July 4th, 2011. Day 56, and the last day of Snowbird’s longest, deepest season ever. We celebrated it with Matt and Liberty…and hundreds of other people.
We got word that Snowbird would open at 7:30 and made a vow to get there for the first tram. No such luck. We were hoping that 8:00 am would still beat the (hungover) 4th of July crowds. Wrong again. We drove by an already full parking lot at 7:55am. For some perspective, we have never had to park in an alternative parking lot due to crowds. The tram and ticket lines were already incredibly long, but we still managed to get up to the top by 8:30 to meet up with Matt. The vibe was great. I didn’t even mind all the whooping.
It was a pleasant 58 degrees at the top, which meant most people who planned to do dumb things like ride in bikinis had found alternative clothing. The snow pack had deteriorated significantly, and we had to walk across some rocks before making it down to Mineral Basin. Still, the clouds kept things soft and generally unsaturated.
We took a few laps on each chair, but the crowds were significant so progress was slow. Still, it felt great to be out there riding. We headed to the plaza for the pancake breakfast to find the line in a 1/8 of a mile circle around the patio. We opted for the Forklift instead, but ended up waiting even longer for our food. This put us in a pinch to get Liberty to the airport, but he somehow made it back to Seattle.
It’s always sad to feel the season end. But it’s also hard to be too melancholy when we caught opening day, closing day, and everything in between. Frankly, my knees need a rest. The season was filled with so many awesome moments, and it was everything we hoped our first season as locals would be. Plus, we’ll be boarding again in only 4 ½ months!
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