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Snowbird
Grill On The Hill
June 20-21, 2008
Snowbird, UT
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see a larger version
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When we got a chance to sign
up for the inaugural Grill on the Hill in Snowbird,
UT, we jumped at it. With a venue like Snowbird,
what more could you want?! Well, for starters, how about
beautiful sunny days topping out at 90 degrees, with the ski
runs still open -- we had the surreal experience of skiers
clomping in their boots past our cooksite, while we were
sweating and sunburned!
This was a small event, only 23 teams due to space
limitations, but a very tough field -- there was more than
one world champion in attendance, and teams came from as far
away as Kansas, Texas and Chicago. We were cooking next to
names we've only read about, and I was torn between being a
starry-eyed groupie and being terrified that we were going
to be roadkill. Oh, and have I mentioned that we've
never cooked at an altitude anywhere near 8,100 feet before?
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The cooksites were strung out
along a rushing snowmelt creek -- this was the view out the
back of our tent.
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We took the tram up the
mountain and as we looked back, instead of marveling at the
amazing scenery were were all "Hey! We can see our
tent!" like a couple of total rubes.
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At the top, a marker
indicated we were at 11,000 feet, and we took in the
vertiginous 360° view. This was a bit of what we saw.
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I would have loved to have gotten more snaps of the setup
and teams, but we had to buckle down and get to work. Now
since we were the new kids on
the block we were all the way down at the ass-end of the row
of teams, and I had to run entries a hundred yards UPHILL.
Which sucks bad enough on flat ground at sea level, so you
can only imagine how oxygen-deprived I was -- I'm pretty
sure that I was gawping like a landed trout trying to get
air.
I made a special effort to get food shots before they hit
the boxes:
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Oh, and that brisket? Yeah,
it took first. And we took fourth in ribs, fifth in
pork, fourth overall.
Remember all those world champions I was so worried about?
*buffs already-glossy nails on shirt, bats eyelashes*
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