It was a day that started with groomers and glades, and ended with a couple of gimees on the greens.

On an early April morning, I found myself following a trio of locals off a chairlift at more than 10,000 feet near the entrance of a majestic and rugged bowl. They adroitly navigated a narrow track along a ridge and then expertly descended the steep pitch into Black Forest. In the silence, they made expert and picturesque lines in the snow, combining art and athleticism.

The held in any laughter they might have had as I made those ingrained turns, instead of letting the boards run like they want in the terrain called 370 Bowl by locals.

In the hip-deep snow, I toppled, fell, once, twice, three times—and survived, laughing along the way.

Such is the bigness found at Solitude.

Situated in Big Cottonwood Canyon—the canyon outside Salt Lake City often eclipsed by its neighbor Little Cottonwood Canyon home to Alta and Snowboard—Solitude is most indeed a skier’s mountain. Sans parks and pipes, there are great groomers and bountiful bowl and tree skiing opportunities beyond the charm of the Old World village at the mountain’s base.

Big Cottonwood Canyon, home to both Solitude and Brighton (the mountains have a trail connecting the two called Sol/Bright), is something of a local’s haven. With some 500 inches of snow annually for a season generally going from November to April, there’s lots of space to dial in your line in the 1,200 acres of pleasure, including the challenges of Honeycomb Canyon—a backcountry skiing experience within the resort’s boundaries—and the tantalizing glades of Black Forest and Headwall Forest.

Gotta have groomers? No problem. Among the manicured byways are adrenalin-inducers Challenger and Serenity. Black diamond Challenger is the steepest groomed run in the Wasatch Range, while blue square Serenity is an FIS giant slalom trail, both found off the popular Eagle Express chair.

Solitude, in the Wasatch National Forest, is low-key in attitude by high-spirited in altitude 10,035 feet off the Summit Chair and terrain.

In the days of corporate owners, Solitude is a mom-and-pop place where it’s not uncommon to see the owner skiing around the place stopping to shake hands with season pass holders and those from away.

The DeSeelhorst family has been a part of Solitude since the late 1970s.

“My parents are still here, my brother is here. We all work at the resort in the wintertime,” said Dave DeSeelhorst. “We can control the quality of the experience. We truly enjoy skiing the mountain and being here.”

Though the calendar says spring, the day is more like winter with cries of joy coming from the woods as skiers and riders plied through the newly-fallen snow. The weather dictates the conditions.

“Be prepared to ski almost anything and be opportunistic,” he said. “You can really vary your skiing based on the conditions here.”

It was exactly that that led to a post-lunch departure from Solitude to travel back down the rugged high-walled canyon of red and brown with its high, reaching pines and meandering creeks to a municipal golf course at the base of the range near the canyon’s entrance called Old Mill.

Trading rented skis and poles for rented golf clubs and chair lift for cart, a few of us opted to play the back nine on the hilly course that opened in 1998 with its water hazards, sand traps, and signs warning golfers about poison ivy and oak.

In the Salt Lake Valley where the edge of the mountains and high desert meet amongst the sage and oak, we played the first round of the year as the sun shined, a menacing storm on the horizon thankfully blew by us and spits of snow fell softly on fairways.

The sweet sounds of spring emerged as the dimpled balls eventually dropped into the tin cup with wondrous bobble, and the pings made by a solid drive preceded the short-lived arc of ball in flight.

Salt Lake’s Brandon Ott, a web site manager and multi-sport athlete, was taking his first swings of the season.

“Utah has a lot of incredible golf courses,” he said. “They’re fairly cheap. They’re affordable which is great. You can ski in the morning and golf in the afternoon.”

And that we did.

Images by Marty Basch