Initially I didn’t think I’d have much to write about during my ski bumming phase of the trip. Skiing is something best experienced, not described. But in my pursuit of powder (which I’ve successfully found – jackpot!) I’ve also discovered a plentitude of generosity which I really want to capture and share. I’ve been taken under the wing time and time again by people I’ve just chatted up on the chairlift or met at the bar. In Park City friends of friends Lindsay and Wolff set us up in their house and fed us, along with playing tour guide around Park City. At Sun Valley an older man took me around the mountain all morning while we chatted about our lives. Then at Mt Baker within minutes of walking into the bar I basically was given an open tab and offered a free room to stay in by the owner of the bar, hotel next door and restaurant down the street. Here at Red Mountain I was given a 1/2 price list ticket from sometime I met at the sold out brass band show that I stumbled onto a ticket for, and thereafter also offered a free room in their house. I’m not going to pretend that being a single female in a ski town isn’t an influence, but the generosity has always felt genuine and with no ill intention.
And the snow… Oh the snow. Every day I’ve skied over the last two weeks had been a powder day, with no signs of things changing in at least the immediate future. There’s moments where I start to think it’s losing its magic, but that thought vanishes with the very next untouched turn throwing a cloud of flakes around me.
Other highlights: great weekend in Park City with Colorado friends, being dragged up to the stage by new friends for an open mic night in Sun Valley followed up by a sweaty Tuesday night dance party, a fumbling karaoke performance in Glacier, WA (who knew the lyrics to No Diggity came so fast?), volunteering to help out bussing tables and bar-backing at that same bar, another locals mid-week dance party, this time in Whistler, showing up in Rossland, BC just in time for Winter Carnival and finding a ticket to a sold out brass band show, the free mountain host at Red that took me to his powder stashes all afternoon, and an idyllic starlight skin to a tiny hut for dinner by candlelight…
Stats so far:
Days since leaving Denver: 20
Driving days: 5
Miles driven: ~2500 (I’ll check when I get back to the car
Resorts visited: 9
Snowbird
Snowbasin
Park City
Sun Valley
Stevens Pass
Mt Baker
Whistler
Red Mountain
Days skied: 15 (one uphill at PC)
Nights slept in car: 4 (Lindsay & Wolff’s driveway, outside of Sun Valley, at base of Stevens pass, parking lot in downtown Rossland)
Nights in people’s homes: 10
Nights in hostels: 2
Nights in Whistler condo: 4
Powder days: 10
Snowbird:
Snowbasin:
Sunrise skin at Park City:
Sun Valley:
Stevens Pass: 
Mt Baker: 
Whistler: 
Red Mountain:
Backcountry hut outside of Rossland: 
Ferry across Upper Arrow Lake to Revelstoke: 