Spring is here but you wouldn’t know it from the snow. While you backyard might be looking a little green, the white stuff is still holding deep at local resorts. But all good things must come to an end and April will be here before you know it. So go get out and do some skiing and riding this weekend. By now you likely have heard Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday morning.  Even though we lose an hour of sleep, we gain an extra hour of early evening daylight. This only sweetens the deal on a twilight lift ticket.

This week at a ski area near you….Brantling begins spring hours for operations. Also to note… they will be closed this Saturday for a snowmobile hill drag. These seem to be popping up everywhere in an effort to make some additional money and keep the smaller resorts open in these tough economic times. Bristol will be raffling off a season pass on May 1st for next winter. You can buy a ticket from them at their office at the base or top of the mountain. It’s an end of the season special at Four Seasons. All lift tickets will be only $10 for the rest of their ski season. Greek Peak holds the Spring Fever Throw Down and Turkey Bonanza on Sunday. For those who might be scratching their head wondering what the heck that is, it is a slope style competition. Competitors will also get a Turkey Leg to eat with the price. You can help out some kids this Saturday at Labrador. They have teamed up with the Sugarman Law Firm to hold a fun race. It benefit’s the Make A Wish Foundation. McCauley has all sorts of deals including crazy 8 Fridays where $8 gets you a lift and rentals go for $18. Discounted lift tickets are also available for men’s day Mondays and ladies day Wednesdays. Snow Ridge will hold a special open race on Sunday where everyone is welcome. $99 will get your family up the lifts there as well on Sunday. If you are in the military they have another military discount day on Wednesday. And lastly, at Toggenburg, spring hours are in effect and all once a week passes are good Tuesday through Friday for the rest of the season.

I may not have done my best skiing ever, but it was the best ski trip I ever took. I crammed four ski days into a four night whirl wind tour of the Salt Lake City Area. I loved the picturesque city which hosted the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. The view from the flat city plain to the rapidly rising mountains surrounding it is awesome. I hit Alta and Snowbird for two days a piece. Alta is known as one of the very few areas in the country where snowboarding is not allowed. Snowbird is steep and the snow deep. They have a tunnel which connects one side of the mountain to a bowl on the backside via a surface conveyor inside. This allows intermediate levels skiers to get into a huge bowl without having to dive in off of a steep cliff. Also they have a tram which takes 125 people from the base to the peak of the mountain. It actually took more time to get to the top doing this than a normal lift. But on a cold and windy day, nothing beats it. I went on the trip knowing I still had a pretty serious back injury, so I stayed off of the craziest steep, narrowest and rocky upper mountain terrain.  After dreaming for years about taking on slopes that aren’t available here in the east, it was kind of a bummer. I at least got to see what I need to train for when I take my next trip out west.  The snow base was close to 100” with the seasonal total for snow there over 400”. The mountains put the Tug Hill to shame with over 500” in a normal winter. You can see some of the photos I took on the trip to the right Enjoy, I know I sure did! Happy trails…