Snowbird

I've been in Salt Lake City this week for a business conference. While the actual conference itself was worthwhile, one of the ways they lure people here is by giving them a free day of skiing on the last day (Friday) of the event.

There's a lot of hype around the quality of Utah's snow. Because of its setting in the high desert, the powder here is said to be drier and fluffier - and, therefore, better. The motto "Best Snow on Earth" appears not only in hubris-laden marketing materials but even on Utah license plates.

Now, after experiencing it firsthand, I can tell you that the hype is entirely justified. We went to Snowbird today, a ski resort about 45 minutes' drive from Salt Lake City. Officially they'd received 21" of new snow overnight. But thanks to blind luck and befriending some locals, my coworker and I found untracked lines where the snow was waist deep.

Skiing in that much Utah snow is extremely fun but incredibly tiring - it's so soft and fluffy that you have to struggle to keep your skis floating through the snow rather than sinking to the bottom of it. You have to be a good skier because only the steepest runs are even skiable in conditions like that.

It was one of the best skiing days I've had in my life. I'm exhausted.