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Utah's Mountains Provide an Escape to Black Friday

Michael Shea
Snowbird Ski Resort

In addition to family, turkey, and football, Thanksgiving has become synonymous with another activity, Black Friday. But the mayhem and stress often associated with the shopping holiday couldn’t seem further away then when up at one of Utah’s many ski resorts.

On a warm Friday afternoon the deck at Snowbird is packed with skiers and snowboarders. Rather than waiting in line for TVs and microwaves, visitors at the resort are standing to get on the Tram. Brian Brown is Communication Director for Snowbird. He says that if you are going to wait in line it should be for something fun.

"I would say you might as well be, if you’re going to be crammed in with wall to wall people you might as well be packed in tram instead of a big box store this weekend," he says.

Rick Carrell is from New York. He’s visiting his grandson who works at Snowbird. He says that coming to Utah for the holidays is easy and a lot less stressful than staying home.

"Yeah it's the best snow, and from New York it’s easy to get to," Carrell says. "I mean in the years I have been coming here I have gotten snowed out of the airport in New York and not been able to get home. Getting to Utah and getting to the mountains has never been a problem.

Natasha and Tyler Phiffer are newly-weds and Utah locals who are spending their first Thanksgiving holiday skiing.

"I can’t think of anything worse than shopping on Black Friday. So we are just out here not shopping. We would much rather be up here enjoying the outdoors and enjoying each-others company."

Locals and visitors alike can look forward to even more snow as the forecast predicts a storm will roll into Utah on Monday.

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