After so many years of living in Las Vegas I had almost forgotten what a lot of snow feels like.
And then Pokin got herself invited to some sort of Strategic ‘Board’ Meeting at Snowbird, Utah. It was a group of VCs and founders gathering in Snowbird resort for a few days of snowboarding and networking.
There were only 3 rules to the group.
- Be a telemark skiier
- Be a SASS business
- Be great at a bar
I’m king of the monoski and I’m always great company so I felt those were good enough qualifications to go. I have no idea how my bud Nicholas and Pokin were still invited.
Nonetheless we got into a car and made our way to Utah.
Growing up in the Whistler mountains I was used to snow. I don’t think I realized just how much more snow Snowbird gets. This was an epic snow season so there was something like 690″ of total snowfall and the snow base got to 180″. I think in metric so I have no idea what that means. But it sounds like a lot. I just looked up the Whistler snow season and it got 373″ Because of all the snow, the valley is really susceptible to avalanches. In fact the Wasatch Mountains where Snowbird is located is ranked top 5 for chances of avalanches, right up there with Annapurna and Everest. To combat that, ski patrol manually triggered avalanches all day long.
What’s a bear to do when it’s avalanching outside in some remote part of the mountain range away from skiiers?
Have some hot cocoa of course.
I did manage to get out a bit. While Pokin was at the Chickadee slope, my bud and I got on the chairlift and went down a few hills. It was fun. Except the parts where my bud wiped out. When we were tired of that we went snowshoeing.
And then it was back inside for more hot cocoa.
I miss this kind of life. We should do it more often.