Park City 2020

Sunday, February 23, 2020

I was ready for a break. It had been an intense week of death, meetings, and worship preparation. My dear friend Carole died earlier in the week, and much time was spent with the family, consoling, and planning for a funeral. This on top of the usual work of class prep, lectures, sermon preparation, and kids’ activities. I officiated Carole’s funeral on Saturday, completed final preparation for our 24-hour prayer vigil at church, attended Isaiah’s basketball games in Sioux City, met Jim and Linda in LeMars for dinner, and finally came home for sermon preparation and sleep.

The morning began with my one-hour prayer slot at the prayer vigil at 7:00 a.m. After some additional sermon preparation in my office, I left for Hawarden. It was a beautiful day and smelled like spring baseball. Making my way to the community center, I prayed in peace. Worship was great: Jon DeGroot led worship, the message went well, and Jim and the kids were there. After worship we high-tailed it home for Culver’s. After visiting for awhile, I went upstairs to pack.

Quick goodbye’s, loaded up the Ford, and took off for Omaha with the Park City 2020 playlist blaring. Beautiful day. At OMA, I parked, made my way through TSA, and waited for my flight. It was a joy to simply be away from Sioux Center. I watched The Frankenstein Chronicles and Narcos on Netflix, listened to music, and read a bit of Russell Murray’s The Madness of Crowds. The flight to DIA was uneventful, however a bit choppy. Lugging my Patagonia gear through DIA was no picnic, but thankfully I had time and my gate was close. I settled in for dinner at Que Bueno (two vodka tonics, steak nachos) and made my way to the gate for the final leg to SLC. This would be a smaller plane, so I checked my bags, glad to be rid of the extra weight and hassle.

Arriving in SLC, I hit the men’s room, made my way to baggage, grabbed my bags, and met Billy at the curb side. My attire: white tee-shirt, black Banana Republic v-neck sweater, black UniQlo jeans, white Nike VaporMax shoes, Patagonia Nanopuff vest. Black Patagonia duffle and messenger bag. Billy pulled up in a white Dodge pickup. I threw my bags in the back, and we hit it for In-N-Out Burger (single, fries, and a Pepsi). Drive up the mountain to the Silverado at The Canyons was quick. Wide awake. Stoked. The room was great. Talked a bit, completed ablutions, and went to bed.

Monday, February 24, 2020

I slept soundly for all of four hours, and then it went to crap. Wide awake at 2:00 a.m., I rolled around, prayed. I was not bothered, but rather completely excited to wake up and get on the snow. We got up, hit Starbucks for coffee and a Clif Bar, took a quick tour of the Westin and our hotel, got my rental skis at Aloha, and headed back to the room to gear up. We were on the lift at 9:30 and hit it hard. The first run was good, but my Fischer demo skis were super twitchy. I felt unstable on the snow. This, coupled with my lack of sleep and shitty weather, made for a tough day of skiing. The weather was weird—sickly gray skies, intermittent snow, wind, and cold. I began to feel nauseous late-morning, likely for lack of sleep, and was uncomfortable for most of the day. Thinking food would help, we stopped at Cloud Nine off the Dreamcatcher lift for lunch: Asian salad ($22!!!), M&M’s, and Coke. The food and caffeine helped a little, but I could not find my groove. I felt dizzy and nauseous going up every lift, and was cold and technically unsound going down every run. We skied 24 runs and 29 thousand vertical feet.

Back to the lodge, I worked out in the gym, showered, and rested until Billy came back from his workout/soak at the Westin. To Burgers and Bourbon at the Deer Valley Montage, we ordered Wagyu beef nachos and a flight of local bourbons. I didn’t have much of an appetite, failed to fully appreciate our spectacular burger, fries trio, and Hooker Blonde Ale, but we had a great talk about life and marriage. I was simply wiped. Back to the lodge, I was out at 10:00 p.m. Lousy date. I wrote in my journal: “I love to ski, but I love God more. I love the mountains, but I love the One who made the mountains more.” Amen.

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

A new day. What a spectacular day. Coming down from the mountain Monday evening, I swapped my Fischer skis out for a pair of Head V10 skis. The first run of the morning, I was so glad I did. I was back. It was a great run on a great line, carving huge, fast turns on a meticulously groomed and fresh Echo. It was a great start to the day and restored my confidence considerably. Making our way to the Super Condor Express, we began our annual strategy of working the mountain from north to south, beginning with Boa, a brilliant blue and the northernmost run at the resort. Back to the Orange Bubble, we hit Mainline to Saddleback Express, then down Snow Dancer and Chicane to Tombstone Express. Up Tombstone, we found what would become one of our favorite runs at PC—Sidewinder, a steep, wide black run of perfect snow. Up Tombstone again, we came down on the north side, hitting Another World and Rhapsody, solid blues, to Timberline for the Iron Mountain Express and finally Quicksilver Gondola for the ride to Park City proper. We continued to work our way south with several blues, ending our odyssey at Pay Day on the very southernmost edge of the resort. We covered a lot of ground and great skiing the entire afternoon.

Fulfilling our mission, we made our way back north, being sure to hit Sidewinder again and ending the day at Upper Boa. For the day, we skied over seven hours, hitting 25 runs over 33 miles and nearly 30 thousand vertical feet. I somehow managed to hit 55 mph on a brilliant run somewhere along the way. I was skiing fast and confident. It was an awesome day.

 

Back at the Canyons and completely wiped, we cleaned up and headed into Park City for dinner and basketball (Iowa v. Michigan State). We found our usual place at Fletcher’s, order old fashioneds, and settled in for the game and food: steak and buffalo fondue, short rib grilled cheese, and New York strip (and more old fashioneds). By the time the game was over, we were full and the crowd was growing. We escaped, checked out a few stores, and finally made our way to the Mammut outlet, where I scored a great deal on a pair of Runbold pants. It was a great night.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

I didn’t even hear Billy go (he had an early flight). I slept in, made a big breakfast, and packed up. Stashing my bags at the front desk, I made my way to the Orange Bubble lift for a day on my own. It was a lovely, quiet day of skiing. I did my best to avoid the crowds, skied pretty well, but missed my skiing partner and was growing antsy. The weather was glorious, the crowds were thin, and I was able to enjoy some much-appreciated silence and solitude. Completely exhausted by 2:00, I returned my skis, got cleaned up in the lodge locker room, and called an Uber. To SLC, smoothie for dinner, long flights home, and nearly fell asleep at the wheel south of Maurice. Arrived at long last (1:30 a.m. Thursday morning).