Utah - The Canyons: Less than Grand

Ah, my first run at the Canyons (formerly known as Park West...much inferior under that name).  I made it to the house by the appointed hour and everyone scattered.  Made a few runs off the nearby Iron Mountain lift, then worked over to the other part of the mountain to meet up with the guys.  Included one snowboarder that I could keep up with and two 3 skiers I couldn't.  But we all stayed together.  This resort has some strange elements.  We came down a steep and icy run, which turned into a run-out, which led to a hill.  An uphill hill! In the middle of the run...WTF?  The best, though not only, way up was to grab onto a rope tow and hold on for dear life (snowboarders, that is, since we always ride sideways); the other option was to walk up--not the preferred choice. Very strange way to run a railroad.  The other peculiarity was the so-called Orange Bubble Express.  This was a regular chairlift with a protective orange plexiglass "bubble" that could be pulled down to shield against the wind and cold.  With the orange goggles I had on, it was surreal.  What wasn't obvious was that there was a midpoint download that was optional.  Of course we took it and came off short of the end.  Upon polling the rest of the group at lunch, it appeared that everyone did the same. Poorly marked and thus Annoying (with a capital A).

After lunch, we met up with a straggler and had all but two of the group together.  That lasted about 15 minutes before several of us got separated again. That happens.  I ended up exploring an area of the mountain that was honeycombed with multi-million dollar homes.  Pretty amazing.  But the runs were either narrow or long, neither of which sat well with my tired, old, post-lunch legs.  Yet I persevered to get back to the transfer lift that ran between a primary staging area (Tombstone lift) and the area where the house was.  Every other lift in areas I have been to in the West, except for high mountain lifts, closes at 4 PM.  Most of the lifts in Park City close at 4.  It seems every lift at the Canyons closes at 3:30.  The lift operator wouldn't let me up when I arrived at 3:45, even though that was the only lift that would get me back to the house.  His "explanation" was lame. Again, WTF? This is an exclusive (and expensive) area.  And, to add insult to injury, they wouldn't even send a courtesy van.  Unconscionable. I should write a letter. Probably won't.  Larry was kind enough to drive over and get me, and there the universe showed its sense of humor.  I had to describe where to come for me...had I not spent 30 minutes the night before erroneously exploring that part of the mountain while trying to find the house, I would have had no clue what to tell him. Makes you go hmmm..

The area is full of rich folks, which makes you wonder if these peons weren't exacting some type of class envy revenge.  The house the gang stayed in was spectacular--we were guessing around 3 or 4 million to buy.  And location...wow.  Look at this.

The runs here are numerous and, unlike Park City, diversified, and the staff is as friendly as members of the Gestapo can be.  (I saw a lift operator cut a little girl's lift ticket off her coat and send the whole family down the hill for a new one because she had a child's ticket and was a year too old--very unyielding, just like my lift operator. Bastards.)  The snow is good, the runs are good (for the most part), and the house is fantastic.  But the short hours and the expensive lift tickets--for a dollar less at Park City you can ski/ride from 8:30 AM to 9 PM--makes this not my favorite place.  The rule-bound mentality is just such a drawback. (I realize this is Utah and rule-bound is their official state state of mind, but c'mon...cutting the ticket off the coat? That would never happen in Colorado.)  I have two more days on my ticket and plan to use it to the max, but will be more careful where I am at the witching hour.

Lunch and dinner with the gang was a hoot.  These are some twisted folks, who have lots of fun together.  This trip, apparently, or ones like it, is a regular occurrence.  Many (or most) of the things said were unrepeatable, either in the sense of I don't know who will be reading this, or more importantly, in order to adhere to "the Code."  Whether it was someone hitting on one or the other of the "twins," a birthday boy downing shots of some strange concoction whenever we sang Happy Birthday, or other outlandish inducements given  to do even more outlandish things, there was no shortage of laughter.  For dinner we ended up at Butcher's Chop House--a bit anticlimatic unfortunately.  I don't recommend it; the food was not bad, but the service was terrible--it took almost 2 hours to eat.

Hopefully it will snow again tonight and keep it up tomorrow!

[Next day: I do not know, but have heard that other outlandish things went on back at the house that night, possibly involving the hottub, but I couldn't really say for sure.  All I know is it was easy to follow the trail of bloody footprints up to the lift the next morning.]