Weekend Wanderings

We have friends that have lived in Salt Lake City for the last couple of years and this year we finally made it out to see them. A couple of weekends ago, we were up quite early on a Friday morning to catch a 6:30 flight out of Denver International. One advantage of flying that early, was getting to see the sunrise as we were taking off.

Being from the Boston area, I’m use to flying back and forth to the east coast to see family. The hour and a half trip was a nice change of pace compared to the typical 4+ hour flight to Boston. When we started our descent into Salt Lake, we were greeted with a scene very different from the one we left in Denver. The sky was grey and rain was in the forecast.

Our friend picked us up from the airport and we headed straight to Solitude. The rain and snow held off for a little bit but by the time we went in for lunch we were soaked. At the base it was raining, at mid-mountain it was sleeting and at the summit it was graupel (mini hail/pellet snow). Despite the variable conditions, we found some great snow in the trees. The best run of the day was Black Forest in Honeycomb Canyon.

Overnight, the sleet and graupel turned into nice snow at the higher elevations and we work up to a foot and a half of fresh powder. We fueled up with some delicious breakfast sandwiches, courtesy of our wonderful hosts! 

After breakfast, we headed back up Big Cottonwood Canyon to do some backcountry skiing off of South Guardsman Pass. We found a beautiful open, low-angle field that was tons of fun. We were the only ones there and we got to enjoy a couple of untouched lines. 

After skiing, we enjoyed catching up with a larger crew over dinner at Black Sheep at Epic Brewing Sugar House. The burgers and beer were perfect after a day of hiking and skiing.

Once more on Sunday, we made our way up Big Cottonwood Canyon. This time to ski Willow Fork. There was no new snow but the sun was out, the weather was warm and yesterday’s snow was still nice and soft. 

We wrapped up our last evening in Salt Lake with dinner and drinks at Avenues Proper Restaurant and Publick House. The Parisian Gnocchi with a butternut puree, braised cabbage, oyster mushrooms, candied walnuts, parmesan and scallions was fabulous.

Overall, an excellent weekend in Salt Lake City. Next, we’ll just have to remember that a 6:30am flight Monday morning and going straight to work is a terrible idea.

Happy Wanderings!

Note: Restaurant images courtesy of Opentable.com and Salt Lake Magazine