Ride Utah Blog

On Saturday, I decided to kick off the season with a quality line.  Kristian and I headed up to Brighton with our objective being “The Seagull” on Tuscarora.  Tuscarora basically sits between Brighton and Alta in the backcountry kind of bridging Big and Little Cotttonwood Canyons.  The Seagull is a chute that runs from the peak down toward Brighton.  In the week prior to this adventure we’d had plenty of good snow in the mountains.  With warm temperatures in the forecast we knew that good conditions would not last.

Because of the Salt Lake City Marathon we got a later than hoped start on the hill.  Wet slides were a definite consideration with the rising temperatures.  But, with good cloud cover, things were kind of being held in check.  We rode up Millicent at Brighton and hiked up to the peak then rode to the saddle between Mt. Millicent and Mt. Wolverine.  Then we switched our splitboards to ski mode, traversing around the Mt. Wolverine bowl and up to the top of Tuscarora.  With no signs of natural wet avalanches and temperatures still hovering in what we felt to be the exceptable range, we converted back to board mode and dropped in. We were not disappointed.  The snow proved creamy and carvable.  I would describe conditions as being “Highly Rippable”.  Afterwards we crusied down to the Bikini Bash at Brighton for ice cold Natty Lights and babes in bikinis. Here are some photos from a great day.

Kristian switching to ski mode with Tuscarora in the background

Kristian kicks out his first turn

Pausing about halfway down while we let some sluffage pour down the hill.

Edge of the world.

Creamy turns.

Surfing the amber waves of mank. April 18, 2009

The last serious turns of 2008/2009 season.

Afterwards we hit up the Bikini Bash at Brighton.

It’s not easy getting up at 4:30 in the morning, but when there is powder to be shredded it’s a little easier.  And when you’ve been huffing and puffing up the mountain for an hour in the dark and you start to get your first glimpse of the powder coated mountains in the early light, you’re glad that you dragged your butt out of bed.

On this early morning tour we went up Flagstaff mountain in Little Cottonwood Canyon and traversed out Emma Ridge.  We just rode a little subridge back down to the road and then it was off to work.  I was on my Burton split and I was touring with my co-worker Chris Pearson and our friend Dave.

Is it really spring already? Somebody forgot to tell Utah. I’ve been riding powder for weeks straight. I rode the last 4 out of 5 days and I don’t think I touched a groomer for longer than 10 seconds. Check these newest videos for proof.

Snowbird:

Brighton:

Brighton #13 from spencer finlinson on Vimeo.

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In case you were wondering what it’s like living in Utah, it’s sort of like this:

Well, not really.

This is the best time of the year for night skiing.  It’s not even dark out until almost 8 o’clock now so that means plenty of time to get wicked before the lights even come on.

Last night we went to Brighton to get our shred on after work style.  It was awesome.  It was dumping out and it was still light so we went and hit up a little cliff in the Mary’s area.  We rode this thing until we tracked up the landing and then did a run through the Mary’s chutes before it got dark.  Then it was pow turns under the lifts with no crowds until they shut the lift down. What a night.

Andy Getting Awesome

Kristian getting sick after work style.