If there’s one thing Park City Mountain Resort does well, it’s their off-mountain activities. You don’t need to be a skier to have a blast at Gorgoza Park (their tubing and snowmobiling hill) and PCMR’s base area.
We’re longtime fans of the alpine coaster and we were excited about a new addition this year: the Golden Eagle Zip Line.
Well, all of us except for Hadley who has had a pretty severe aversion to zip lines after doing the KEEN Adventure Race in Vail last summer.
We started out on the alpine coaster. Last year, I blogged about my frustration about being caught behind a slowpoke. Jamie was the one who unleashed on the perpetrator.
This year, it was my turn to go after a woman who not only slowed down but completely stopped every few feet on the tracks (which is not allowed). It took her 20 minutes to get down a run that should have taken a minute, completely shutting down the entire alpine coaster and leaving us stranded at the top. Her actions were not only frustrating but extremely dangerous as Jamie and Bode could have rammed into her going 30 mph.
Lesson learned: you don’t want to mess with us as it pertains to the alpine coaster.
Do you know someone else you don’t want to mess with? Jamie’s mom. She teamed up with Hadley to careen down the alpine slide full-throttle without braking even once.
She probably lived in fear Jamie and I would go off on her if she did otherwise.
But then she and Hadley took the first run on the Flying Eagle Zip Line. As far as zip lines go, this one is pretty tame (as opposed to the world’s steepest I did last summer). However, it’s a perfect introduction for kids and is more like a really fast chairlift with some thrills along the way.
I don’t know too many grandmas who would willingly do something like this but it’s a memory Hadley will always cherish.
The boys had a swell time, too.
Tip: cover your ears like Bode did because the noise at the end is almost deafening.
Or maybe it was just the sound of three Johnson girls screaming with glee.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 