adventures in interlodging

So apparently my brother has a habit of bringing snowstorms with him when he comes to visit.  After the 42 inches we got Thursday/Friday, it started snowing again Sunday night.  When Monday morning rolled around, the valley roads were already snow-covered.  H grumbled that the canyon road was going to be a nightmare but he was too tempted by the possibility of deep storm skiing to stay away.  He, J and S got their gear together and headed out around 7:15 a.m. to catch the standing room only bus while I had to go into work.  It took me about an hour: although the roads were messy, there was scarcely any traffic.

J and S were able to use their Ikon passes to get on the bus, which took two hours to get up to Alta, due to traffic volume and snowy conditions.  They were lucky, however, because the authorities closed the road at 10:30 a.m. for avalanche control and, due to the increasing slide danger, never opened the road to uphill traffic for the rest of the day.

Only the finest in interlodge dining

The snow was fantastic.  S fell a couple of times before she figured it out but then they had some great runs.  Very little was open - just the groomed runs (not so groomed) off Collins, plus Wildcat - but it was snowing two inches an hour and started to add up.  Unfortunately, the resort closed at 1 p.m. and all skiers were interlodged at the Goldminer's Daughter.  Interlodged means people have to go indoors (skiers to the ski lodge; residents to their homes) and stay indoors - to be caught outside during an interlodge means fines of around $1,000.  They tried to open the road for downhill traffic only - and three ski buses headed down from Albion without stopping at Goldminer's - but had to close it again immediately because of a natural slide that came onto the road.

At 2 p.m., H texted me that they might not be making it home that night.  I left work around 2:30 p.m. and the roads were clear until I got to our neighborhood.  I shoveled for two hours as there was about a foot of heavy snow; then at 7:30 p.m., I had to go out again to clean up after the plow went by.

The doors were finally unlocked

Meanwhile, H, J and S entertained themselves as best they could for five hours. They managed to score a table, bought a deck of playing cards and dined on crackers and sardines that J had stashed in his pack, and luckily the bar hadn't run out of beer (or chai, for S).  Just before 6 p.m., it was announced that the road was open for downhill traffic only and if anyone wanted to get on a ski bus, they better do it now.  There was a mad rush for the exit.  And even though the bus was crowded, everyone on it was in a pretty good mood since they would be getting home that night.  One woman even shared her Jim Beam and Coke with H after they bonded over Hall & Oates.

They pulled into the driveway a little before 8 p.m., super-happy to be home.  They didn't get much skiing in, true, but they got away with good stories.