The Western US Blog

Last season, we posted an interview with Bob Peters, which told the story of an Iowan who moved to Jackson Hole in the mid-1970s and witnessed that mountain’s transformation into a world-renown resort.

To kick off the new year, here’s another inspirational tale of a skier who found his promised land. Seven years ago, Marc Guido relocated from the northeast to Salt Lake City, where he routinely scores more powder days in one season than many of us get in a decade.

Lest you launch into a “some-guys-have-all-the-luck” rant, don’t think that he didn’t pay his dues. Before moving to the Wasatch Front, Guido developed the first full-service online skiing magazine while being based at several less advantageous locations, including Boston, Albany NY, and most improbably, eight long years on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

As a skier based in the New York City region with, for better or worse, a “real” job, a mortgage, and a family, my yearly ski totals over the past decade have remained pretty consistent. I always manage to ski 25-30 days per season, with two thirds of those days in the northeast and the other third out west or, on a few lucky occasions, in the Alps.

When I head west two or three times each winter, Salt Lake City receives a fair amount of my visits because it’s just too convenient to sidestep. Nonstop flights allow you to ski at least a half day on the arrival and departure days without breaking a sweat, and there are seven very good to great lift-served mountains within a 35-minute drive of its user-friendly airport.

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