Ride Utah Blog

The best battle it out for their spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.

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.

TUNE IN:
WATCH THE BURTON US OPEN ON GO211.COM
MARCH 20 -22, 2009

Here’s some footage from the Intelligent Design contest at PCMR.  Music is by Salt Lake’s own Tolchock Trio.  Check them out on TolchockTrio.net.

Also, here is some much better footage prepared by Park City Television.

Here’s some video I shot last week.  More great snow in the Wasatch.

You might know that I’m a big fan of Powder Mountain and I love it when people figure out just how rad Pow Mow really is.  Looks like it didn’t take the Rossignol crew long to find Pow Mow’s gems.  Check out their great video.

Yesterday was another fabulous powder day in the Wasatch.  The snow was light and deep with 20 inches in 24 hours at our resort of choice.  Almost made me not go back into work.

Check out this great video from Justin Olsen at the Canyons featuring the “Respect” Terrain Park.

Upper and Lower Respect Terrain Parks at The Canyons Ski Resort are open! Local riders and Canyons team athletes talk about this years set up in the park, and what has been going on. Steve Duke and the park staff are building features designed to help you step it up. The challenge has been issued.. bring it.

Rising from the ashes of the World Superpipe Championships, Park City Mountain Resort is taking the contest to the next level this season. On March 7, 2009 witness the birth of Intelligent Design, a hybrid slopestyle / Superpipe contest. My sources tell me that the contest will consist of rails, jibs, and jumps in the upper section and leading into the superpipe for the lower section. Sounds like my usual night riding runs at Brighton. With this new format and layout the organizers are seeing a variety of pros showing interest in the contest, including Mark Frank Montoya, Travis Rice, and Shawn White. Of course a $50k prize purse helps too!

Here’s what the PCMR website says about the new contest:

PCMR: The Intelligent Design (n.)

1. a competition with a progressive approach to terrain park design
2. changes of the molecular elements in terrain park structure
3. a smart snowboarding course

The Intelligent Design at Park City Mountain Resort will combine all elements of competitive snowboarding including big air, half-pipe and jibbing in one course. The event will be located at the Pick ‘N Shovel Terrain Park and Eagle Superpipe, which will be transformed to host the new competition creation.

For more details on this contest go here: http://www.parkcitymountain.com/idpc/