The 2009 PSIA National Academy is now over. 
It’s the kind of event you look forward to all year with eager anticipation for the time you touch down in Salt Lake City and the shuttle drops you off at the Cliff Lodge. You are there with the top skiers and ski teachers in the US and sometimes from around the world.
Day 5 of the 2009 PSIA National Academy ended with the final banquet and then a few (to many) drinks at Aerie restaurant & lounge on the 10th floor of the Cliff lodge. Today is was a little rough getting up in the morning. Bruno, my roomate from West Virginia was out the door to catch a flight at 4am and after getting up at 7am or so for the last 5 days, enjoyed getting a little more sleep. Sapporo, tequila shots and Polygamy Porter can combine in such a way as to make the body crave a little more sleep.
A new roomate, Harley moved in as we decided it would be a good way to save a few bucks by spliting the cost of the room. By about noon I was out on the slopes and feeling a little sluggish from the previos nights’ festivities and simply skiing my @ss off the previous 6 days.
I took a few runs in Mineral Basin, tried out the bumps on slopes serviced by the Wilbere chair, had some pizza and a drink at one of the places under the Snowbird tram and called it a day at about 4:00. The snow was really heavy, wet and sticky all over the mountain. This usually makes for great spring bumps. The bumps were ok but the snow was so heavy and thick it took a lot of work to ski the bumps and wade through all the heavy stuff.
After skiing, the happy hour special at the Wildflower Lounge at the Iron Blossom lodge hit the spot. The pizza of the day was pesto with mushrooms and sausage & was delicious. To round out the happy hour dinner a dozen wings were added to the order. A real diner with tax and tip for $15.00 at a ski resort is a great deal and it hit the spot tonight! Following dinner there was time to write but no energy to go out and do anything else. Even with intense daily exercise, 7 straight days of hard skiing in high altitude, low oxygen air takes a toll after a while and leads to exhaustion.
As I write this, the sky is spitting some wet snow at the slopes so tomorow could be an amazing powder day, it could be solid ice everywhere or the same slushy kind of snow today was. In any case it had been another amazing experience at the 2009 PSIA National Academy and there is one more day of free skiing to go before returning to the daily grind of staring at a computer screen 8 hours a day. There has got to be a better way to do something I love and make money at it. If the economy claims my job, it’ll be a great chance to start thinking differently and go do something that does a better job of aligning interests and work.
