I spent a week on the beach in North Carolina at one of the East Coasts best surf spots, Cape Hatteras. I grew up surfing on the Outer Banks every summer and fall so it was a little like being home. I’m a older now, but, I don’t think I’ll ever get over the excitement of waking with the sun and hearing the waves grinding on the beach. The sight of glassy waves stacked to the horizon will always get me running for my board and a bar of wax. The water was warm and we had a good swell coming out of the north east the whole trip. Every morning I’d drive up to the light house in Buxton and paddle out. Most mornings the air temperature was about 75 at 8 am and the water temperature was 73. Fall is the best time of year to be an east coast surfer in the OBX. Warm water and consistent swell.
Quick shout out to the good folks at Natural Art Surf Shop. They hooked me up with a great board rental (all my boards back east have either been sold or destroyed by myself and my brothers) and they come out to Utah every winter to shred. If you’re on Hatteras Island and need surf related supplies, board rentals, and more stop in at Natural Art in Buxton. They’ll take good care of you.
Well now that I’ve got some surfing out of of my system, it’s time to focus on winter. I personally can’t wait for that first powder day. Getting up early, throwing the truck into 4wd and punching up Big Cottonwood for a day of blower snow, fun, adventure, and friends. I’ll trade the warm water for some icy cold face shots, bicep burning paddle outs for high altitude hikes. The seasons change, the stoke remains the same.
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.
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.
Today I went to the Intelligent Design contest at Park City Mountain Resort. I got bored of the standard half-pipe contest a while ago, so, when I heard about this combo contest I decided to go check it out. The Park City crew did a fantastic job of transforming the park for this one of a kind contest. Basically, the course started with a big air jump, into a gap jump to a hip, then a couple of rails that led into the superpipe, which was freshly adorned with some jibs on the deck and then finally at the base of the pipe there was a 25 foot quaterpipe. It was a lot of fun watching these guys mix it up and put together a real run. Here are a few pics and I’ll have a video together in the next couple days.
The Big Air Jump
Shaun White Spinning to win
The Gap to Hip
Guess who won?
1 Shaun White $20,000
2 Charles Reid 90.00 $10,000
3 Luke Mitrani $6,000
4 Gjermund Braaten $5,000
5 Wyatt Caldwell $3,000
6 Joe Eddy $2,000
7 Sage Kotsenburg $1,000
8 Tim Humphreys $1,000
9 Sebastien Toutant $1,000
10 Louie Vito $1,000
11 Jack Mitrani
12 Madison Ellsworth
13 Scotty Arnold
14 Alex Sherman
15 Nick Russell
16 Aaron Bittner
17 Derek Johnson
Here are some photos sent in by RideUtah’s buddy Brock Butterfield. Photos by Jake Lawlor. Thanks guys. Got a photo or video of you getting ill in Utah? Send it in. I’ll probably post it.
Brighton is getting ready to fire up the lifts this Wednesday. Don’t miss out on what is sure to be an epic opener. It’s snowing in the mountains AGAIN today. So get ready. I’ll update when I find out what lifts they are planning top open. Also, Solitude opens on Friday.
In other news, Pika’s of the world watch out. Ride Utah’s Josh Scheurman wants to be your friend.
Last night and this morning the snow was hammering down here in Utah. I’ve heard up to 32 inches fell at Brighton. Sounds like it might be time to take that rock board out and make some turns. More snow for today and looks like another storm rolling through on Sunday – Monday. Also, Solitude is scheduled to open in 8 days!
Check out these pictures that Dave March at the Canyons just sent over.
It is currently dumping rain in Salt Lake and nuking in the mountains. Check out the Snow Cam at Snowbird, it’s already pushing over the one foot mark:
Snowbird Snow Cam
The current Cottonwood Canyons forecast is calling for 8 – 12 ” today and another 8 – 12″ tonight, with a 30% possiblilty of 13 – 16″ tonight. Even more snow is on the way tomorrow. At some point the rain in Salt Lake should be switching over to snow. Hopefully it will be dumping on me while I’m sitting in the Hot Tub tonight.
If we end up with 3 feet or more I might have to go make my first tracks of the season. I’ve got a little place that’s high altitude (so lots of snow), steep (for lots of speed), and grassy underneath (so I don’t have to worry about hurting my board or my butt on a rock). Here are some shots from this undisclosed location taken on October 21st of last year.
The snow gods aren’t smiling on us yet, but at least the temperatures are dropping enough to get some serious snowmaking done. Park City Mountain Resort opened today. Snowbasin, The Canyons, Brighton, and Wolf Mountain will all be opening on Saturday. This is great news, and from where I’m sitting in Phoenix right now, I’d rather be out riding chairlifts and ripping groomers. But, I guess I’ll have to settle for a round of golf with my father-in-law instead. Get out there and make some turns for me.
