Celebrate Alta's 70th anniversary with 'Deep Powder Snow'

February 19, 10:29 AMSalt Lake City Outdoor Recreation ExaminerJared Hargrave

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The ski season at Alta is more than half over and any 70th anniversary celebration at Utah's most famous resort has come and gone. But you can still get into the spirit not only by skiing at Alta, but also by reading about it. There are many ways to learn about the history of Alta, but one book in particular rises to the surface as a must-read for any Altaholic or powder-skiing junkie.

Deep Powder Snow: Forty Years of Ecstatic Skiing, Avalanches, and Earth Wisdom, by Dolores LaChapelle, transports the reader to Alta as it used to be, before it was covered with ski lifts, lodges, and groomed runs. This book is a love letter to Alta, and the legendary powder it provides.

LaChapelle tells a tale of skiing in deep powder while living at Alta when it first started being developed into a ski resort. She describes in detail her pursuit of “pure bliss” as she explores the Wasatch Mountains on skis, encounters an avalanche that crashes into her cabin and another that puts her in a body cast. She also tells of the myriad runs she skis at Alta, and the backcountry where she becomes, in essence, America's first female freeskier.

The book is more than a history lesson though. It also veers into philosophical territory as LaChapelle describes deep powder as snow that is “alive” and tells us that the only way to find “pure bliss” is to become one with nature and gravity. People try to distinguish themselves from the mountain and simply ski on it, but for Dolores LaChapelle, giving herself up to the mountain and “letting snow and gravity together” turn her skis, is the only way to ski true.

My favorite quote comes near the end of the book when LaChapelle writes:

“Powder skiing is not fun. It's life, fully lived, life lived in a blaze of reality.”

I don't think words more true have ever been written for those of us who have dedicated our lives to skiing powder.

Deep Powder Snow is much more than a history of Alta as seen through the eyes of a powder-skiing pioneer. It is also about personal philosophy and finding one's own spiritual path. For Dolores LaChapelle, that path leads to, and is, powder skiing. For many of us who live in Utah, the path leads to that same cold, deep, powder-filled place. So why not celebrate Alta, and take a few laps with this book. It will make you see Alta differently next time you are there, and it may also inspire you to ski powder with a deeper sense of purpose.