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Discovering the Slopes in UtahWhen the early American settlers travelling west across the desert reached the site of Salt Lake City they thought they had discovered the Pacific coast of America. Little did they know that they had uncovered what would become one of the worlds premiere ski destinations. Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and the legacy of the games makes this area in the state of Utah even more marketable as a winter sport destination. I arrived in Salt Lake City during a spell of excellent weather, and while there was no new snow during the time I spent there, the 130 inches of snow that comprised the base certainly provided plenty of wide open spaces to leave my tracks in the snow. A far cry from the 20cm base that I occasionally used to ski on at Coronet Peak in New Zealand! The Great Salt Lake that lies beside the city to which it gave its name is responsible in part for the huge amount of snow that falls on the Wasatch Mountains above it. Storms travelling inland from the Pacific coast absorb water from the lake, and when they hit the mountains it produces more than three times as much snow per cm of water than snow in the more southern American resorts in California and Nevada. This light ‘champagne’ powder snow is famous, but unfortunately I didn’t get to experience any new stuff this trip. The influx of tourists to the Olympics meant that the local council had to ramp up the public transport facilities and this means that access to many of the mountains has become much easier for those who are visiting the area and want to ski a variety of resorts. Bus services run to and from the more local resorts of Alta, Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird for the start and end of the lift operating times. Each area has its own character and despite the pairings of Alta and Snowbird which occupy one canyon and Solitude and Brighton another, when you ski into an adjacent area you certainly notice the difference. Snowboarders in particular should be aware that they are not welcome at the resort of Alta where for a reason that I was unable to deduce snowboarding is banned, but right next door at Snowbird there are boarder friendly terrain parks and half pipes. While you can use the bus services to the nearby resorts, there is no public transport to the ski areas around Park City, a 40 minute drive and home of two of the more famous resorts in Utah, Park City and the massive Canyons resort which requires far more than a day to explore. The purpose built Olympic Park is also nearby, this excited me as it was here that I’d heard you could get a ride in a bob-sled down the Olympic course. As these little carbon-fibre four-person sleds reach speeds of over 70 miles per hour (112 km/h) I was keen to get the adrenalin pumping and there was a little nervous energy as I approached the ticket counter. My enthusiasm disappeared however when I found that the ride, which takes just over a minute cost US$200! Luckily for the far more affordable $8 you could gain entry to the park and visit the museum, as well as watch the racing and ski jumping. I watched some Skeleton racing which was truly breathtaking as spectators stand less than a metre from competitors who plummet down the track head-first only millimetres from the ice. With all the exciting places to go and things to do in the twelve resorts situated in the surrounding mountains it is surprising that Salt Lake City itself has a very quiet nightlife and the après ski facilities available there are limited. This is in part due to the history of the city as the founding fathers of the state of Utah were Mormons – tea totallers whose influence over the licensing laws in the state are still strong. There is no doubt however that because of the mountains alone I needed far more than a week for my own discovery of this part of the Wild West.
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