17 February 2008

Deer Valley and Shawn Bradley

In 2004, Robyn, Joe, and I took a ski class together. We went with an instructor up to Sundance every Tuesday for six weeks and went from not being able to get off the ski lifts to actually enjoying the skiing experience.

Robyn and I liked it so much that we decided to try a non-class ski trip to Brighton. One night, probably a Friday, Robyn and I drove up to Brighton with some friends and tried our luck at the slopes without an instructor cheering us on and correcting our style. It was a horrible night.

None of us really enjoyed Brighton. It was cold, windy, dark, and crowded. We were surrounded by skiers, amateurs and experts, but that wasn't the worst part. We were being danced around by snowboarders. It was at Brighton that I decided I really didn't like night skiing and that snowboarders and skiers really do belong on different mountains (they're like oil and water).

By the end of the night at Brighton, the girls had cold feet and that's not the least of it. On my last run down the mountain, some idiot was skiing backwards and ran into me. He was wearing a helmet, we knocked heads, I briefly blacked out, and he skied off, leaving me flat on the ground with my goggles ten feet in one direction and my skis ten feet in the other direction. When I tried to sit up, the pain I felt pointed only to one thing: a broken rib. I hope to never go back to night ski at Brighton.

Yesterday was as far away from Brighton as I could get. I went skiing with 40 of my closest friends at Deer Valley, which is consistently rated number one among ski resorts in North America. What's more? All of our lift passes were free!


You can't beat this!


The morning started at 7:30 AM. Cody and Marianne showed up at my door ready to drive up to Deer Valley. We stopped at McDonald's for breakfast, and then we were off. We were on the slopes by 10:00 AM, ready for a day of the finest skiing in the world.

The resort was great in so many ways. It had innumerable lifts and runs and no snowboarders. The sun poked through the clouds throughout the day, and everyone on the slopes was very friendly. I can't stop thinking about how much I need to start my new life as a ski bum in Park City. Enough of Sundance, I need Deer Valley. To quote Homer Simpson, "Why eat hamburger when you can have steak?"


My roommates Adam and Rod and me



The classic thumbs up



Marianne and me



A closer look at Marianne's wicked hott sunglasses



It was my roommate Justin's first time on the slopes. He couldn't have found a nicer mountain to fall down.

Oh yeah, I had to work last night at 5:00 PM. I wanted to stay on the slopes 'til five, but I had to leave at 3:00 PM to be back for work. Apparently, I was indespensible (I tried getting a sub, but they wanted me). Anyway, it was a good thing I went to work, because I served Shawn Bradley. I didn't recognize him at first, but I guess when you see a 7'6" guy, you can probably assume it's him.



We exchanged words. He was supposed to only take one candy bar during halftime, but I told him he could take as many as he wanted. He took three.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

That night at Brighton really wasN'T fun! I don't think I've gone skiing since our class ended...maybe I should go to Deer Valley. Next time you get FREE passes, invite us! Congrats on meeting Shawn Bradley...I'm sure you felt short.

Christie said...

My husband would be jealous of the free ski passes to Deer Valley (one of his favs) and meeting Shawn Bradley. I'm only jealous of the McDonald's and that SB got three candy bars and I got none.

Michael said...

This is Marianne (not Michael). I would like everyone to know that those were borrowed sunglasses. I'm normally not that high maintenance, but I guess Michael was right..they were pretty hott (with two T's)!

Kimberly said...

I have pretty much never envied your life until now...so, what happened to living the poor student life? Sounds more like you are living the life of the rich and famous. Those are some pretty dang sweet glasses, Marianne...I can see why Michael liked them so much. By the way, Michael, I think you owe your favorite big sister some babysitting or something so I can go out and have a day in the life of the rich and famous!

Diane said...

Didn't you see any stars on the mountain?? I think that's where they hang out! Oh yeah, and what's wrong with those sunglasses?? They look like one of my old pair that I found one day in the glove box of your car. I believe you made the person in the passenger seat wear them! Did Marianne borrow them, or were they in your glove box??