It has become a January tradition over the last few years for us to spend a weekend at a condo near Powder Mountain Resort and hit those slopes with a group of friends. Last year a delicious but inconvenient storm turned our chosen weekend into a slippery and wonderful frolic. This year…the less said on the subject of snow quality the better. No new snow didn’t mean a no go for us though and we had a fantastic time despite this winter’s precipitation abnormalities.

Jason and I arrived one night earlier than our buddies with the purpose of trying out a resort in the area that we had never been to: Snowbasin. Jason was like a frenzied puppy awaiting a new chew toy; he was exuberant over the prospect of boarding some unexplored terrain. His anticipation was not unwarranted. Snowbasin, as it turns out, is pretty expansive, plush and awesome. While no fresh powder transcended our experience, the sun was shining and the air was unnaturally warm. With temps in the high thirties, the snow was more forgiving than expected and we had a very pleasant afternoon.

The next day, accompanied by Drew, Simone, Abigail and Adam who had all arrived the previous night, we set out on a snowshoeing adventure at Ogden Nordic, which is located at North Fork Park. (Snowboarding was ruled out as our outdoor activity of the day due to the apparent powder shortage.) No one in our group, with the exception of me and Jason, had ever tried snowshoeing before but, after some awkward acclimating, they all got the hang of it.

Although it was another uncharacteristically agreeable afternoon, half of our gang decided that they’d had enough exercise after about thirty minutes or so of trudging through the snow. Abigail, Jason and I, however, were far from ready to relinquish our sunny positions. We left the others and took a steep winding trail to a fantastic overlook. This viewpoint journey required more work than anticipated and over three miles of trekking but it was well worth it. The overlook was nestled in a nook of dense peaks and contrasting pines. It was quite lovely.

Apart from our frosty adventures, the bulk of our weekend was consumed by board games: Love Letters, Star Trek: Fleet Captains, Citadels and Poison. There was a lot of laughing, a little bickering, much strategizing and a bit of yelling involved in the playing of these games. Most of it was all in the name of fun…the rest was in the name of vengeance.

What a nice weekend. Sure, the snow was less than exceptional but the sun outshone itself and the indoor diversions were, well, quite diverting.