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Ski Resort Day Trip

Mark D Larsen

January 20, 2026

One of the reasons I opted to buy our Ioniq 5 Limited was because of it had AWD —a feature both my LEAF and Deplorian swasticar lacked. Many years ago, when we had our AWD Subaru Outback, we would take it on roadtrips to visit Tamara’s family near Sacramento by driving on I-80 over the Sierra Nevada in the winter, which mandated having either AWD or at least chains. Now we can run that snowy gauntlet again! I also considered that the AWD would allow me to drive to the Brian Head ski resort 90 miles to the north of us to go snowboarding, a sport that I used to truly enjoy. Today I decided to do just that, and below is a narrative of the day trip and my attempt to again strap on my snowboard.

NOTE: You can click on the following photos to enlarge them and the movies to play them.

Knowing that we had a steep climb ahead of us, and in cold winter weather, I decided to charge Rocinante to 100%, which "guessed" we’d have a 372-mile range.

Thanks to Rocinante’s split rear seat, I could fold one side down and lay my snowboard on the flat surface next to Moxie’s doggy seat.

I still had plenty of room in the cargo area for my coat, pants, helmet, gloves, and boots.

I set the navigation to take us to Brian Head, and the map predicted that it would take 1 hour and 44 minutes to arrive there, with 33% left in the battery.

Here I explain the purpose of this day trip.

After climbing the canyon to Cedar City, we could see snow on the peaks of the Wasatch Range in the distance.

After exiting the I-15 freeway and driving through the city of Parowan, we began our ascent to the ski resort.

As we got closer to our destination, we could see some jagged peaks, but also some bare forests ravaged by wildfires.

We made it to Brian Head! Tamara's family used to own a condominium at the resort, and… we wish they still had it!

We pulled into the parking lot for the Navajo Lodge, which was absolutely packed with cars. Luckily there were some handicap spaces available, so we could use Tamara's placard.

We thus ended up right in front of the main Navajo chairlift.

There were lots of skiers and snowboarders lining up to get on the chairlift.

We were glad that right next door was the Navajo Lodge, with restrooms, restaurants, rental shops, and a ski school.

We snapped this selfie before I headed up the slopes.

Tamara and Moxie just waited in the car while I tried my luck on the board.

I bought my pass, and was shocked at the price. Apparently, unless you purchase a ticket at least a day in advance online, you have to pay twice that amount at the window. Grrrrrr.

I decided to take the two-seat chairlift for the "bunny slopes," since I anticipated that I would be pretty rusty on the snowboard.

I was right! Here I am looking down a bunny slope, having slipped and fallen on my arse. I hardly got in any decent runs down the mountain, and found that it was practically impossible for me to get back up after falling! I was humbled —actually humiliated— to find that I was now too weak, too unsteady, too old, too fat to handle a sport that I had once mastered with aplomb.

Conceding defeat for the day, I returned to the car where Tamara was discovering that the cell phone reception at the lodge worked well —unlike me on the snowboard.

We decided to head home, and passed more rough peaks on the canyon walls.

We could see some red rock formations as we dropped down farther.

I took this brief video for two reasons. First, I noticed that our battery heater had turned on, maybe because of the cold, but more likely because the navigation directions wanted us to recharge in Cedar City —which we ignored. I also noticed that both the front and rear motors were engaging regenerative braking on the descent. I'd never seen that before unless using i-Pedal, which is usually disabled using cruise control —which we had already set to keep us at 45 mph! Was the car purposely trying to give us more range? Or did it assume that this road was steep enough that AWD was warranted? Dunno.

Here I report with chagrin how my snowboarding experiment turned out. Tsk.

We passed the mountains by Kolob Canyons and they looked clear enough that perhaps the road to the top was open.

St. George came into view as we dropped lower in elevation.

We caught a glimpse of the plateau that leads to Zion National Park.

We also spotted the sand dunes near Sand Hollow reservoir.

After exiting the freeway, I noted that we had 36 miles (12%) left in the battery

With a half mile to go, we only had 10% left.

Sure enough, just a couple of blocks from home Rocinante displayed a "low battery" warning.

We pulled into the driveway with only 30 miles remaining. Time to plug in!

We had only driven 181 miles on this day trip, which is significantly less that what the 100% charge predicted that morning. It really goes to show how cold winter weather, climate control, and climbing steep elevation changes can affect range —even with regenerative braking. Well… I learned a lot from this experiment. I see that I have two choices now: I can try to exercise, get in better shape, lose some weight, and attempt to snowboard again, or I can throw in the towel and give in to being a very… “senior citizen.”

Knowing that we had a steep climb ahead of us, and in cold winter weather, I decided to charge Rocinante to 100%, which "guessed" we’d have a 372-mile range.	Thanks to Rocinante’s split rear seat, I could fold one side down and lay my snowboard on the flat surface next to Moxie’s doggy seat.
I still had plenty of room in the cargo area for my coat, pants, helmet, gloves, and boots.	I set the navigation to take us to Brian Head, and the map predicted that it would take 1 hour and 44 minutes to arrive there, with 33% left in the battery.
Here I explain the purpose of this day trip.
After climbing the canyon to Cedar City, we could see snow on the peaks of the Wasatch Range in the distance.	After exiting the I-15 freeway and driving through the city of Parowan, we began our ascent to the ski resort.
As we got closer to our destination, we could see some jagged peaks, but also some bare forests ravaged by wildfires.	We made it to Brian Head! Tamara's family used to own a condominium at the resort, and… we wish they still had it!
We pulled into the parking lot for the Navajo Lodge, which was absolutely packed with cars. Luckily there were some handicap spaces available, so we could use Tamara's placard.	We thus ended up right in front of the main Navajo chairlift.
There were lots of skiers and snowboarders lining up to get on the chairlift.	We were glad that right next door was the Navajo Lodge, with restrooms, restaurants, rental shops, and a ski school.
We snapped this selfie before I headed up the slopes.	Tamara and Moxie just waited in the car while I tried my luck on the board.
I bought my pass, and was shocked at the price. Apparently, unless you purchase a ticket at least a day in advance online, you have to pay twice that amount at the window. Grrrrrr.	I decided to take the two-seat chairlift for the "bunny slopes," since I anticipated that I would be pretty rusty on the snowboard.
I was right! Here I am looking down a bunny slope, having slipped and fallen on my arse. I hardly got in any decent runs down the mountain, and found that it was practically impossible for me to get back up after falling! I was humbled —actually humiliated— to find that I was now too weak, too unsteady, too old, too fat to handle a sport that I had once mastered with aplomb.	Conceding defeat for the day, I returned to the car where Tamara was discovering that the cell phone reception at the lodge worked well —unlike me on the snowboard.
We decided to head home, and passed more rough peaks on the canyon walls.	We could see some red rock formations as we dropped down farther.
I took this brief video for two reasons. First, I noticed that our battery heater had turned on, maybe because of the cold, but more likely because the navigation directions wanted us to recharge in Cedar City —which we ignored. I also noticed that both the front and rear motors were engaging regenerative braking on the descent. I'd never seen that before unless using i-Pedal, which is usually disabled using cruise control —which we had already set to keep us at 45 mph! Was the car purposely trying to give us more range? Or did it assume that this road was steep enough that AWD was warranted? Dunno.
Here I report with chagrin how my snowboarding experiment turned out. Tsk.
We passed the mountains by Kolob Canyons and they looked clear enough that perhaps the road to the top was open.	St. George came into view as we dropped lower in elevation.
We caught a glimpse of the plateau that leads to Zion National Park.	We also spotted the sand dunes near Sand Hollow reservoir.
After exiting the freeway, I noted that we had 36 miles (12%) left in the battery	With a half mile to go, we only had 10% left.
Sure enough, just a couple of blocks from home Rocinante displayed a "low battery" warning.	We pulled into the driveway with only 30 miles remaining. Time to plug in!