"i can't believe the stuff you're skiing"

Just as we wanted, we were up and at'em Christmas morning and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon, not quite in time for front row parking although we did manage second row and about twenty-three steps from the lift.  Again we put our boots on in the lodge lobby - running into Pat, whom we recognized from being an early morning Barker Lodge/Sunday River, Bethel, Maine, skier (as we used to be) whose son went to the U and whose favorite Utah ski mountain is Solitude - and ran our boot bags back out to the car, thus saving having to rent a locker for our gear.

Solitude is quite a bit bigger than Brighton with much more varied terrain, e.g. steeper and higher.  We skied all over the mountain, starting off skier's left on the blue groomers off the Eagle Express lift and working our way into the beautiful, cliff-lined canyon off the Summit lift.  Although we didn't attempt any traversing into Honeycomb Canyon (we need more snow, desperately), we did do a lot of black diamond bump runs, which prompted H to utter the quote that titles this post.  I can't believe the stuff I skied either (see above re: steeper and higher): some of these trails were far steeper than anything I've ever skied before and completely ungroomed, full of bumps (steeper and bumpier than Agony, for those of you who know Sunday River).  But, unlike Agony, there is NO ICE here.  Although the bumps weren't fluffy, they weren't bullet-proof and it was actually more comfortable skiing the bump runs than the groomers because the light was so flat.  In fact, once as we rode up the lift, I pointed to a black bump run and said to H, "We haven't done that one yet."  It's a new me, folks.

It was a cold day, both starting out and ending up in the teens especially since the sun never came out (see above re: flat light), but we didn't let that stop us from skiing from 9 a.m. 'til 2 p.m.  Whether it was because of the temperatures, the Christmas holiday, Utahns not getting an early start, or just that the resort is aptly named, the slopes were largely bare and we never waited in a lift line.  We really liked Solitude - and not just because the skiers outnumbered the snowboarders this time - and can't wait to go back after we get some decent snow*.

Notes for the day:  We ate lunch in the "Brownbag Lounge" because you're not allowed to bring your own food into the cafeteria area; even tho' it was in the basement, there were plenty of tables, a big screen T.V. and even a microwave so folks could have hot lunches.  We saw one dog (in Big Cottonwood Canyon where dog fines cost you around $300) and as it was a cocker spaniel it was clearly not an avalanche dog.  After we called it quits, we found the Thirsty Squirrel pub in Solitude Village for a post-piste pitcher (at twice the $$ as a Porcupine pitcher, we won't do that again) - they had the best Christmas tree skirt ever.

* We're so turning into Utahn snow snobs: if we'd had conditions like this back East, we would have been thrilled.