Torchlight parade is showered with fireworks as they make their way down City Hill at Snowbasin.
At Snowbasin on Christmas Eve it was all jingle bells and good tidings. What fun to gather with friends for a beverage in front of the roaring fire and then end the evening with a torchlight parade and fireworks. If you weren’t already in a festive mood, the activities of the evening would get you there.
Happy Birthday Draba Dog!
In a recent interview, Brian Williams, NBC Nightly news anchor said that he would never trust anyone who didn’t love a dog. I don’t know if I would go that far, but I do find these people hard to understand.
Draba is our Golden Retriever and he turns 10 today. He is our fifth Golden in 35 years and the dog gods blessed us when they let him pick us for his parents. Don’t get me wrong, we loved the other four. In fact our first two were littermates and we took them on our three-week honeymoon in a VW van. Very romantic! The others were full of hunting genes, and although they were well-behaved most of the time, they had a tendency to wander about. Draba, on the other hand was born to be good. He came to us with the inborn ability to heel, stay, and hang around.
Many have asked about his name. We must have known from the very beginning how unique he was going to turn out. His name comes from an alpine wildflower. It is found high on the rocky slopes of our Wasatch Mountains. When Snowbasin started the construction of the men’s Olympic downhill course in 2000 they had to halt the operation while the U.S. Forest service surveyed the flower. Initially they thought it was only in the area of the course but discovered it was in several locations on the mountain. After sending the plants for testing they did discover that this particular species of Draba had a unique gene structure only found at Snowbasin. In honor of this plant, a jump on the woman’s Olympic Wildflower course was named Draba Drop!
So, happy birthday Draba from all your friends and family!
Facebook is facinating but can I go home from work now, after all it is my birthday!
Janifer finds her way down a slope filled with fluff today at Snowbasin.
Yesterday it started snowing in Mountain Green at 9:00 a.m. and I was envious of all the sliders driving by my office and heading for the slopes because they were going to get all of the powder. At 3:00 p.m. it was still snowing, giving me hope that it might continue after the lifts closed. It was cold and the newly fallen fluff was extremely light. The girls started making plans for an early morning rendezvous at Snowbasin. At 6:00 p.m. it was STILL snowing.
And so first thing this morning we jumped on the Needles Gondola at Snowbasin for a morning of turns. The visibility was mediocre at best but we are getting used to not being able to see. The temperatures had warmed overnight so the snow was a little denser then we had hoped, but we poked around and found the best snow on the north facing aspects that had been protected from the wind. As you can see by the photos we found some pretty fine stuff!
Pam is all smiles on her last run before lunch!