Road Trip ! No Sunglasses

[Bad Wolf]

Today should have been fantastic; skiing one of the biggest, most popular ski resorts in the US, riding the tram, after a week of snow, on a beautiful sunny day, but it wasn't.

The best part of the day was the view;



Snowbird has become one of those huge commercial resorts. Their main focus seems to be the hotels and condos. Everything there, from the restaurants to the shops, seem to be about squeezing every last penny out of you. They have a huge "Welcome Center" that makes you walk up three flights of stairs and pass by all their gift shops and real estate sales points. Couldn't even afford to buy a Snowbird sticker!

The terrain was a little disappointing for us. Almost all the intermediate runs are cat tracks cut into the walls of the basins; mostly 10 to 20 feet wide hairpin trails. They had been groomed, but were icy underneath when it was skied off. By lunch we were starting to slide out on the groomers and decided to call it a day. There is a lot of advanced terrain, but I think you need some local knowledge to take advantage of it. You could drop into the basins but then get cut off by cliffs or double black chutes unless you knew where to go. Probably a great place for advanced/experienced locals, but not visiting intermediates.

We hated Snowbird as much as we loved Brighton.

[sempai]

Today should have been fantastic; skiing one of the biggest, most popular ski resorts in the US, riding the tram, after a week of snow, on a beautiful sunny day, but it wasn't.

The best part of the day was the view;

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2772[/ATTACH]

Snowbird has become one of those huge commercial resorts. Their main focus seems to be the hotels and condos. Everything there, from the restaurants to the shops, seem to be about squeezing every last penny out of you. Couldn't even afford to buy a Snowbird sticker!

Commercialism sucks! I'll take a smaller resort like Brian Head or Sunrise over a commercialized nightmare any day. It sounds like even though Alta and Snowbird are connected, they couldn't be more opposite. Yes?

[CAN]

We loved Solitude when we went there. We also skied Alta as we skied both of them two days each and missed Snowbird and Brighton. Hopefully you get one more good day up there before you meet up with us. Maybe back to Brighton or give Solitude a try. We are going to hit up Brian Head tomorrow and see what has opened up since last time here.

[Bad Wolf]

Commercialism sucks! I'll take a smaller resort like Brian Head or Sunrise over a commercialized nightmare any day. It sounds like even though Alta and Snowbird are connected, they couldn't be more opposite. Yes?

We loved Solitude when we went there. We also skied Alta as we skied both of them two days each and missed Snowbird and Brighton. Hopefully you get one more good day up there before you meet up with us. Maybe back to Brighton or give Solitude a try. We are going to hit up Brian Head tomorrow and see what has opened up since last time here.

Alta had a "Big Mountain" feel, but not the same money grab as Snowbird. I think the atmosphere was also very different because of the no snowboarders rule; I don't want to say better, just more relaxed. Brighton was a delightful, older resort with a "home town" feel to it. The terrain at Brighton is very different as well, lots of trails through the trees as opposed to the exposed basins of Snowbird. Our home resort in Arizona is Sunrise, it's run be the Apache Tribe, and has a great, no fuss, family friendly vibe. It's not a big mountain but has challenges for everyone. I wish we had spent the day at the smaller Solitude instead of Snowbird, maybe next trip.

Chad, we are going to drive down to Cedar City tomorrow, maybe through Bryce and Zion, then plan to ski Brian Head on Saturday, so save some snow for us. We are both a little bruised from today, so could use a day off. No more snow in the forecast, but there should be good coverage from the last storm.

[CAN]

Hey Paul,
Rest up. Bryce and Zion are great. We're excited to see you this Saturday. Come with your bindings off the boards and we'll put them On the 125's to start your day off. We're planning on being there around 9 AM to make sure we're by the giant steps lift. I may need you to PM me your phone number again so we can get ahold of each other Sat AM as I cleaned out my PM box and got rid of your number by mistake.
Chad

[sempai]

CAN, shoot some video please.

[Bad Wolf]

No skiing today, took the drive down from Salt lake to Brian Head, with a little hundred mile detour to Bryce Canyon.

It's not just a hole in the ground, there's a bridge too;



Looks like you could just jump the rail and ski right down to the bridge; it was steeeeep!

If we come back to Salt Lake, I don't think we would stay in downtown again. It looked good when we booked it, thinking we would be where the "action' was, but in reality there was nothing to do there. It was all office blocks, hotels and fancy stores and restaurants with no parking. We found ourselves driving to the suburbs every night to get dinner, go to the movies and shop.

We found a place called Sandy just south of Salt Lake that had everything we wanted; a mall, movie theater, IHOP, Applebees and a Sport Chalet. I know, we're easy to please. Plus it is hotel central and only ten minutes to the Cottonwood Canyons Park and Ride. Next time we'll know better.

Brain Head, here we come!

[Bad Wolf]

Had a great day at Brian Head Ski Resort in southern Utah. the whole mountain wasn't open, but all the blues were nicely groomed with some some blacks open too. CAN and his wife were our personal guides today, along with a trunk full of boards to try out. We got to experience several different boards including the Spruce 125 Rockered Prototypes. Now we have to spend the rest of the season knowing there is a better board out there that we can't have yet; no fair!



We can't thank CAN 1 & 2 enough for taking the chance to meet a couple of strangers and hang out with them for the day. It says a lot about the type of people skiboarding attracts; fun, generous, hospitable and friendly. Thanks guys.

Heading back to Arizona tomorrow through Zion, Lake Powell, the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Lets hope Flagstaff doesn't close the interstate again for 7 inches of snow. That's just a dusting in Salt Lake!

[CAN]

Had a great day at Brian Head Ski Resort in southern Utah. the whole mountain wasn't open, but all the blues were nicely groomed with some some blacks open too. CAN and his wife were our personal guides today, along with a trunk full of boards to try out. We got to experience several different boards including the Spruce 125 Rockered Prototypes. Now we have to spend the rest of the season knowing there is a better board out there that we can't have yet; no fair!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2775[/ATTACH]

We can't thank CAN 1 & 2 enough for taking the chance to meet a couple of strangers and hang out with them for the day. It says a lot about the type of people skiboarding attracts; fun, generous, hospitable and friendly. Thanks guys.

Heading back to Arizona tomorrow through Zion, Lake Powell, the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Lets hope Flagstaff doesn't close the interstate again for 7 inches of snow. That's just a dusting in Salt Lake!

Thank YOU for the fun day Bad Wolf! We had a great time with you guys. It's always fun to be with other skiboarders as well as great people. It was nice for once to be able to show others around as we're used to others showing is around. Have a safe drive home.
Jeff now there's more pressure than ever to make these . It was great to see both of their positive reactions instantaneously to the 125's. They joked about riding them straight to their car and driving away with them they loved them so much.
Anyone else interested in coming here were planning in being here until Jan. 5th and I hear we're getting snow ahead. Hopefully more of the mountain including our favorite runs will open soon.

[Bad Wolf]

We made it home to Arizona today from Brian Head. What an amazing drive. We went through Zion National Park, then across the high plains with their red cliffs to Glen Canyon and Lake Powell. Then around the north rim of the Grand Canyon, through Echo Cliffs, past the San Francisco Peaks and Sedona. As I drove the wife Googled the geographic history of each area. Nature at it's finest draw dropping beauty and splendor.



Home safely, in time for the holidays, no broken bones. Road trip over.

[Bad Wolf]

For those of you who may be interested in the budget for a trip like this, here is the breakdown;

As a note, we mainly used Liftopia for the tickets and Hotels.com for the accommodations. We didn't include the cost of food as we pigged out on the free hotel breakfast every day and you have to eat anyway, vacation or not.

Maricopa to Salt Lake City via Las Vegas, then returning through Brian Head and Flagstaff.

Total 10 days from home; 4 days driving, 5 days skiing with one day off in the middle.

Total round trip mileage; 2053 miles

Total cost of gas; $298, (price per gallon from $2.80 to $3.40)

Total cost for 9 nights of lodging; $639 (averages $71 per night for two people)

Total cost in lift tickets for two people for 5 days $527 ( averages $53 per person per day)

Random charges for the Ski Bus and National Park entry fees; $90

Total cost for 2 for 5 days of skiing $1554

An epic road trip to Salt Lake for five days without the kids;

PRICELESS !!!!!