03/04/12
Another multi-week wait for boarding. The weather and life just haven’t allowed for it, but it was a good day. Nearly 40″ of new snow in the past week with a 91″ base. That’s fantastic..for December. Beggars can’t be choosers though, and with only 6-ish weeks left in the season I’ll take it. It’s been a few days since the last snow, but it was still plenty soft, thanks in part to how warm it was. Warm enough that I just wore long johns on under my outerwear. Typically it’s that, plus a turtleneck, plus a fleece and then the outer ware, but it wasn’t needed.
More snow in the forecast so here’s hoping the season can end better than it starts. As for today, it was a good day: good snow, good weather, good company!

02/12/12
It’s been a few weeks, but it was a nice welcome back to the snow. 7″ of fresh, so it was nice and soft, so soft in fact that I ventured to Great Western for the first time this season to take on some of the deep stuff.
Hard moguls underneath, but if I kept my speed up, like I’m supposed to, they weren’t that big of a deal. However, for every bit that powder is snowboarding Nirvana, you work for it. My legs, they burn…but in such a good way!

01/27/12
75 years Brighton has been open, so we decided to head up for a first night session to take in more fresh snow, bonfires and some fireworks. Things felt much better than last week, no serious cramping in the feet, and the snow was still decently soft.
The fireworks, however, were on hold for a bit due to a cloud that decided to hang around for the festivities as well. The folks with the flame on the fuze decide that enough was a enough and started firing them off anyway. It was kinda surreal really. We could seem the launch up, and certainly hear them, but the initial blast was mostly obscured by the cloud. They had a lot of the star burst types that let lots of sparkly bits fall to the ground which made for a great effect as they fell out of the cloud.
We weren’t up there long, a handful of runs, but it was well worth the drive.

01/22/12
Feet, yes feet of snow have fallen over the past few days. It’s clear, and not too cold. Should be a great day, the best day of the year easily. Should…such a funny word.
For some reason my feet were cramping for the first time since having my boot liners molded. On top of that I had only slept about 5.5 hours. And I just wasn’t feeling it. What really did me in, though, was the people. Rather, the assholes. Due to the snow there had been an avalanche overnight in Little Cottonwood canyon, closing it. The folks that would normally be going to Snowbird and Alta ended up heading to Solitude and Brighton. I’ve never seen it so crowded and everyone was either impatient and cranky, or tired of being pushed around and cranky.
12:30 rolls around and we decide to roll out. A day lost, but a lesson learned..somewhere..I’m sure…

01/20/12
The first true powder day of the year, and the snow keeps falling! Went up for a solid half day in the morning, and had a good 6 to 8 inches on top of a bit more soft stuff. Falling didn’t hurt, which is a first for the season. However, for some reason my feet kept cramping up! This is after a few good days of no craps at all after having the Intuition boot liners baked and molded. I still may have them redone to do some final tweaking, but we’ll see how Sunday’s adventure goes, with even more snow.
Oh…and I got into the air a few times too. I’ve been wanting to get more comfy off the snow and finally got up the gumption to just try it. Only had a handful of hits, but gotta start somewhere. The soft stuff brings confidence, that’s for sure!

01/07/12
After what has been, apparently, the driest December on record, we finally got snow. 7″ over night as a matter of fact. While it couldn’t really be considered a powder day and was, technically, “dust on crust”, it was still a hell of a lot softer than it has been.
It was surprisingly uncrowded, which was quite nice and we ended up riding for about 3 hours straight before we decided to get on with the rest of our day and save some energy for a possible revisit tomorrow.
I can say that one benefit of it being as hard packed as it has been is that it’s allowed forced me to work on my switch carving
I sure hope the snow keeps up, but there’s nothing else in the upcoming forecast….

12/26/11
Back to back days are fun, but it’s nice that it’s not back to back ALL day. I historically have enjoyed hitting the mountain on holidays, Christmas in particular, because it is not crowded at all and today was no exception. We were able to skate onto any chair we wanted.
The bonus for today, of course, was new gear. Angy loved her new board and bindings. I was a bit wary at first getting her a reverse-camber board, but she took right too it and seems quite comfy on it even after only a few hours. Defiantly glad I got it for her, as she puts it “it’s so fast and light!”. Her progression continues, and was at a point to be able to appreciate the difference in the new board…so worth it!

12/24/11
But you wouldn’t know it. Very clear, very sunny, and quite warm. All are good things…however, we need snow. The resort is doing a decent job with the snowmaking as coverage is pretty good so long as you stay on the runs, but that’s about it. The snow itself is pretty hard thought, good for carving, but not so good for falling, it all hurts. The crowds are down though, and at the end of the day, we got to board so life doesn’t suck!