2009 Ski Season, Come and Gone

People usually think of April as a time of new beginnings, often overlooking the sad endings. To me, April is a month of alphas and omegas. Once such omega was this year's ski season, which was officially decommissioned on April 11, 2009. It was an incredible season, and will be missed sorely. The season commenced prematurely on November 26, 2008, but doctors were able to revive the season with some manmade devices and a facelift. The snow was naked and scant on that pre-Thanksgiving day at Snowbird, but it was a joyous day nonetheless. New skis were in order, and purchased in the off season; their debut was welcomed and gladsome. The 2009 season ended late, on April 11, 2009 at Solitude, just shy of Easter. The six month season was the longest on record and accounted for exercise, enjoyment, soreness, sociality, and memories during an equivalent time period as developing a baby 2/3 of the way. It's hard to give an inanimate idea, such as a ski season, the proper respects since it doesn't use a pillow (that's my usual go-to gift at funerals), but after some thought and meditation on the tanning bed, I decided to recount some memories as my way of saying, "Holla, 2009 Ski Season. Holla." One such memory was watching the ski patrol at Sundance chase down a cow moose in broad daylight. The she-moose (if you say that really quickly outloud, and slur the hyphen, it sounds like schmooze) was defiant and did not want to leave the groomed trails. The ski patrol personell clearly had not earned their zoology merit badges, and were forced to close down the trail as they mulled over different ideas to get rid of the beast. Speaking of ski patrol, on the last day of the season the whole mountain was closed for 30+ minutes due to a thunderstorm/hailstorm. That was a first. I have now skiied and jet-skiied in a thunderstorm/hailstorm. The biggest memory, which has already been spoken of, was Heli-skiing at Powder Mountain. What a trip that was! This season I held a season pass at Sundance and attended weekly, in addition to $15 day at Brighton, Solitude, Snowbird, and Powder Mountain. My family came out to Utah on three separate occassions to ski (in addition to attending a birthday party and a funeral), and they too are deeply sorrowed by the close of the season. One reoccuring theme of this year was trees. I got to know some real close trees this year (see picture above, and notice the position of my two skis and my person. There was no acting involved). I got blood on my face and three rips on my coat sleeve due to some unintentional abutments between wood and David. I really learned what it means to be a tree hugger. This years season is survived by me; my parents; my mono-nucleosed brother with a large spleen; my two sisters; Robert Redford; my Sundance buddy Brad White; my Sundance Sisters Ada and Alicia; and my miniature-Lassie-look-alike dog Lucy. While Lucy didn't actually ski this season, she did offer great personal sacrifice to allow us to make full use of the season. Well Ski Season 2009, we will miss you dearly! Please feel free to offer your condolences and send any flowers/baseball gloves/basketball shoes/cards to David Wallace Bennett.