When the storm of the century is pounding down snow and you can’t see a darn thing, it’s hard to remember that there is such a thing as sunshine. Thus it was with great surprise that we awoke this morning to clear skies with only a few mottled threads of fog obscuring the photons beaming down from the heavens.
On a day like this, there’s very little need to talk, and our group was all action as we rallied up to Snowbasin for what promised to be one of the best days of the season. The impacts of this massive storm have already been well documented elsewhere, so I’ll save the mundane details regarding record setting snowfalls for another time. If you’ve been following the daily updates of this Freeskier trip, you already know that the trip started deep, got deeper and today was DEEPEST.
If Einstein was a skier, he would have forgone wasting all that time on the theory of relativity (who cares about that junk anyway?) and would have come up with the Snowbasin Equation. The Snowbasin Equation pans out as follows: Deepest + Sunshine = World Class. As usual, there were no people, well, hardly any, but just to make sure that we had unfettered access to the inner workings of the Snowbasin Equation, ski patroller Mike Hansen lined us up with a high speed ride on a snowmobile out to the base of the Strawberry Gondola. Ahead of the crowds (those darn 6 or 7 locals who had been dogging us all week)
With more snow predicted for tonight, the day focused on getting the shot, Mr. Hansen, a long-time Snowbasin local, turned us on to hidden stashes and great lines. Mike Hansen is a telemark skier who skis with a strong, fluid style on a par of Line skis. The combination of a classic, historical skiing style done on some sticks made by one of the most progressive brands in the business got me thinking about how that it didn’t really matter what tool you used to slide down mountains, only that you used the too – and style – which suited you the best and which left the biggest smile on your face. Mike Hansen smiled often and broadly, so obviously the man is on to something. Perhaps he’s discovered the Second Snowbasin Theorem, which states that no people + lots of snow = a very good thing.
Stay tuned to freeskier.com for more trip updates and be sure to check out the full feature in an issue of Freeskier Magazine next year, when we break down all the details on how you can find Heaven here on earth at this forgotten corner of Utah.
Can’t wait to for next year? Get all the beta on Snowbasin including current conditions, cool webcams and how you can book your vacation RIGHT NOW at www.snowbasin.com
