Westbound Boarder

Winter is finally and unofically over. I say finally, not because I am glad it is over, but because I got more riding in this season and saying it is finally over, tells what a wonderfully long season it was. For those of you who do not know, I moved to Salt Lake City (from Portland) last October. There were many reasons for the decision to pick Salt Lake, but 90% of the reason came down to the epic epicenter of snowboarding that Salt Lake City is; and the greatest snow on earth did not dissapoint. Snow records were beat across a number of Utah resorts this season which not only gave me some of the highest quality POW riding I have ever experienced, but also my longest season on record.

Another reason I concede to summer is the fact that Snowbird Ski resort finally closed for the 2010-11 winter season, making the end of the ski season official (in Utah, anyways). After operating a record 202 days (only beating the old record in the 2004-05 season by a single day) and smoking their previous snow fall record by nearly 100 inches of fresh! During the 1983-84 season 688 inches of snow fell, with 783 cumulative inches falling this season. To say they went out with a bang on the 4th of July this year would be an understatement. Also, Snowbasin (one of my favorite resorts in Utah) for the first time ever re-opened their lifts for weekend opps the last few weeks of June due to a high summer snow base.

To say the least, I was definitely spoiled my first winter in Utah. Now that all of the ski resorts are now closed, I don’t mind trading in my board for a measly 4 months and enjoying the summer mountain biking, trail running and camping. See you on the slopes in October (fall steeps hikes at the Bird anyone???)…let the countdown begin.

I’m dreaming of a wh– Okay, so its not exactly a “white Christmas” (yet) here in Salt Lake City, but hey, I’m spending Christmas in Salt Lake City!  After 4 fabulous days at the Dew Tour and 1 day shredding Keystone (amazing resort, btw, review to come later) I’m continuing on my winter break resort tour here in Salt Lake City.  Danielle and Lance just bought an adorable house here in SLC, so I’m excited to stay here and shred for 3 weeks straight before Danielle and I head to Squaw at Tahoe.  And we’ve got quite the line-up – Park City, Brighton, Snowbird, Snowbasin… our goal is to try out and review as many new resorts in SLC as possible.  But for now… of to explore the little town of Park City!

Merry Christmas Eve, and I hope you’re eve is merry and white!

Another Dew Tour – the second stop this winter, also known as the Wendy’s Invitational – has come and gone at Snowbasin, Utah, and it has been an interesting, jam-packed couple of days of competing.  Several competitors, four awesome days of riding, two courses, one competition.  But the results are in, and Chas Guldemond with a 95.25 and Spencer O’Brien at 91 took first in slopestyle, while Danny Davis and Elena Hight won first in the superpipe.  Check out the highlights below, and be sure to catch the final Winter Dew Tour stop Feb. 4 – 7 at Mount Snow, Vermont.

Busy week in snowboard land; here’s some of our fav picks from around the Web!

• Catch the Olympics on Yahoo!: Today, Yahoo! announced it will provide Olympic fans with an exclusive Web site and mobile experience for the 2010 Vancouver Games. (Check out the microsite here).  Less than one month to go!  Also, starting January 25^th, fans will be able to submit their favorite winter sports photos for a chance to win multiple prizes, ranging from digital cameras to a trip to the U.S. Freestyle Skiing Championship at Squaw Valley in March 2010.
• Haiti Disaster; How You Can Help: By now, many of you already know about the 7.0 Earthquake that devastated Haiti on Tuesday, Jan. 12.  Check out this blog post from Spectacular Adventures for more info. on how you can help.
• Bearics Teaser: Inside Etnies and Bear Mountain’s private snow park; sweet vid!
• Surf Expo 2010 Gallery: The 2010 Surf Expo is currently going on, and Transworl has the low down (in 140 pictures or less) here.  I’m really digging some of the new swimwear lines.
• Dew Tour Comes to Utah; Results Are In: After a successful first event at Breckenridge earlier this month, the Dew Tour, Round Two, moves to Snowbasin.  Elena Hight and Elijah Teter lead in the Pipe Prelims (surprised?)  Be sure to catch the Pipe Finals on Sat.

News Bits

• FUEL TV launched an iPhone application.  The application is available here in the iTunes store, free of charge.  The content is syndicated from the Fuel.tv website and includes nine video podcast channels, updates from the FUEL TV blogs, and Twitter integration. There’s also a community photo blog; FUEL TV show information, news updates, and schedules; and all of it can be seamlessly shared via a simple Twitter button. The app will also allow for streaming live events, and will be able to download a selection of FUEL TV shows in the near future.  Sounds pretty sick (I wish I had an iPhone!  Maybe now I have incentive to go buy one…)
• College Night returns to Mt. High.  Last year, Mt. High announced a series of three College Night Events, and apparently the series was popular, because it’s back!  And this time with six events.  If you’re in college and live in SoCal, this event sounds like a lot of fun – $20 Night passes, half-off appetizers, half-off draft beer (21+), $1 hot dogs, live DJs, and hookups from industry partners. College Night will take place from 5pm to 10pm in the Bullwheel Bar & Grill on January 14th, January 21st, February 4th, February 11th, February 25th, and March 4^th, 2010.  This season the January 21st, February 11^th, and March 4^th events will also include a rail competition complete with its own prize pool.
• Gatorade Free Flow Tour, the official amateur series of the Dew Tour, coming to a town near you.  We watched part of the pipe tour go down in Vail this past weekend, and it was pretty sick.  Now, let’s see some ladies!