolverine Cirque, and skied some nice out of bounds lines. Being in the Backcountry was an awesome experience out here, escaping the crowds, having amazing views, and being able to get the hiking legs in shape.



Besides that, I am currently shopping for a new digital camera, and hoping that the snow that began today really does deliver 20ish inches by Thursday that is predicted.

Work is going well, the dishwashing shifts get a little hectic when we have 35+guests, but I feel that once the season really kicks in and we have 50, it will all come together.

Hope everything is going well for everybody!
Tips up,
Perry

18-30 by monday AM

Will be most epic. Gave one ski a mega core shot today, hoping tomorrow will be as sick. Many faceshots had on North Facing slopes. Pictures and long write up to come when the storm is over.

Full Steam Ahead

This is a quick little video I edited today, after getting out and playing in the snow. Today was a nice, bluebird day, with some deep turns to be had on the lower shoulder and graveyard areas of Alta. We had a snowstorm that started producing some snow Sunday, with the biggest day being Tuesday, which ended up providing 8-10 inches of fluff, more depending on elevation and aspect. So far, I have been skiing 22 days straight, and am getting antsy for another storm to help build this low base we still are working with. 8-10 inches of fluff is fun until you still hit the rocks underneath. We should be expecting a decent storm coming through this weekend to help build the base up.

Now, on to other parts of life.
So, here at the Snowpine, I have 5 days on, 2 days off, Friday and Saturday. Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I wait tables, and Monday and Tuesday I do the dish/laundry shifts. It is a pretty sweet gig, as my shifts start around 7 am, and are done by 9, and in the evenings, begin around 5 and are done by 830-9 as well. This leaves me with an almost full ski day every day of the week, not too shabby.

The meals we have been serving have been getting rave reviews, and include Bison Osso Bucco and Mahi Mahi. Pretty good considering the cheapest rate right now is 65 bucks a night, and that includes food!

Our other two employees showed up recently, and are pretty cool guys. I have a feeling that our crew will be a good one.

Right now, I am looking forward to seeing some old friends that have recently arrived in SLC, as well as those coming out for New Years, and then my quick trip up to Jackson Hole to meet up with UVMSSC!

-Until something else pops into my head that I want to talk about,
Perry

Life at 8,530'

That is the base elevation of Alta. I have settled in quite well, and have been skiing every day since I've been out here, a total of 15 days as of today.

My front yard


Alta opened up on Wednesday the 25th, and Jon and I met up with our buddy Porter and his younger brother. As opposed to the one groomer we had been skiing at Snowbird, Alta was fairly ballsy in opening up a good amount of terrain, including Ballroom, Fred's Tree's, Race Course, and some groomers. We traversed fairly far out on the Ballroom traverse and got in some awesome 10 inch deep turns from the storm from a few days prior. We skied fairly hard all morning due to the good snow. Since then, we have been skiing Ballroom and some other sketchy, very rocky (we have roughly a 20 inch base, no more) traverses out to the Rustler area. The skiing has been very good since then, the groomers have been fun, and tomorrow we are heading up to ski Main Chute if it is open like it was today.



Night life here is fairly minimal, but we usually head down to the Peruvian Bar, or the P-Dog, where most of the employees from the other lodges go and have some beers at night. I have met some cool people so far, and am excited for the winter to get underway and for some serious deep skiing to get here.

So far, I have been doing pretty minimal work, as we work 2 hours a day for our room and board, usually skiing from 9 to 1 and working 2-4. So far I have painted doors, cleaned rooms, lots of vacuuming, and setting up for the guests that will arrive Friday. That will be nice, as I will finally get paid on the 15th. We unfortunately will have even less of an internet connection, no more tv, and no use of the common room, as it will be full of guests and we wont really want to have to deal with them when we aren't working.



Pat, Snake, and Eggroll are the other employees so far, and we are getting two more this weekend. So our crew will be a total of 7 plus Greg and Meredith, the bosses. It is a pretty sweet gig, and am really excited for the upcoming winter! Hope to see some of you soon, and to the others, come visit!
-Mahalo