Utah 3.0

Yes, Utah 3.0- This season I have ridden in Utah on three wonderful trips. Mid-April seems like too late to be snowboarding, but not when you have over 500 inches to date. This winter has been incredible for resorts.

First Trip.
My first days were following the 2008 Sundance film festival in January. The powder was fresh both days at the Sundance Resort and at Park City Mountain Resort. Both have unique features. Sundance is isolated and un-crowded. Its perfect for families and has enough bowls to keep advanced riders stoked. I hardly saw other skiers/snowboarders on the trails while I rode there. Park City is the polar opposite. After blowing up following the Winter Olympics as a well known world class resort the place is packed daily. Locals and tons of tourist track up the place on freshies faster then a heroin junkie. You would be lucky to get more than a few decent tracks before all that new snow is beaten into mogal'd mess. In Park City's favor is its massive peaks, back mountain Jupiter, and the Eagle Superpipe.

Second Trip.
Nate and I hit up a two day adventure to the Canyons and Sundance. The Canyons is "Utah's largest resort" by ski-able acreage. It has some great back country access points and varied terrain. Plus some nice varying terrain parks. In Canyons vs Park City, the Canyons would win for being less crowded and just as nice to ride.
Sundance is still cooler than Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Third Trip.
Mid April Pow Pow. Park City for day one. Jupiter back mountain for a few choice runs. Than some fun banked cuts and slashes down some of the North East end of the resort. Day Two was spectacular @ Snowbird
Snowbird is the my favorite resort of 2008. Its out of Park City, which is a plus. Has more challenging runs, higher amount of intermediate, advanced, and expert runs, and it is in a very steep canyon in the Wasatch range. Snowbird rocks. It grooms the right trails and leave you the option of cutting your own path through some nasty terrain- mini cliffs, drops, pine woods, and valleys. They also had a decent small terrain park set up for lil kickers, boxes, and a couple of fun rails.

Overall, get your self to Utah. They do have some of the best Snow on Earth...and a ski season that runs into late May.