One of our favorite family traditions involves climbing a flight of stairs. Not just any flight of stairs, mind you, but the stairs that lead to the Season Pass office just above the Lift Tickets windows at Snow Park.

Nobody—and I mean nobody is in a bad mood in the season pass office before the resort opens. The very fact of being here in November means we will be ready to ski the second the lifts are running on December 8. (Trust me, a couple of years ago, I delayed picking up my pass until opening weekend—and I had to work very hard to fight the case of the grumpies that came over me as I realized my ski day would be slightly truncated because I had to wait in a line to get my pass.).

This year, as always, we were greeted by friendly Deer Valley employees. Sue and Debbie made sure the entire family had perfect photos on our passes (and made appropriate oohing-and-ahhing noises over the cuteness of my kids’ grins. And, as a bonus, we got to share the tradition with some dear friends, who have made the leap from part-time residents to full-time Parkites. There may or may not have been some grumpy moments leading up to this one—and those moments may or may not have involved any of the five children in our two families. (Our kids don’t typically run around in full ski gear,  but we went ski clothes shopping before picking up our passes. In case the photo below had you confused. And probably contributed to their moods). But any minor mood issues were fast resolved by the cold hard plastic in our hands, signifying the imminent season.

Outside, the kids played with the snow, we took a few pictures, and reveled in the fun of the moment. Then, when my pal Jack and I could not help resist its siren call a moment longer, we turned to the trail map, to try to pre-select our first runs of the season. (And, by the way, I’m not telling…you’ll just have to find us out there…).

What’s your favorite pre-season tradition?