Waiting for our seats at McGlynn's

Utah 2009 - The Lineup

I just got around to posting about our Ski and Snowboard trip to Utah. It took place during the first week of February. This was our biggest group yet.

The gang consisted of:

Bill "Momentum" Navarro

(The offending anatomy was blurred in post-production of the above photo.)

If there wasn't enough of a pitch, Bill tended to lose momentum and slow down. After flat traverses, it was not uncommon for us to wait for him. Fortunately, he was a good sport when it came to steeps. He handled those as well as the rest of us (meaning just kinda well)

Carl "Ski-Breaker" Kelsch

For any other trip we would have named him Carl "Follow Me" Kelsch, meaning "follow me" was the last statement we heard from him before we all became separated. However, this year Carl impressed us by breaking his ski when he fell navigating a black diamond descent, a feat I have never witnessed before. He also succeeded on skiing on that broken ski back to the base for an equipment exchange.

Chad "Twelve Year" Rice

Twelve years was enough to change a man. Back then he was 100lbs lighter, and unfortunately that was the last time he skied. Needless to say, when he picked skiing up again for this trip, the experience felt nearly foreign to him. So, which resort does he try his hand at for the first time in twelve years? Snowbird, where the blue squares would be black diamonds anywhere else. It didn't go smoothly, but Chad had enough of a good attitude to swear he was coming with us again next year.

Derek "I'll Take the Other Way" Harper

Derek probably had the best judgment among all of us. Sure he could keep up with us when we hit the black diamonds. Unfortunately, WE couldn't keep up with us on the black diamonds. When we chose to take the steep, bumped-up, tree-lined bowls, he tended to go around, get to the bottom first and turn around to watch us struggle. Derek mostly took the independent approach during this trip, and I suspect he got more runs in while we were recovering from yard sales.

Hue "Powder Hater" Wang

Can a snowboarder really hate powder? Well, Hue tended to get annoyed at anything that detracted from his favorite on-slope activity which was carving groomers... really fast. Powder was too much work for him.

Keith "See You Later" Sunshine

This was (long-time friend) Keith's first year with us. Initially, he committed to skiing only two days with us and staying somewhere else. However, it seemed that every time we bid farewell to him, we'd see him later. We ended up getting a third day on the slopes with him and he stayed in the condo as a house guest. We got good use out of his car too.

Long "Everything Must Go" Nguyen

Long continued to have the most dramatic falls I've ever witnessed a skier endure. See my previous post about Vermont. This trip, on a steep bowl, he tumbled down, collided into his wife and the two of them proceeded to roll together for another 50-ish yards. Not all of his yard sales occurred on difficult terrain either. He could simply be slowing down on a gentle groomer and then splat... skis and poles become separated.

Mary "Hey Guys" Nguyen

Mary didn't stray far from the group, meaning all the trouble we got in she got in too. This led to her being an inadvertent target for collisions from both her husband and her brother. One time, we thought she took a different way as we were struggling though some woods and suddenly, out of nowhere, she excitedly skis onto the trail to join us only to quickly loose control and wipe out.

Megan "Half Day" Nguyen

Megan's pregnant! Yay! She was still in her first trimester for this trip, so that meant fatigue and nausea. She was another one who exercised good judgment by not overdoing the physical exertion. She probably had the most varied vacation, spending half her days relaxing at spas.

Michael "Comet" Nguyen

I'll always remember McConkey's Bowl at Park City Mountain Resort. That's where I misjudged a turn, fell and slid down half the slope on my back and head. Derek, who wisely watched from the bottom, said my red jacket made me look like the center of powder-made comet as I slid uncontrollably down that bowl.

Randy "Home Run" Mitchell

This was Randy's first ski trip away from the Poconos. He was impressed with both the size and difficulty of big mountain skiing. His strategy was basically to stay on one long groomer (like PCMR's Home Run) and simply carve turns the whole day. Smart man. unlike the rest of us, he mostly stayed on his skis instead of his butt. All those S-turns wore him out though.

Sioux "Experienced" Wang

Susan's been on the slopes more seasons than all the snowboarders and half the skiers on the trip. That experience led to knowing better than to join us on our black diamond outings. She preferred gentle groomers which made her good company for Randy and Chad. However, even on those slopes she, like us, would lose her companions once in a while.

Vance "Race Ya" Dougherty

This was Vance's first outing with us and he quickly realized that even though we sought the difficult slopes, we couldn't exactly handle them. Despite not having our experience, he decided to challenge us to a series of races. Those races ranked among the most fun, hair-raising runs we had on the trip.

Dots on the slopes at Brighton