swBroweather

Took a mini trip down to SLC last Friday (03/06/10).  Rode Brighton on Saturday, caught it a day after they’d gotten 20 inches.  Still good.  I’d never been to Brighton.  That place is super fun.  Total boarder mountain.  Natural jumps everywhere.  From the parking lot i noticed a bunch of stuff that i’d seen in old shred films.  Pretty cool.

Rode with a few local dudes who showed us around a bit.  Did a hike off Pioneer Ridge.  I almost crapped out my heart when i got to the top–10,000 feet or something.  They had a superpipe too.  It was scary.  I’m pretty sure i heard little kids laughing at me from the lift.

I’d be stoked to get back down there.

On Sunday we rode The Canyons.  The Canyons is an uber planned out ski area.  19 car garage mansions halfway up the mtn, perfectly laid out ski trails, cat tracks, gladed runs, etc.  Although i could tell there would be some sick riding if the snow was right The Canyons didn’t really strike me as where i’d get a pass if i lived in Park City (and money was no thang).  We had a really fun day nonetheless.  Our loc tour guide took us down this crazy gully run called Canis Lupis. It starts out all wide halfpipe, banked slalom style.  After a couple hundred yards it gets tight, the walls become vertical, ruts turn in to double/triples and it quickly becomes a balls out creek gully.  I thought i was haulin’ arse until our tour guides 10 year old son went ripping by me on 100cm skis.  They hold a race down this thing every year called The Canis Lupis Challenge. The skiers blow the snowboarder times out of the water.

Here’s a vid:

Ok, now for my Expedia(dot coooooooom) rant.  Bought a ticket the week before this trip and decided a couple days after the initial purchase to change the times on both my departing and return flight.   Called up Expedia and yakked it up with some dude for a good 30 mins.  Dude was clearly not English savvy so i took it upon myself to explain the changes i wanted and as clearly as i could.  I didn’t trust that he would get it right.

When i got to airport last Sunday to get the F outta Utah, the nice lady at the check-in counter informed me that my flight had already left.  Ends up Expedia guy never changed my departing time like i requested.  I never got a confirmation email from them, though their “records” say they did send one.  Whatever.  Ended up having to stay an extra night, buy a new ticket, and leave the following morning on a Southwest flight.  F you Expedia!  Never again.

The only good thing that came out of this was i found out Southwest doesn’t charge extra for snowboards.  Fly Southwest on shred trips.