By SkiMum Paula

Oprah had the world on its feet at the Golden Globes.  The excitement on the morning news shows the following day was infectious.  Even my teenage daughter was howling in a voice an octave lower than her own, “You get a car! You get a car!” while devouring her pancakes.  She was a newborn when the giveaway aired in 2004, but still understands the magic and joy it inspired.  “That must have made the car maker famous,” she continued.  I cocked my head and smiled.  Like other childhood beliefs, I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Pontiac (awesome trivia/HQ question, by the way) went bust just a few years later.  Sometimes, the delight is more important than the detail.

What does this have to do with SkiMums?  Well, some would claim that many Wednesday mornings with fellow Mums feel like an episode of Oprah’s eponymous show.  Smart, active women sharing the slopes with other fascinating (and often, very funny) women.  It’s unclear whether it’s a girl power vibe, an adrenaline rush or the feeling of playing hooky, but Mums describe feeling electrified, inspired or just themselves on Wednesdays. “Ski therapy”?  Perhaps.  More likely, Mums are giving themselves a moment to recharge in order to charge ahead.

SkiMums also get FREE stuff.  Sadly, not cars.  The Bird, in particular, does this not because Mums are cheap (although we do love a great deal); it recognizes how important and influential we are.  Mums buy a lot of season passes, lessons, camps, ski team equipment, condos, spa packages, dinners and more.  We post pictures on social media influencing more people all over the world to discover the fun in our backyard.  When some suggested several years ago that Snowbird was too advanced and not as appealing to women, it started providing SkiMums group lessons to make sure we felt confident on the front and back of Hidden Peak.  Mountain School still sends its best women instructors each January to get intermediate-to-advanced SkiMums skiers — and, for the first time, snowboarders — to tackle different aspects of this unique terrain.  The Bird has also invited some daring Mums (read: pretty fast skiers on pretty dark runs) to ski Fresh Tracks, going up the Tram with Ski Patrol at 7:30am to do laps before the public opening.  In the summer, SkiMums have had the best deals on Snowbird’s All-Women Mountain Bike Camp which, we like to believe, they created because of clamoring by the Mums (“Teach us how to ride The Wasatch Crest and Big Mountain Trail!”).

This is what I know is true: SkiMums started as and remains a community, not a club, made up of incredible Wasatch Women who share a passion for the outdoors and want to share that feeling with others.  We laugh and cheer and, often, discover something new.  Such delight will get you much farther than any car.