Guest Blogger from Park City Utah joins us today

M is for Moose

Moose is a linguistic foible. It can be used to describe one or many moose. The reason for this apparently is all down to the timing of the word’s introduction into the English language from a native American Algonquin language. Anyway, that’s a slight digression but this week I’ve been thinking about moose because for the first four days of our ski trip we saw a moose each day, on the same hillside just under an access chairlift called ‘Over and Out’. Moose are loners and this particular one seems to graze on a hill just above Canyons Village at Park City. They’re herbivores, and as we witnessed, love to nibble on scraggy shrubs. It seems like a tough existence. Anyway, having never seen a moose in its natural habitat before it was exciting to see (and only 20 metres away). Clearly others thought so too from the lost gloves and poles under the chairlift that have fallen as passengers scramble to find their phones and take a photo or two. There’s very little other wild life here – just a couple of birds and footprints from rabbits. So, it’s goose/geese, mouse/mice and moose/moose. Not mooses or meese

Ostensibly, we’ve had fabulous conditions here at Canyons. On several days we’ve trekked over to Park City too. They’ve had a huge amount of snow this season and then another nice top up yesterday and overnight. The fields are huge and on a weekday it’s not unusual to have an entire slope to yourself. There’s a nice area here called The Colony where the rich and famous have their houses and it’s great skiing past them and having a nosey. Apparently the most recent one to sell sold for USD$42M. So, pricey but very much ski in, ski out.

Look at those big snow flakes Go David

Over-the-top is the only way to describe the cost of food on the mountain. On two occasions we’ve ended up buying lunch slope side and not only is it beige (and tepid), it’s really expensive. I guess the locals must love the selection or else they wouldn’t keep serving it up, but seriously, Tater Tops (at a mere USD$17) was about 30 small deep fried hash browns smothered in salsa. How can that be good for you?

PJ Guest Blogger at Canyons.

Skiing is great for talking to strangers. We’ve had some great conversations with fellow skiers on the chairlifts and gondolas. We’ve been asked which part of Australia we’re from but what is quite astounding is the number of Americans who are so up with the political situation in NZ and know that we have a new PM and that the former one locked us down. Some have been very outspoken about locking down the borders and have referred to Ardern’s regime as a dictatorship. Americans always seem amazed at how far we’ve travelled to ski and yet some of them also come from far afield. One guy told me today that it was a 26 hour drive from his home to the ski field (he flew this time).

Epic is a great adjective to describe Canyons and Park City. They brand themselves as the biggest playground in America which is pretty fitting. It’s our second trip here and we’ve not been disappointed. Like any ski field there’s always annoying aspects like the row of snowboarders blocking the pathway off the chair lift to the slopes as they exchange niceties or vaping tips. Epic is also the name of the season pass you can buy to ski here and several other fields. Sounds like a bargain compared with the prices we paid, though admittedly we only booked three weeks ago! One American veteran told us that his Epic pass was only $400. Nice.

Thanks PJ