WTH....Ask JRussell About Snowboarding, Drinking, and Polygamy in Utah

[rocketlaunch]

Where are the best places to board in Utah? Closest to Las Vegas? Which ones have the longest season?

[hero]

i've stayed at the alta peruvian and ridden @ snowbird where my friend's living for the year, it was pretty sick. i've relocated to breckenridge colorado & we're havin a pretty good season, but bird in ut received 520" last year..

? i can spin a 3 frontside but have problems landing backside, ppl say to practice 180'ing backside everywhere to get used to it. advice?

& i saw a 14yr old doing backflips, is he cooler then me?
thanks-

[JRussell]

The Bird only received 520" last year? Solitude had over 600" and I figured Snowbird would be closer to that.

I would say 180'ing backside until it begins to feel more natural will definitely help. I'm not the best at doing backside spins myself and freesytle isn't really my thing.

Unfortunately, the kid pulling backflips is way cooler than you. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[hero]

yeah nevermind, just checked the site, bird's @ 468" for the year to date, thats crazy, breck's having a huge year at 340" vail/bc/aspen with similar #'s- i gotta get out there

i freeride mainly as well but have been getting into jumping recently and really like watching the kids @ the keystone night park tear it up, seriously 13-15 yr olds filming sponsor videos, backflip into boardslide on a kinked rail, whatever the hell mistyflip variation a backflip/360 is.

where you living now? i just think its funny that you cant order a shot and a beer at the same time- but in co supermarkets can only have 3.2% beer and distributors need to patronize them exclusively with specially made low alch content beers, weak

good thread too, we need more 2p's that ride

[JRussell]

Last season was unreal here. I just checked and Solitude was at 676" when they closed around April 15th (and they got even more snow after closing).

Same here with the kids at Brighton's parks. They have some insane looking rails and these kids just tear them up.

I'm living in Salt Lake valley near the Cottonwood Canyons. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to Solitude/Brighton and about 30 minutes to Snowbird/Alta. Despite the wacky alcohol laws, Salt Lake City is a really nice place to live. The people are generally very nice (about 50% are Mormans) and crime is almost non-existant when compared to other cities of a similar size. There aren't too many other major US cities where you are 15 minutes from an International airport and within 45 minutes of 7 world-class ski resorts. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[JRussell]

My personal favorite is Solitude Mountain Resort. It definitely isn't the biggest resort here, but is by far the least crowded. There is no such thing as a lift line at Solitude. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

If terrain parks and superpipes are your thing then Brighton Ski Resort is the spot. This resort is usually rated in the top 3 by all the snowboard magazines. Believe it or not, the snowboarders far out number the skiers at Brighton.

If you're after double-blacks and cliff drops then Snowbird is where you want to be. Snowbird is definitely the most crowded, but they also have a high speed tram and are able to move a lot of people up the mountain quickly.

All of the places I mentioned above are near Salt Lake City, which is about a 6.5 hour drive from Vegas (in good weather). Although they all receive an average anual snowfall of over 500", Snowbird always has the longest season and plans to close on May 29th this year (last season they were open until July 4th!).

The closest Utah resort to Vegas is Brian Head. This resort is about 1.5-2 hours from Vegas and has the shortest season in the state due to it's Southern location and lower altitude.