CAME TO PLAY, WORKED TO STAY Meet six transplants who turned turns in Utah’s powder into a career move.
BY MELISSA FIELDS
C’MON, ADMIT IT. You’ve sat on the Tram Deck at Snowbird with your buddies, sun on your face, cold beverage in your hand, trying to not think about it. You’re laughing your eyes out over Bill’s epic yard sale crash, but deep down you’re fi ghting off the inevitable. You are on a plane in the morning and then, on Monday, you are back to the grind. This grim reality forces you to take a long tug on your beer as you watch the ’Bird’s ski patrol blast onto the deck, rugged and relaxed with their too-tan and weathered smiling mugs laughing it up after a day, which is, for them, every day. If only you didn’t have to get on that plane. Well, here are six people who missed their fl ights.
A photos by CHRIS PEARSON
MATT BAYDALA AGE: 32 ARRIVED: 2006 THE JOB: Sushi Savant, Yuki Arashi, Main Street, Park City
Matt Baydala does a good job maintain- ing a chill demeanor when you fi rst meet him. But once the conversation turns to snow and skiing—with Baydala, it always does—his poker face quickly fades and is replaced by sheer stoke. “I love snow and winter and skiing. I think about all three, all the time,” Baydala says. Video foot- age of a Park City Halloween snowstorm broadcast on Outside Television gave the New York native his fi rst glimpse of Utah
in the early 2000s. He and a couple friends immediately booked fl ights and a room at Snowbird. More than a foot of snow fell their fi rst night in Utah and when they woke in the morning, interlodge was in effect. (During early-morning avalanche control work, Snowbird and Alta guests are required to stay indoors, a la interlodge.) “When I heard the avalanche control bombs going off that morning, I knew I had come to some place special,” he says.
Baydala moved to Park City a few years later where he manages Yuki Arashi sushi restaurant. “The best part of my job is giv- ing guests insider tips about Park City and skiing in Utah,” he says. And since 2010 Baydala’s been able to share his love for Utah snow with an even wider audience as
skiutah.com blogger Powderhound Matt. An apt moniker for a man who logged 110 days on skis last winter.
EMatt possibly skis more powder than anyone on the planet. See for yourself at
skiutah.com/matt WINTER 2013–14 SKI UTAH 73 WINTER 2013-14 SKI UTAH 2
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100