Dave's Not Here

Boarding in Utah (Trip Report Thingie)

by on Feb.01, 2010, under Dave's Rants

My last business trip to Utah, I did some creative flight arranging so that I would be able to hit the slopes the Saturday after the trip.  I spent all weekend deciding where to go, and ended up going to my first choice, Brighton.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

On Thursday, I heard a commercial about night skiing.  I have seen night lift tickets on price charts before, but I had never considered it before.  I looked it up, and it was $32 to go night boarding at Brighton.  I googled a bit, and there didn’t seem to be any basic skill requirement for night boarding.  So, I decided to go.  I looked at the resorts in the area, and Brighton was the closest one that had night time boarding, so I went on Friday night.

When I got there, I learned that there was some two-for-one deal going on, so, I ended up getting a lift ticket for $16 by buddying up to some locals.  (Score!)  I started out on the beginner slope to warm up.  It was SOOOO flat.  It wasn’t a typical green, it was the green where people first learn to ski / board, so, bad choice on my part.  (But, it was a bit nostalgic.  My second time snowboarding was on that Brighton lift.  And, I managed to bust really hard.  Now I wonder how I got moving fast enough to bust on that flat slope 🙂

After my slow run, I headed over to the Magestic lift.  It ran to the middle of the mountain, with green and blue trails all the way down.  It was still light out, and I loved the runs.  The blues were pretty steep, and really wide.  They reminded me of the blues on the California side of Heavenly.  As I was going down them, I kept seeing piles of powder.  The powder looked a few weeks old, but, it was still deep.  There was a bunch on the edge of Shoulder, if you cut the corner tight.  I started taking that instead of Shoulder.  The powder was not soft — it was more like ungroomed snow — very bumpy.  I loved hitting it, but, I did bust several times . . and, it was steep enough, that when I busted, I’d keep sliding . . . but it was still fun.  I never conquered it . . it was just too bumpy and too steep for me.

After I got around shoulder, I would usually head over to the left (facing downhill).  There were several places where you could cut across the powder onto another trail blow.  There were many busts, but it was all fun.  And, all soft.  It really did not hurt at all busting in that packed powder.

On my last lift of the night, I took Crest Express up.  I choose my path poorly, and ran into many flat spots.  Flats are REALLY hard on a snowboard.  If you don’t keep up enough speed to get past it, you have to unbuckle, and sasquach-drag-a-board all the way to the crest, so you can go downhill again.

I was stunned how many runs I got in from about 6:00 to 8:45.  I was about a normal half day of boarding.  I was wiped out!  And, the night part just made it fun.  There were dark shadows in some places where the terrain wasn’t easy to see . . . and it just added more fun.

Saturday, I slept in a bit, and got to the slopes around 9:30.  I went straight to Magestic, and starting having fun again.  I found about a 3′ jump.  (Meaning the ramp, at the high part, was about 3′ over the snow).  It looked like a perfect one for me.  I’m a little scared to actually jump with my legs, so, I needed a larger ramp so that my momentum would give me air.  And it did.  I launched.  And I did not land well.  I got scared by the air, and leaned back.  So, I landed looking like a slalom water skier trying to get up out of the water, with my board almost vertical. My second attempt was even worse.  I didn’t get lined up quite right, and made an adjustment while I was on the ramp.  Because of that I caught an edge, and fell from the top of the ramp.  The board caught, and pretty much slammed me into the snow.  Owie.  I decided to start playing on smaller ramps, and doing actual jumps with my legs 🙂

I had a nice lunch, and another couple of runs, and was getting tired.  So, I decided to buy a lesson to keep me on the slopes for another couple of hours.  The instructor pointed out that I wasn’t bending my knees nearly enough . . . so I have a lot to work on.  Rod a lot more of the blue trails up at the top of the mountain with her.  Finally, when the lesson was over, I boarded back down the mountain and went home.  Was a great trip.

And, now that I know about night boarding, I will get in MANY more!


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