Like Magic

yea man...my second ever trip out west was to alta last year ski bumming; i went into it pretty blind, i had no idea or concept of the makeup of the mountain, or what to rally expect, besides knowing alta's pow reputation. My first impression of LCC, as an ECer, was still knock-the-win outta ya breathtaking and amazing. Even with a ~20 inch base, the moutains still had that "holy fucking shit-thats what real mountains look like" appeal to them, however the ride up was still kind of bittersweet, in that although my jaw was locked in the down position by the pure beauty of LCC, they look naked with such little snow, and if i wasn;t so floored, maybe i would have been dissappointed and decieved by alta's reputation vs the reality. My first image in alta is the rustler peak, slightly covered in white, with shrubs pushing up amongst bare spots-again kind of in the back of mind, my subconcious is kind of analyzing that if i could get over the size and novelty of alta, that i mgiht dare to be dissappointed.

the mood of the place is a dampened, the gmd feels like its hibernating. everyone is kind of down in the dumps and dejected when i arrive, pumped to see me, but theres no fire in their eyes. they tell me about how they'd been hiking for a couple weeks, since the lifts hadn't been turning, and that the skiing had been pretty sketchy anyways. i didn't really care and was super pumped to be in a real legit ski town with real mountains.

so as i'm getting oriented, and figuring out what my job is, who my roomate is, and whats going on...i happen to walk by the front desk a couple times, at one point this hippy looking fellow is leaning over the front desk excitedly, like a 6 year old in a candy shop, trying to get a glimpse of the computer screen. he hopefully asks the front desk girl if "that's going to hit us," as if she is somehow an expert in the field and her validation will make it true ...i peer over and see that the compute screen is displaying a big blue splotch smeared on a map of utah. the hippy looks up and looks around the room like hes trying to find soemone to hug...and i finally put together that theres a storm approaching.

a buzz starts to spread around the skibums, but i kind of try to put it out of my mind, so as not to torture myself and not to jinx it.

after dinner i meet my roomate and we're hanging out, when our neighbors come in our room and tell us we're going up to the bar. this is my introduction to the imax windows of the GMD bar room. I step in and notice that the entire far wall is made of windows, highlighting that its FUCKGIN PUKING OUTSIDE. funny, i don't think i ever really used that term before, but now i really understood; a huge volume of snow hurtling down whipped down by the wind. staring out the window you can't see more than 30 feet....:fm:.

needless to say, everyone is fucking stoked, the bar is packed with all the employees giddy with excitement celebrating the blessings of ullr with pitchers of beer. theres some dylan playing over the speaker, and everyone is truly having an awesome time. i'm meeting some really cool people, all of whom are open, easy-going and who amazingly look as stoked as i do. drinks were had, friends were made, and in the back of my mind i can't help selfishly thinking that the big guy upstairs planned this little party for me...my arrival coinciding perfectly with a much-needed dump, and now everyone is reaping in the benefits of the good luck i brought-its like he's reaffirming how rewarding having skiing as the dominant force in your life can be.

after the bar cools down, i go to bed like its christmas eve. i wake up and proceed to tweak out throughout my morning shift in anticipation of my first ever real powder day. what's my first day at alta like? oh nothign special, pretty standard really, just 2 feet of fresh, light utah blower.

I CAN'T WAIT :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: