Solitude at Solitude

Quick trip to Utah with my ski buddy Mark... He's flying in tonight but I managed to land in SLC late morning. So, what should I do? Of course, as any diehard skier knows, you must head for one of the Cottonwood Canyons!!!

It's never as fun to ski alone but today was quite worthwhile nonetheless. 12-18" fell on these ski areas in the past 24 hours!! I opted for a trip down memory lane and a visit to Solitude Ski Resort. I hadn't been there for well over a decade and there have been some significant changes with development in the base area and a couple new lifts.

I landed at 10:30, was in my rental car by 11:00 and in Big Cottonwood Canyon by 11:30. After changing into ski clothes in the parking lot, I was on the lift by noon. My luck, today there was a special spring ticket price of $39 (instead of $62). The day just keeps getting better!

Here's a view of Honeycomb Canyon from the top of the Summit Lift:

Yes, the turns were as good as they look in the photo. I had three runs in the Canyon with 15+ inches of powder. Some turns felt like 24" and I had some chest shots at the apex of the turn.

A look into the other side of Honeycomb Canyon:

View from the traverse looking up toward the cliffs:

The center of the canyon:

I forgot to carry my good point-and-shoot so these iPhone photos will have to do. Not terrible but not great either.

Looking forward to some turns with Mark tomorrow. Off to the airport...