This was the last but not least day of my trip to the first week of 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. I reserved "Olympic Experience Packages" online during the first day offered in autumn 2000. Thus I started with the infamous pairs figure skating finals, where Canadian and Russian skaters eventually shared the gold medal after voting irregularites were exposed. I also attended the men’s moguls, Bode Miller’s silver medal in the men’s downhill/slalom combined, women's snowboard racing and 2 hockey games.

February 16 was the was the last day of my Olympic week and also the Saturday of President's weekend with blue skies and good snow, though no real powder for a week. I had already skied nearly deserted slopes the previous Sunday and Thursday at Alta as Utah's traditional ski destination visitors were avoiding Utah during the Olypics due to feared lodging and traffic problems.

Thus I was not entirely surprised when I WALKED ON my first tram at 9:30 and got off my 4th at 10:45 to head for Mineral Basin. I did 6 runs back there as the February sun had softened the south facing terrain without it getting as sticky as during my usual March trips. I then ate lunch at Mid-Gad, also with no waiting. There was a modest crowd watching the Red Bull Huckfest (both skiers and boarders) in the terrain park at the bottom of the Gad Valley, but even there the chair waits were a minute or two.

The afternoon became gradually overcast with a light breeze on top. The entire front side of the mountain had packed powder conditions, and the bumps were noticeably smaller and fewer in number than normal due to lack of skier traffic. I even found a small stash of week-old powder off Tigertail. The only negatives for conditions were that the upper part of the Cirque Traverse had been wind-stripped, and the shadier bowls had flat light by mid-afternoon.

I have been skiing Snowbird regularly since 1981, so I utilized this rare opportunity to test endurance. I rode the last Peruvian chair at 4:30 and finished the day with 41,266 vertical feet. I have skied more vertical a few other times, but Snowbird vertical is not cheap in terms of effort. This was probably the most demanding workout I've had in lift served skiing. I recorded the run-by-run details below.