30 is the new 20 » utah

Day 7 Brighton, Utah

Chad — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:31:43 +0000

It’s the last day of riding so we headed back to Brighton. The snow there was so good on Day 3 and there was another storm coming bringing 4-6″. Early in the morning it started snowing and the conditions were getting better. Mekenzie and I decided to do some out of bounds riding on the Great Western Chair. I got a little carried away while doing some filming and missed the one track that went back to the mountain. When I noticed where I was it was too late so I had to keep going down and left. I finally ended up in someones back yard in waist deep snow. After digging myself out, hiking through their yard and finding the street I made my way back to the resort via the main road into the mountain. That was my adventure for the day.

We ended the day at Molly Greens, the local restaurant/bar on the mountain. We devoured their massive plate of nachos and had the post riding PBR.

This trip was incredibly fun, four different mountains, amazing snow and great friends. Can’t wait for the next trip.

Chili/Agrentina…

Day 6 Solitude, Utah

Chad — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:45:32 +0000

Solitude Resort is located in Big Cottonwood Canyon just before you get to Brighton. Honeycomb Canyon is the best area on the mountain with over 400 acres of trees, steeps, chutes and wide-open jaw-dropping views, this in-bounds off-piste experience is the answer to your dreams come true.

This is not a mountain catered to snowboarders though. The terrain park is very minimal but changes during the season. Unfortunately while we were there is was set for beginners with a short down rail, a fun box, a rainbow box and a kink rail. They were all short and easy if you have experience.

I’m glad we went there and saw what Solitude has to offer. I would recommend going there on a powder day and hit Honeycomb Canyon.

Oh yea, they are one of the few places I have been to that has automatic lift ticket checking via a body scanning system that detects your lift ticket in your left jacket pocket.

Visit http://www.skisolitude.com/winter/index.php for more info.

Day 5 Salt Lake, Utah

Chad — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:33:10 +0000

Last night we decided to head out with Anthony in Salt Lake City. I wasn’t feeling well so I was the driver, but everyone else got torn up. Needless to say there were a few hangovers in the house so it became a chill day.

Day 4 Snowbasin, Utah

Chad — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 02:30:53 +0000

Snowbasin is located about one hour North of Snowbird, Alta, Brighton and Solitude. It seems to be a skier mountain but there was tons of natural s-pipes to ride, great trees, and some good cliff areas to hike to. Once the skiers came out the groomers were turned to crap, but still quite fun because of the Utah snow.

Mekenzie and I decided to hike Strawberry Peak because it looked amazing. It’s accessible off the top of the Strawberry Express Gondola via a 5-10 minute hike. The drop in is steep but once you are on the face it’s a great powder run.

We also caught the second tram up Allen Peak and it was barely tracked. Once people saw it was open that was it, but there were only 7 people to go down before us so fresh tracks were had.

If you have never been to Snowbasin it’s worth the trip from Salt Lake or the Brighton, Solitude, Alta, Snowbirde area.

http://www.snowbasin.com

Day 3 Brighton, Utah

Chad — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:16:13 +0000

After the amazing day at Snowbird we decided to go to Brighton because it’s a great snowboarder mountain and there was going to be tons of fresh pow left from the day before. We headed out, got to Brighton and started on some of the best groomers I have ever been on. There were just buttery smooth and the snow couldn’t have been any better. Once we got some speed out of our system we ventured into the pow and found a perfect pillow drop cliff jump and some deep tree runs. Brighton is SICK!

For the second day in a row we lost John, but he always pops back up later. Luckily this time we found him just in time to eat his PBJ that we made him.

In the middle of the day we did some park runs where I did some rails and boxes. I couldn’t resist but the snow was so good that I just couldn’t waste to much time there.

We ended the day taking the Great Western chair and playing in the trees for a bit while the ski patrol recovered someone from the back country. Once they found him the back country access opened back up and we started the real adventure. After a 45 minute hike to 10,420 which is the name of one of their peaks we dropped in and just floated. It was simply amazing.

Brighton is a super sick mountain that is snowboard friendly, no lift lines, amazing back country, cheap tickets $50 from Canyon Sports), some of the best groomers ever and tons of fun tree runs. Definatly go to Brighton and take a pass on Park City. You will not be disappointed.

Tomorrow we are venturing to Snowbasin so stay tuned for the next post tomorrow.

http://www.brightonresort.com

Day 2 Snowbird, Utah

Chad — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:50:38 +0000

EPIC!!! That is the best way to describe Snowbird after a 24″ dump. We got to the mountain at 8:30 and were the second chair up Peruvian Express. That section of the mountain didn’t open the day before because they couldn’t keep up with the snowfall so needless to say it was perfect. Waist deep powder and above in some places all day long was super tiring but man was it worth it. Late in the day Mineral Basin opened which is on the back of the mountain and this was so sick I can’t even describe it. Cliff drops with 3+ feet of pow to land in made it perfect to just huck yourself off and see what happens.

If you ever find yourself in Utah and you get lucky to get a huge dump hit up Snowbird. If you don’t get it that day you have missed it because that place gets tracked out very quickly. We couldn’t have had a better day to go to the Bird.

http://www.snowbird.com

Utah Snowboarding Trip Day 1

Chad — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:39:58 +0000

This is the first post of my snowboarding trip to Utah with Mekenzie Cox, John Yamashita and Pat Caine. We left Richmond today knowing that when we arrived it would already be snowing. We weren’t disappointed. When we arrived the mountains had already gotten 18″ and were calling for another 2 to 3 feet by morning. So we just chilled and got ready for our early start for Day 2 at Snowbird.

There will be videos and pictures posted on my facebook profile in a bit

http://www.facebook.com.