There are several reasons that I sometimes post outdoor pictures here. First, I like pretty things and hope that other people do as well. Second, it seems reasonable to break up an otherwise monotonous flow of picture-free text about undefined behavior and compiler bugs. Third, I’m not above doing a bit of not-subtle PR work for Utah, which has an image problem. Generally speaking I don’t care (in fact, the porcupine effect benefits all of us who live here) but it rubs me the wrong way when we have a hard time recruiting grad students and faculty. Think about it folks: if you live here you can hike or ski in mountains like this every single day before or after work. Utah CS will be recruiting faculty (and, of course, grad students) this year. Everyone has to make their own work/life tradeoff, but for a lot of us who live here these mountains and deserts make a big difference in quality of life.
These pictures are from a not-quite-successful climb of White Baldy, considered to be one of the hardest 11,000 foot (3350 m) peaks in the Wasatch. Unsuccessful since I chickened out just under the summit due to scary scrambling. I probably would have been fine with it if I hadn’t been hiking alone and if I were in a bit better shape.
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5 responses to “Utah Eye Candy”
True story: Utah CS flew me out to SLC for a long weekend the winter of my senior year of college. They told me to bring my skis. On the van ride up to Snowbird, one of the grad students apologized, “Conditions aren’t going to be so great, it hasn’t snowed in like three days.” I ended up declining Utah’s offer, but it was a tough decision…
Hi Matt, yeah, the snow-snobs here are pretty hilarious. Remind me of when I was a kid we lived not far from a watermelon farming area and people would cut one open, eat just the very center, and throw the rest away.
Everyone thinks Colorado for skiing, but if you fly into Denver, it’s still a 2-4 hour drive to get to the ski areas. You can fly in to SLC and be on the slopes within 45 minutes. You definitely have 12 months every year of fun things outside in Utah. If you’re not a skiier, you still have a solid 9 months of the outdoor pursuits.
Hi Ben, exactly, my brother lived in the Denver area for several years and found that getting into the mountains on weekends was complicated by the fact that about 50,000 other people had the same idea. He lives in Anchorage now and things are much better!
Ten years after leaving Utah and two cities later, Salt Lake City remains in our top three places to live. On any day, you have access to water, mountain or dessert activities and the university community remains a great one. You’re right, John, it is so tempting to keep it a lesser known secret.