Winter is here…and it isn’t. Living in the Salt Lake Valley opens up several unique opportunities to outdoor enthusiasts, namely that even when there is three feet of snow up the canyons, there is little or none down in the valley. This means that with just a little more clothing, you can still do most of your summer sports. My friends were still mountain biking on the trails above campus in December and January last year, so you don’t necessarily have to take your bike home with you over Winter Break.
A really fun ride that I can suggest is called the Roller Coaster. The ride lasts for 45 minutes to one hour and leaves right from the dorms. Get on the trail to Red Butte Garden and take your first left on to a small single track going uphill. Stay on this as it winds its way up, crossing several larger dirt roads, and then follow to the right until you come to a gate.
At this gate you must take a right. When one of my friends heard I was putting this trail in this column, he made me promise to “Tell those f***ers to go right!” This is because if you don’t, you will be going to the crazy downhill section and most likely getting obliterated by the fully padded downhill kamikaze mountain bikers. After you turn right you will then be going downhill for a bit and then bearing left all the way to the top of a fairly long hill. Take a minute to put your seat down because it’s all downhill from there-enjoy.
Another warm-weather sport that is quite available to us still is bouldering and rock climbing. As for bouldering, head up Little Cottonwood Canyon and stop anywhere you see cars parked. There’s a lot of great bouldering and you can usually meet good, fun people there.
For those of you who like the snow and want to play in it, I hope you have a season pass. Alta should open today, which ends our time of hiking up it until about March. Everyone who does have a pass should be ritually trying to make it snow (singing, dancing, etc.) since the powder is all but skied-out by now.
Oh wait, there’s still all kinds of powder just past that little red boundary rope, I think I’ll just…stop! Wherever you’re from, if it’s not from here, I’ll bet the ski patrol isn’t quite as strict as they are in Utah. Out here, it’s state law that you can’t duck a rope and you can and will be prosecuted and fined more than $200. The ski patrol is looking out for our safety and it takes it very seriously. You wouldn’t want to cause an avalanche and kill 10 or 20 other people, now would you? The best bet is to do a snow dance and learn where the goods are or hope to get on the first tram.
For an alternate resort skiing experience, you should head up to Park City on Friday. If you buy your pass today, it will only cost you $15 to ski on Friday.
Still, if you just want to get pumped to ski this weekend, the Fort Douglas Theatre is showing Warren Miller’s new ski film for free at 8 p.m. on Friday.
As an ending note, I’d suggest going up to the Outdoor Recreation Program and checking out some of its guidebooks to plan for Thanksgiving break. They have one for everything you could possibly do in Utah.
Enjoy the dirt or the snow and be safe.