Park City: Skiing the Bunny Slopes

23 February 1984

There wasn’t any snowfall where I grew up, except perhaps in the high reaches of distant mountains.  There were no ski resorts nearby; therefore no opportunities to learn how to ski.

Shortly after we moved to Utah, one of the local TV stations in SLC ran a contest, offering a day of ski lessons at Snowbird.  Viewers were asked to send in a postcard with a few words explaining why they wanted to learn to ski.  I’m not one to enter such contests, but with Mui’s encouragement, I sent in an entry.  Surprise, surprise — I won!  My entry wasn’t a particularly brilliant essay.  I just wrote something along the lines of, “I’ve never had a chance to learn to ski before.”  I can only guess that they must have been short on entrants!

Long story short, I went up to Snowbird with a van-full of contest winners and spent the day on the slopes.  During the morning lesson, I spent more time trying to stay upright on my skis than I did actually skiing.  It was a different story in the afternoon — I was whizzing down the slopes over and over, not taking a single tumble.  The hot chili served during our lunch break must have been spiked with some magic skiing dust or something.

A few weeks later, Mui and I went to Park City, took a lesson together, and conquered the bunny slopes there.

A 52-mile (83-km) drive puts us on the slopes of Park City.

The mountains in Park City are crisscrossed with ski runs.

I never became an aficionado of skiing, but did accompany Mui on day-trips to nearby ski resorts.  A good book; a cup of hot cocoa; a lounge chair in the sun; and beautiful scenery … that became my idea of a good day on the slopes.