Slip Slidin' Away! Gorgoza Park!

 

 One of the fun things we did while staying in Park City was visit Gorgoza Park.  For those who haven't been to Gorgoza Park, it's a sledding hill that takes out all the worst parts of sledding and then adds one more.  Gorgoza Park is not cheap.  We paid $100 for our family of 4 for 2 hours just for access to the hill and luckily somebody who was leaving prematurely gave us a pass for free that would allow Leah to take a dozen laps or so around on the kids' snowmobile track. 

 

Instead of calling it a sledding hill, it is purely a tubing hill.  There are no sleds allowed on the hill, but they provide snow tubes for everybody.  Rather than taking that exhausting hike up the hill through deep snow, pushing through exhaustion and fighting of a heart attack, you pull your tube behind you, step onto a conveyor belt that takes you to mid-mountain where anybody regardless of size can ride the tubes down the hill.  There are 4 different channels or lanes for you to choose from, but they are all pretty much the same, rolling paths over knolls as you descend towards basecamp.  You can go by yourself on your own tube or you can link as many as 8 tubes and enjoy the ride together.

 

If more speed is what you're after..."Yes Please"...then you want to go to the top of the mountain.  At mid-mountain you can get in the line that takes you there, however this line is for those who are 48" or taller only.  :(  I don't know why, it isn't THAT fast.  To get to the top of the mountain, you clip your tubes leash to a tow rope, sit down and are dragged up the hill to the top.  Then you can venture down the longer and steeper and thus faster channels all the way to the bottom where you can do it again. 

 

This brings me to the one added negative...there are too many people.  $100 equaled 3-4 rides for each of us in our family after waiting in line mid-mountain.  The line at the bottom was insignificant, but once you reached mid-mountain, you either waited in line to ride the shorter hill or you waited in line to be towed to the top.  In fairness, we did go the day after Thanksgiving so it is very possible that we went on a day when all the local schools were out for break.  Perhaps it's better to go when they are all getting some book learnin'.  At very least, go when it isn't snowing.  The snow makes for a romantic, Rockwell-esque experience, but the bottom line is that fresh powder equals slower tracks.  It's a bummer when you're feeling the need...the need, for speed!!

 

After our 2 hours were up (seemingly way too fast), we took Dax to the kid section and let Leah use up her free snowmobile passes.  Dax loved the horsetrotter ride.  They clipped the leashes of several snowtubes onto a horse exerciser and then the kids would sit on the tubes and be dragged in a circle.  Dax never wanted to leave!  He was there forever.  At one point I came to relieve Sarah from watching him go in circles and then several other parents brought their children.  As their children got on after Dax and off before Dax they asked, "He likes that thing.  How long has he been on there?"  I didn't know because he was there before me, so I asked the employee who was overseeing the ride.  Her response was, "I don't know either.  He was here when I came on for the shift change!"  HAHA!  Dax loved it.  He laid back and caught snowflakes on his tongue for possibly as long as an hour. 

 

Leah was a natural on the snowmobiles.  She raced the other racers aggressively, leaning in when she needed too, cutting on the inside when the opportunity presented itself and never bumping anybody in the process.  I think we may have found a future Skidooing champion!  It was fun to watch her.  Her cousin, Grace enjoyed it too though I think the sleds were a bit bigger for her to handle.  She's stronger than Leah, but doesn't have the length and leverage that Leah and her long arms and legs have.  They had fun and it was fun for us to watch them.  Not so fun for Jane, Dax and Lucas though.  They wanted to be out there too.

 

When it was time to go home, we were all tired.  Perhaps 2 hours was the perfect amount of time.  I just wish we could have had more runs down the hill and that it wasn't snowing while we were there.  Then it would have been perfect.  It was pretty darn okay nonetheless and it was a fun family activity for us and Scotty's family.  I highly encourage it if you visit Park City.

 

Dax getting ready to get his tube on!

Dax being lazy and making others tow him everywhere. 

Leah, Aunt Cynthia, Jane (in tube) and me heading towards the hill.

My snow beauty.

Chillin' while waiting to take our first run down the family hill.

A family that tubes together, stays together!  And freezes together.

Catching snowflakes.

Leah, my snow princess.

I'm not sure, but I think that is me, Leah and Dax coming down the hill.  I can't tell.

Yes.  Me, Leah and Dax.

Cynthia and Jane ready to set the new downhill tubing record.

Look at this picture and tell me I'm not blessed.  I dare you!

Sarah took this picture looking up the hill at Leah in her tube in front of me in my tube, going up the hill to the tall runs.

Sarah riding the tow rope up the hill backwards.



Sarah with Leah in the background.

Gettin' Psyched to take the long ride down!

Me, Sarah, Leah and grace cruisin'!

Dax on the horse exerciser.  This kid cracks me up.  He makes me smile and bite my lip every day.

Leah ready to roll....er...uh...track!

Is that Leah passing on the outside.

Grace giving the beast all she's got!

Grace trying to pass on the inside.

I don't know what that helmet was going to do to protect her.  More than anything it was a parachute slowing her down.

I'm not sure she can smile any bigger.  She loved those sleds.

 

Pooped and tuckered out.  Ready to go back to the condo and rest.

 

He ain't waiting to get to the condo.  He was out immediately.