Brighton Ski Cheap

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been hammered with Christmas stuff. I'll try to make up for it with a post about free music later today.

Do you ever do something you know you'll pay for later but you do it anyway? Maybe several times? Several times in one day? Keep this in mind.

I skew toward the frugal side. I like to ski. But with day passes all over $50 I don't ski at the resorts much. (I get my Winter kicks cross country skiing and snowshoeing and even some biking, if the weather allows.) So when Mark N. informed me I could ski at Brighton Wednesday for $15 with a donation to the Utah Food Bank, I was there.

I arrived at Brighton just before the 9 AM opening. The drive up the canyon saw the temperature drop from 20 to 0 F. It was cold, but clear and sunny and the snow was crunchy and pretty good for skiing with the storm the day before. I got my ticket and headed up the lift.

The first few runs were on freshly groomed corduroy. The trees were still flocked with several inches of snow (Alex has some pictures). After two runs I met up with Mark A., Mark N. and Timo and we took several runs and then got separated and it was just Mark N. and I.

We had fun hitting some fresh stuff, a lot of groomed runs, a few little jumps - just having fun.

The guys left at noon to get back to work but I had the whole day off and stayed. I don't mind skiing solo and with the resort packed from the $15 deal the Singles line got me back up the hill faster. Sometimes I'd chat with people on the lift, other times no. There was a gal on a ski bike riding down the runs.

So now I'll get back to the doing things you know you'll pay for. By about 1 PM my legs were feeling pretty worked by the time I'd get down to the lift. But I don't ski much, and it was a nice day, and it was a bargain, and I'm having fun ... OK, one more run. I did this over and over, with slight variations on the rationale, until 3:40 when I finally called it quits. I'm glad I went long, but I really thought I'd pay for it with extremely sore legs, but surprisingly I haven't felt too bad. I guess skiing uses a lot of the same muscles as cycling or I would be in serious hurt.

Getting out to ski did me a lot of good. I've been stressed with Christmas and other stuff and skiing let me forget about it. Now I'm ready to snowshoe and cross country ski.