Utah trip - 3rd day

Last day of the trip. Went back to Snowbird as they had the best conditions of all the other Utah mountains.

Avalanche Area. Signs we never see here on the Ice Coast. Lots of other avalanche-related signs throughout the mountain and next to trails and such.

The sign pointing to the tunnel. There was so much snow, it had to be dug out. The tunnel goes through the mountain at Snowbird. You get off a lift and ride on a conveyor belt for about 10-15 minutes. It takes you over directly to the other side, Mineral Basin, without having to get to the top first. Took them two summers to complete. It’s neat and made it feel like Disneyland.

Looking back out at the tunnel after we got in.

Another shot of the tunnel. Cool huh

This is what you see from the other side…well, part of what you see.

Another shot from the other side…Damn skiers ruined the shot!!

This is what the end of the tunnel looked like

Tequila!! The little guy at that looked up my crotch as I snowboarded all over Utah!

We flew back home that evening on the redeye. Went straight to work for a 9am meeting. I miss Utah - I really do have to start going out west to board at least once a year. I miss Snowbird. I miss snowboarding. I miss winter.

Utah trip - 2nd day

In case it wasn’t clear, we arrived at Salt Lake City on a thursday. Then on friday we rode Brighton from morn till evening.

The 2nd whole day, Saturday, we rode Snowbird. Snowbird is huge and awesome!!

Picture of a banana I took while waiting. Banana was courtesy of the Embassy Suites, where our friends were staying. Thank you for the free breakfast and happy hours!

Just some of the mountains you can see around Salt Lake. They look huge, but they’re just the babies. The bigger mountains are behind them but you can’t see them in the pic. It’s the bigger mountains where the resorts are.

A pic of houses and mountains. This small pic size doesn’t do it justice.

Yes, to Snowbird we go!!

Spot the falling skier. Skiers! This one was falling for about 6 minutes, he just kept rolling down, down, down. It was a very steep mogul run.

We rode down all over that bowl. The stranger ruined the pic.

Hmmm, which line do I take?

Oops, which line do we take?

Tracks everywhere!!

Yeah, I really was there. See, those are my boots and board!

Another proof shot. This time with the hotel and lodges visible. Yeah, we were in a resort after all.

Snowbird was awesome!! All the locals were complaining about the conditions, but as an Ice (east) coast person it was excellent for me. It was slushy at the bottom, but freezing at the top. The snowdrift was really harsh. and all the runs at the bowls were great. It’s all white, no trees, go anywhere you want, so wide and spacious!! The runs were long and they actually took more time than the lift line and the lift ride. Actually, there were no lift lines! I love snowbird.

Saturday evening we went to Park City. It’s such a unpretentious town. The mountains (Park City) are small, all below the tree-line, they are uber-expensive, and they don’t get as much snow. If not for the Sundance Film Festival, there wouldn’t be much reason to go there….

Utah trip - 1st day

I took a lotta pix!

The night we arrived at Salt Lake City, we went out for drinks - but all the bars were closed already. It was late (1030pm or so). So we went for McDo take out. From inside the car, the 24-hour logo looks like a frownie - (a frowning smiley).

Waking up was nice. Looking out the window, this is what we could see. The hotel was nice too (The Hilton)

A skier friend in the woods. My first Utah double black diamond. It was great. Snow was thick and awesome, the trees were on excellent steep terrain. And yeah, I have a skier friend

One of the hundreds of pix I took of the view

Trees with snow!!

The Mormon Temple.

Brighton is a great mountain. Considering most of the mountains we have here, it’s difficult to believe that it is a smaller Utah mountain. It’s great though. Riding through the trees there was great - it was really steep and the powder was fresh and deep. We went on an excellent day, right after a storm! The views were amazing as well.

Utah is awesome!!

Me, AG, and some friends went to Utah for the weekend.  Will blog about this later, too many things going on.  

 It was an awesome trip, the best - - my snowboarding season ended with a blast!!