Pictures: Skiing at The Canyons: Getting First Chair of the Season

 Tyler pulling out of The Canyons parking lot the night before opening day.

 Everyone sitting our next to The Orange Bubble Express

Warming up by the fire of a nearby hotel.

The Snowcat pushing snow around at night.

The Snowcat pushing snow around at night.

Waiting for the lift to open.

Getting free hot chocolate and food.

Getting free hot chocolate and food.

More waiting.

View ahead while sitting in the first chair of the season.

View behind while sitting in the first chair of the season.

View ahead.

Lake used for water for snowmakers.

Approaching the end of the lift.

Cody Wratten hiting an up box to car tap.

Drew Koons on a box.

Drew Koons buttering.

Drew Koons 270 off a butter box.

Drew Koons

Drew Koons

Tyler MacDonald.

We slept out for 11 1/2 hours from 9:30 pm to 9:00 am to get first chair. Originally I went up with Tyler MacDonald with the intent of sleeping in my Suburban. We had pillows, sleeping bags, blankets, even a small mattress. We also had a laptop, mini DVD player, food, all of our skiing clothes, 5 movies (including Lord of the Rings the Two Towers extended edition), and up above us sitting in the rooftop carrier, skis, poles, and a tarp. There was also a 7-11 nearby the parking lot to the Cabriolet, which we were parked in. We were set, but while I was relieving myself, the car lights came on and the guy doing the patrol saw us and decided to pay a visit. He told us we couldn't be in the lot from 1:00 am to 6:00 am. So we went to the 7-11 and to get some food. Completely coincidentally we saw our friends Toni Martino and Cody Wratten. They had a similar idea except Toni has a Hummer and a King-size mattress for them to sleep on. Anyways, we were no longer alone, just out of a place to sleep. By now it was approximately 1:30 so we decided to pay a visit to the bottom of the Cabriolet. Tyler and I had gone to check at 9:30 when we first arrived, and so far no one was there. This time we saw shadowy humanoid figures moving about. My spirits plummeted, we weren't going to be the first chair. The closer we got, and I still couldn't see much until we were about 3 feet from them. Then I started getting the feeling we knew these people. Then Tyler questions, "Julie, that you?", and we realize it was some other friends of ours, Julie Steppan and Bailey Cooper. Now there was 6 of us, and we all knew each other. It was going to be a sweet night until I noticed there was someone else sitting in a chair next to us. I asked him who he was and he said I didn't know him. Well, it was almost a party. Tyler, Toni, Cody and I went to get our ski clothes and skis together. We decided to join Julie and Bailey on their cold, long night. We didn't bring sleeping bags and we didn't steel comfy chairs with pillows on them, but Julie and Bailey had. We sat in our ski clothes on metal chairs, almost, but not quite, freezing our asses right off. The loner we didn't now ended up having some friends from Levi, two brothers. We didn't even know who they were but we ended up cracking a lot of jokes and having fun with them all night. At about 2:00 or 15 after, another kid from our school showed up, Carter Lee, a senior. We were all juniors except Julie and Cody who were sophomores. He had brought a fold up chair and a blanket so he was warmer than those of us on metal chairs, but not as comfortable as Julie and Bailey. One of the brothers from Levi had brought an electric stove and ingredients to make French Toast. We asked him if he knew how many G.N.A.R. point he got for that but he didn't even know what G.N.A.R. was! We explained it was a type of game (or way of life) you could play skiing, where the more your made of fool of yourself, and the more you all laughed, the more points you got. Time rolled on and we all started getting in worse attitudes, except Julie and Bailey. We were too cold to even walk to the car and get more clothes on. I shared how this was what hypothermia does to you. After 3 hours, with I don't even care to see how much more time we had to go, I took the trek to the car and got on my sweatshirt under my jacket. It was nice to see my car wasn't towed and I didn't have a ticket, for we had parked in a random lot a little higher up. When I got back I was noticeably warmer. Throughout the night we would go to the bathroom in the nearby hotel. At around 5 we decided taking turns sitting around the fire inside of it. While some others were off I lined their chairs up and tried to get a wink of sleep. It was cold but I was exhausted by then, and I managed fifteen minutes before I woke up feeling like an ice-cube. I explained that I needed to go in and warm up to the few people still out. I hobbled as fast as I could. Right when I got inside I felt better. I joined Carter, Julie, Tyler, Cody and Toni in cramming in next to the fire. Before my toes had defrosted we decided to go back and make sure people didn't snake our spot. Some other people had showed up throughout the night, including some snowboarders who were also sitting in the hotel. When we got out my body immediately busied itself with freezing again. The rest of the morning was cold but not unbearably so. I stole Carters blanket and got a bit warmer. At 6:00 am some lifties finally decided to show up. They told us the snowcat still need to groom the area we were sitting in, they had pushed it all down during the night from where the snow-blower spit it out. The lifty wrote down our names and informed us we could leave and let the snowcat work. We went in the hotel and spent the majority of the morning sitting there. Some of our friends needed to get their seasons passes still. We all went out by 8:00 and snagged some of the hot chocolate and M&M covered chocolate truffles they put our for us. Quite a few people had showed up. They all seemed to think it would be a 20 yard dash from the asphalt to the lift line. It was nice to know that our first chair was reserved on a little piece of paper in the lifty's pocket. It was a 4-person-chair. Tyler and I joined up to make for with Julie and Bailey. The 3 Levi guys where second and Carter joined them. Cody and Toni got third chair. We all waited with our skies on slowly moving up. When one kid skied a foot closer, the rest joined him. One of the Guys from Levi got out and attempted to shoot a sparkling cider bottle. He had some trouble and we all laughed while a guy filmed us. When we were getting doubtful the lifty called up Julie's group. Our hasty friends almost snaked us, but we managed to get around them and into our first chair position. We had a lot of cameras from Park City Television to The Canyons Media interviewing us. Tyler and Julie spoke. Julie was nice and enthusiastic Tyler stuttered a little. From getting hot chocolate to getting on first chair was 45 minutes. But we'd stayed up all night, we could wait another little bit. We cheered for the camera as we got on first chair. We cheered at mid-station as we glided by. Finally we got off and skied down first run. Our friends Drew Koons came up and skied with Julie, Tyler and I. The rest had either gone home already or gone separate ways. I'd broken my neck and couldn't ski hard, so I had my cameras so film and take pictures. The "terrain park" only had a couple jibs out so we weren't totally psyched but it was pretty fun. We were all so tired from staying up all night that we only made it to 10:30. I personally managed to keep my eyes open until 2:00 in the afternoon. Then passed out for 17 1/2 hours.