Ride Utah Blog

Solitude Mountain Resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon opened today, making it the first resort in Utah to bring the shred.  It’s only 2 runs on 2 different lifts with a 16 inch base, but hey, snowboarding is always better than not snowboarding. Get up there and start making some laps.

The 2008-09 Season was fantastic in Utah with over 600 inches of the Greatest Snow on Earth burying the state. Here at Ski Utah and Ride Utah we got more than our fair share of powder days. It’s already snowing here in Utah and we’re gearing up for another fantastic season. Subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on the latest storms, powder days, and good times. See you on the slopes!

Thanks to Wasatch Powderbird Guides, All of Utah’s 13 Ski and Snowboard Resorts, Burton, Rossignol, Eider, Dakine, Pictureline, and more. Music by Femi Kuti, The Black Keys, and The Sea and Cake.

When was the last time you practiced with your avalanche beacon?  Ever?  Knowing how to use your beacon with efficiency can mean the difference between life and death.  It never hurts to brush up on your skills when it could be your best friend’s life on the line. Wasatch Backcountry Rescue has setup beacon training facilities at Snowbird (near the heliport on the Alta Access Road), Solitude (in the lower parking lot), Snowbasin, and The Canyons (at the top of the gondola).

A group of Ski Utah staffers took some time out to do some searches at The Canyons and the results were somewhat humbling.  But, we all came out of there with a better handle on how to use our beacons.

For more information on how to actually use your avalanche beacon and conduct searches, please check out the Utah Avalanche Center: http://utahavalanchecenter.org/resources/beacontech. Next time your up on the hill, take a few minutes and stop at the beacon training course at your favorite resort. You’ll be glad you did.

With 30 inches in 2 days, we decided to take the morning off of work and get after it.  First we hit up Millicent at Brighton and then shot over to Solitude for a couple of runs “near” Summit.  Good times.

Today was the first day where I felt like you could let it rip a little bit without worrying what lurks beneath.  Here’s a quick video from another great day at Solitude.

On Sunday I was up at Solitude for the opening of the Powderhorn chair.  While conditions were still a little thin, there was some great snow out there.  Here’s a video with some of the action.

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.

So an old friend of mine, who used to live in Utah and was an instructor at Brighton for a while, was in town over the weekend and asked me to take him out into the backcountry to ride some pow. Well, it didn’t take a whole lot of arm twisting to get me on board and on Saturday morning we met up and headed out into the wilds. It was a gorgeous day with light winds and blue skies. Riding the lifts at Solitude it looked like there was plenty of great snow in bounds, but, we were looking for acres of untracked and when it hasn’t snowed in a couple of days there is only one place to get that. Out of Bounds.

First we went Evergreen, it’s a pretty easy hike and I wanted to see if Mike was still ripping after spending the last couple of years riding East Coast terrian parks. He sent the hike and we proceeded to a chute I know of called Brain Damage. The powder was good and Mike was holding his own on the steep and deep terrain back there.

After our quick trip down the backside of Evergreen I felt like Mike was ready to hang with the big boys, so we went up Fantasy Ridge. I didn’t want to freak Mike out too much, so, I didn’t really give him many details about the sketchier parts of the hike. Like the move where you have to grab a cable and a rock and hike up a 55 degree section with a rock strewn chute directly below you. In that particular section I showed Mike how to do it by going up first. He was about halfway up when he looked up at me and said “I don’t know about this” to which I replied “Well, you can’t go back down.” Anyway, he sacked up and pulled off the ascent in fine style. After about a two hour hike (normally it’s more like an hour, but, Mike isn’t used to the altitude and I was just having a great time enjoying the perfect weather and great views) we dropped into our first pitch, the East Bowl of Silverfork Canyon. The powder was perfect the sun was shining and we had a great run of about 1000 vertical feet of untracked snow. Then we did a short hike up to Flannegan’s Hill and found even more great powder on a shady aspect and a long run back to the quad a Solitude. Anyway, it was a great day hanging out with an old friend and riding perfect snow. Here are a couple more pictures.

Anway, I hope you make it out again soon Mike and we can ride some more. I took a little bit of video and I’ll try to post that up later.

There’s nothing like breaking in a new board on an epic day. It’s been dumping for a month straight here in Utah and the conditions are about as good as it gets right now. The holiday crowds are gone and the snow just keeps on falling. On Saturday, I pulled a new board out of the wrapper and took it for a few test runs at Solitude. Because of the deep powder conditions lately I’ve been riding my 158 Burton Malolo this whole month. But finally the temptation was too great and I pulled out the new Burton Custom X 160. Also, I tried out the new Idiom Speed Zone bindings for the first time too. On the first run I knew I was in love with this new setup. The Speed Zone bindings take some getting used to, but, I think once I get used to them, they’ll be super easy to get into.  The board ripped in the powder, and the few times I did hit the groomer it would turn on a dime.  I even landed a few spins and a couple of cliff drops on it.  The Custom X really is a go anywhere do anything board.

Here’s another video that was shot by Luke, our intrepid Ski Utah intern. (We’re trying to come up with a new job title for him. Email suggestions.)

Solitude opened on Friday and I went up with a couple of folks from work to make some turns. While the turns were far from epic, it was great to be out riding. And like I always say snowboarding is always better than not snowboarding. Solitude’s snow making crew has really done an incredible job, when you think that it has been 50 degrees up there during the day. The coverage on the runs is great and no base damage occurred.

So, while the riding isn’t the greatest, the golf this weekend was fantastic. I managed to get away from the wife and the child for a few hours on Sunday and squeezed in 18 holes at Bonneville. Mid 60’s in Salt Lake in early November is pretty nice regardless of the snowboarding situation.

The good news for all of you out there is that I’m going to be heading to Arizona for Thanksgiving and then I’ll be in LA for a trade show the week after that. This is good because whenever I leave town this time of year it always dumps. Last time I went to L.A. for this show I think it snowed 4 feet while I was out of town. Pray for snow! I’ll be praying for surf too, as I’m hoping to have a chance to paddle out at Huntington and catch a few while I’m near the ocean.