Real snow Our last day in Deer Valley has began with snow, the first of the fluffy stuff to fall in this part of Utah for a week. Just 6 of the 99 runs have been open (which is plenty for me) and 85% of the powder has been man-made, so the locals will have given a huge sigh of relief this morning when they drew their curtains. 300 inches of snow will fall here in the Wasatch mountains by the time the season ends though.

I'm resting my aching legs this morning and so am sat in the hotel, which could pass as a Swiss Alpine lodge, looking out onto deserted mountains being dusted by new snow. I do miss seeing the fresh snow drift to the ground and it is making me homesick for Chicago, but hey what gives, I'll be back in the 70 degree warmth of Bermuda tomorrow night.

The hotel has been very quiet despite the best efforts of the staff to talk it's occupancy rate up. Even the weekend's 'celebrity skifest' didn't appear to do much for trade. Just about scraping the 'b list' of celebrities were hairdresser Paul Mitchell, ER's Gloria Reuben and actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, but they were hardly being chased by autograph hunters. A non-discreet member of staff told me yesterday that the hotel has had a lot of cancellations. The plus side is that group ski lessons have been private ones and the queues for ski lifts non-existent.

I've really enjoyed my skiing this year, although I preferred Colorado's Beaver Creek in a number of ways. Whilst lying flat down in the snow the other day I did chuckle to myself. Why has it taken me into my early 40's to start learning how to ski, golf and play tennis? What an earth was I doing the last 20 years!  ¶ 09:55