Day 2: More product testing
Had a few more products to get out onto the hill for this year's gear gift guide, so Dale, Pat and I joined Bobby Danger up at Brighton today.
It was a chilly morning, low single digits at the base of the ski area when I got up, and the thermometer hit 10 by the time we reached the parking lot just before 9. It was just a gorgeous morning to be out in the Wasatch.
It was impressive driving up Big Cottonwood Canyon to see Brighton's snowmaking system making its own weather system in an otherwise cloudless sky:
We booted up and bumped into Nathan Rafferty of Ski Utah, Shawn Stinson of the SLCVB and their friend Josh on the first lift ride. We'd be pretty much in sync with them lap by lap until they left for the day a bit ahead of us.
They're running just Majestic and Explorer. There were two routes available off of Majestic, plus one psuedo-open run on The Face. The beginner slope beneath Explorer is open as well. Lift tickets were $30. They're working hard to get Crest Express open for top-to-bottom terrain but the piles of manmade need some time to dry out before getting a cat up there to push them around. Maybe Tuesday.
Surfaces were typical manmade -- generally soft with an occasional scratchy spot -- but cover was seamless. The only rocks I clicked were from an occasional foray off the manmade and onto natural snow.
After about an hour or so Bob arrived. We got a phone call -- yes, for those who know him I said a phone call -- from the top of Majestic as we were riding the lift.
He was like a guy who's just discovered technology for the first time (which isn't too far from the truth, actually), calling all of his friends back in New England where it's 60 degrees today in the mountains just to say he called from the ski hill.
By 11 a.m. the masses began to arrive and the liftline grew from 5 minutes to 12 or so. While fairly balanced earlier in the day we were clearly now in a minority, with the population easily 80% or more riding snowboards.
We continued lapping the two open routes from Majestic. On the next to last run Bobby and I skied Face directly beneath the top of the chair, which was ostensibly open (i.e., no closed signs in key locations) although clearly not recommended. After picking our way carefully through a horribly bony entrance it was actually quite decent on the main pitch itself, and we exited through the trees to skier's right as clicking noises from passing riders returning directly to Majestic hinted at what lurked beneath the shallow cover lower down.
All in all, a whole lot of fun and product testing is now complete. Watch for our annual gear gift guide to publish this week.
By our last lift ride at 1 p.m. the lift line hit perhaps 15 minutes and the runs were getting crowded. The few scratchy spots were getting scratchier from the traffic, so we called it a day.
This early opening has clearly been quite profitable for Brighton. Hats off to 'em!
Had a few more products to get out onto the hill for this year's gear gift guide, so Dale, Pat and I joined Bobby Danger up at Brighton today.
It was a chilly morning, low single digits at the base of the ski area when I got up, and the thermometer hit 10 by the time we reached the parking lot just before 9. It was just a gorgeous morning to be out in the Wasatch.
It was impressive driving up Big Cottonwood Canyon to see Brighton's snowmaking system making its own weather system in an otherwise cloudless sky:
We booted up and bumped into Nathan Rafferty of Ski Utah, Shawn Stinson of the SLCVB and their friend Josh on the first lift ride. We'd be pretty much in sync with them lap by lap until they left for the day a bit ahead of us.
They're running just Majestic and Explorer. There were two routes available off of Majestic, plus one psuedo-open run on The Face. The beginner slope beneath Explorer is open as well. Lift tickets were $30. They're working hard to get Crest Express open for top-to-bottom terrain but the piles of manmade need some time to dry out before getting a cat up there to push them around. Maybe Tuesday.
Surfaces were typical manmade -- generally soft with an occasional scratchy spot -- but cover was seamless. The only rocks I clicked were from an occasional foray off the manmade and onto natural snow.
After about an hour or so Bob arrived. We got a phone call -- yes, for those who know him I said a phone call -- from the top of Majestic as we were riding the lift.
He was like a guy who's just discovered technology for the first time (which isn't too far from the truth, actually), calling all of his friends back in New England where it's 60 degrees today in the mountains just to say he called from the ski hill.
By 11 a.m. the masses began to arrive and the liftline grew from 5 minutes to 12 or so. While fairly balanced earlier in the day we were clearly now in a minority, with the population easily 80% or more riding snowboards.
We continued lapping the two open routes from Majestic. On the next to last run Bobby and I skied Face directly beneath the top of the chair, which was ostensibly open (i.e., no closed signs in key locations) although clearly not recommended. After picking our way carefully through a horribly bony entrance it was actually quite decent on the main pitch itself, and we exited through the trees to skier's right as clicking noises from passing riders returning directly to Majestic hinted at what lurked beneath the shallow cover lower down.
All in all, a whole lot of fun and product testing is now complete. Watch for our annual gear gift guide to publish this week.
By our last lift ride at 1 p.m. the lift line hit perhaps 15 minutes and the runs were getting crowded. The few scratchy spots were getting scratchier from the traffic, so we called it a day.
This early opening has clearly been quite profitable for Brighton. Hats off to 'em!
