“This is my first Season Pass at The Bird in 20 years!” I tell the woman taking my picture at the Ticket Office.

“Well, where have you been?” she asks with a huge welcoming smile.

Where indeed? If you can swing it, why wouldn’t everyone have a Season Pass at Snowbird every year?  

It might be convenient to say it was due to lack of money, having kids or a career that took me away, heck, even an injury—you know, the usual. But in my case, it’s more nuanced than that.

The saga of why I stopped having a pass and, more importantly, why I’m back now begins in 1985 when I first moved from New Hampshire to Utah. Yes, I know that was long before most current Snowbird skiers were born.

It’s rumored that the best skiers come from the east because we learned on hardpacked. I say it’s more because if you still love skiing after 17 years of rattling through blue-ice moguls, you really, really love it. For east coasters, at some point, big mountains out west must be confirmed to exist.  

Yet, why is Snowbird out of all Utah resorts? Everyone knows the answer. Snowbird has the most challenging terrain. My route to a Season Pass at The Bird started with a job as a cashier at General Gritts in 1985.

These were what I call my “whatever it takes” years. You know the drill, if I was awake, I was either in school, working at Gritts or skiing many glorious days a year.

There was a problem: powder. My shifts as a cashier often fell during the ski day, so I got fired. Not for skipping work. Instead, I was openly crying in front of the guests every powder day because I wasn’t out there making turns.

Yes, there is crying in skiing. And yes, I did get fired for it. Usually, when you get fired from any company, it’s game over, and you don’t get rehired. However, at The Bird, HR finds you a night job. In my case, I served evening banquets at the newly built Cliff Lodge. I spent the next 3 glorious years skiing all the time, no matter the conditions. Then, I was waiting tables at night, barely able to walk because I was so sore.

After this period of working at Snowbird, life, love and opportunities brought me elsewhere. I was always too far from Snowbird for years, but that changes now.

Some may ask, is it boring to ski at the same resort? Nope, I say, because it’s The Bird. Then, there’s all the new shiny things. Free parking! Which I understand is now a rarity. Plus, passholders get one free ticket at Brighton, Deer Valley and Alta, restaurant discounts and a free night’s stay at The Cliff Lodge. Season Passholders are eligible for the Kids Freeloader Pass, enabling any dependent under 18 to ski for free.  Plus, there’s summer activity passes. To top it off, I went to a passholder party at The Atrium and even scored food, a t-shirt, a mug and a raffle ticket for I don’t even know what, but surely, I’ll win. We skiers do like free stuff.

So yeah, I’m back—wearing the t-shirt, drinking from the mug.

I’m already making plans to buy a pass next year, too. The girl at the ticket counter laughs when I mention this. Yeah, she gets it. We catch our eyes and nod at each other in recognition. Because we’re skiers—see, Snowbird skiers—and not just people who ski. 

About the Author

Kristen Ulmer

Born and raised in Henniker, New Hampshire, Ulmer moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1985 to attend the University of Utah. In 1986, she began competing in mogul skiing and filming extreme ski movies, launching a professional ski career that lasted for almost two decades. Ulmer was a mogul skier on the U.S. Ski Team in 1991. Powder Magazine named her as one of the greatest professional female skiers of her time. She was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame in 2018. Alongside her ski career, Ulmer contributed writing to magazines such as Skiing, Ski, Powder, Maxim, Details and Outside. Ulmer coaches athletes in various sports disciplines and runs mindset-only ski camps in  Alta, Utah. She also works as a zen therapist and speaks about anxiety.