CB Utah

I don’t know how I missed this. Pat, that’s awesome.

Hell yeah I’m optimistic! Utah had a great year, with good runoff for all the lakes. Rivers are still rocking in some areas. I’ve heard several people complaining about how there was too much snow in Park City. There’s no pleasing some people (I learned that life lesson from The Life of Brian)

Very nice, @SunSurfer. Who else is counting down the days now after watching this, glancing longingly at the calendar?

Classic, like a wooden Chris-Craft or a Morgan. What sort of responses or questions have you received from average, younger generation snowboarders to similar wood top sheet boards you own?

Yeah, thanks for sending. I saw that in the local news and was a little let down but not shocked. The exclusive resort will stay exclusive and triple in size. Those trails look NICE.

Thanks for the update. Here’s wishing you a speedy recovery @barryj. Had tendon surgery; you have a good attitude. Hope the forum members send you tons of vids so you can feel like you’re there with them on the slope.

Dang, that’s a good idea. They’re typically rubber coated too. I never thought about that.

Congrats on the custom board @Waboarder. That color pattern is one of my favorites. Prepare to have your mind blown on the snow. That’s what I was told; that’s what I experienced. Can’t wait for your ride report; very interested in similar CC board for my daughter. What is the sidecut, flex, and your binding+boot choice, including angles? Mt. Hood is calling you right now… resistance is futile.

Number one, thanks to @SunSurfer and @philw for starting and providing this information. That’s the other cool part about this forum; other topics we can learn from. Related to the food and drugs discussions, I have found Russell Brand’s channel to be accurate on these topics. I stumbled across it one day. He acts pretty wacky sometimes and his show intro is absolutely sophomoric, but damn, he’s definitely talking with people who know the inside scoop and are upset with what they’re seeing.

Just saw this while perusing EBay. I like a lot of heel lift but I would think the bindings and hardware may not have been designed for such double stack goodness. Thinking about leverage and other factors but I’m not an engineer. Full disclosure, using @philw’s clever idea, I modified my F2 titanium plates and the Burton hardware to mount to the Burton Channel system and happily rode that binding set-up so I guess I’m tossing a few stones around glass houses. Thoughts?

I would laugh and insta-delete any incoming emails with that “Good day my dear” intro but appreciate your bringing this to everyone’s attention. Thinking I should watermark future photos of boards for sale like some of you do so scammer bro can’t misrepresent them. Hope you’re having a great summer @TLN and thanks for cross checking the ads.

Happy Pie and Beer Day this coming Monday. Hope you have the day off to enjoy. I’ll be working but will check out the fireworks later and pick up our traditional pie and locally produced beer.

Hey Pat, what are your thoughts about the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola? I don’t typically journey up that one; I hit the Big Cottonwood Canyon. Kind of up in the air about the whole thing. Seems smarter to just use more buses and not disturb the forests with more construction and maintenance activity for the towers.

I like the specs, @yamifumi. I predict you are going to receive a ton of positive comments about it on the slopes. Now I’m thinking about the feasibility of low rider metallic chartreuse for my next board… I can’t wait for the ride report; just a few more short months and then snowmaking resumes. Have a great summer.

The views from that slope are insane.

Review of 2023 Thirst 8RW. Hopefully an unusual but helpful perspective. Parameters: 190 pounds, mondo size 28 boots Background: Haven't ridden snowboards at all since 1992. Used to ride hard shells with plate bindings. Now: Relearned boarding in 2022 fairly non-committal (no season pass, very few days of riding) with NOS 2022 Burton Flight Attendant 156W, new F2 Titanium Race and new Deeluxe 325's. Struggled with leg muscles and brain knowing what to do but without much power. Had to stop every 5 minutes. Progressed from 2022 156 cm Burton with 26.2 waist to 2020 165 cm Coiler AMT with 23 cm waist. Blown away by the Coiler edge hold and performance on every surface from hard pack to slush. Up-sized to 2018 176 cm Coiler AMT with 20 cm waist. Loved it. The Coilers became my favorite. My ultimate goal was to see how narrow of a board I could ride so I could try some of the Thirsts I had seen for sale on the forum. Bought a new 2023 184.5 cm, 18.7 cm waist (.266 flex index 12.5 avg. SCR) Thirst 8RW late this April, took it out first time early May @Solitude. Took a deep breath at the top of the run and just trusted it. It was so light; it carved like a razor (and my skills are currently weak compared to how I used to be able to ride.) I made everything from long sweeping turns all the way down to very tight slalom turns riding neutral on the 8RW. Bumps or slush were not an issue. It was smooth. Words cannot describe my feeling on the drive back home, after going from a stubby 156 to a lithe 184.5 cm board in maybe 7 total days of riding after a complete 30 year hiatus. After that, I started riding every opportunity I could until the resorts here finally closed. I found some hard pack which it sliced right through. One boarder said he was a little shocked I was riding such a long board on narrow trails when it was so crowded extreme late season. Literally not a problem. Got my 2023-24 EPIC pass and am planning on riding every lunch hour and most weekends next year @PC and surrounding areas. Big thanks to Jack M for this forum, to all forum members who patiently helped me this year and the site advertisers from whom I purchased multiple sets of bindings, accessories and boots. Very cool experience.

Did you complete the build and ride this beast yet? Please post video clip!

@Mr.E, having purchased 5 Burton retractable locks this year for family and friends to use and having one fail, your solution makes more sense. The good news is, the other 4 continue to work fine and the Burton warranty replacement was quick at the local Burton store. While the retractable cable is good in concept to save room in pockets, the plastic housing and internals of the Burton lock are just not as strong as what you selected. Wish I saw your post earlier.

First time riding at Brighton and I was impressed by staff there. Overall good experience and met a hard booting ski patroller. Stoked to try the grooming there next year as he raved about it. If you go these last few days, let us know how it went. Saw less ground squirrels than Solitude but runs were getting crowded at Brighton (with people) by around 12 pm.

Last week was a wrap, I think, for my season unless I go to Brighton this week or travel to A-Basin. After seeing great photography and symmetrical arcs, this photo is difficult to look at, due to the discolored snow/dirt mixture and the side slip track down the center but I couldn’t resist. I’ve never watched somebody do the whole run that way. The Ryan Knapton parody came to mind as I watched the guy do it. Full disclosure- I have a knack for falling while standing still on downhill, Classic or Skate skis or hopping on a snowboard, so I’m just as liable to be seen doing something goofy too. I did see a great hardboot carver out but his tracks would get obscured from the ski traffic. And yes, the GSA (ground squirrel army) was out in full force, scampering across the trails, sunning at the base of the towers, etc. Hope everyone’s summer is great.

Hi Neil, that’s a great question. 509 claims 4 hours run time on auto setting, with a potential to stretch that to 8 on manual setting. No mention of temperature used to test battery life by 509. I bought these late so I tested during exertion from 45-60 degrees F. Chest freezer is at other house otherwise I’d start them up and drop them in for you and test. They are made specifically for snowmobiling and seem to be popular with that community. One can purchase a battery cable extension and snake it into the jacket where the battery is in a pocket to keep it warmer. The extension cable is about $20 US. I believe an extra battery (not the battery box) is around $40 US. Hope this helps.

Hey thanks for the tip, Jack M. NOS is the way to get deals and both of those dealers have great reputations.

Ok, performance at all times it shall be. Thanks for the opinions/suggestions.

I wear glasses so dealing with goggles can be an issue unless I'm moving down the hill. I've always preferred wearing prescription sunglasses and regular glasses for night skiing but thought I'd see what else was out there. Smith formerly made a goggle with a fan but they are out of production. I started looking around snowmobile shops since virtually everything they have is powered, heated, etc. and decided to go all out and get a pair of over the glasses-compatible goggles with a fan and heated lenses. The full name of the product I'm reviewing is the 509 (brand) Sinister X7 Ignite S1. 509 makes several different varieties, some without heated lenses, some with heated and some with both fan and heat. Testing consisted of wearing the goggles in mid-50 degree weather, snowboarding, hoofing it around the base by the lift, pulling up my Buff sun guard snug against the bottom of the goggle frame, trying to redirect air up to them when I breathed, etc. They just plain work. A tiny bit of fog formed when I first put them on but the auto mode (there are two modes, manual and auto) detected it and on came the tiny fan while the lenses heated. I couldn't detect any heat transmitting to my face nor did the fan interfere with my vision. About the only thing I noticed, was when my surroundings became quiet, I could barely hear the fan. It's mounted high enough that the sound appears to be coming from somewhere farther away on the mountain. It's virtually silent. The lens swap process is exceptionally fast. The battery pack is fairly small, isn't noticeable on my helmet and charges off a USB hooked to the laptop. Battery life has not been an issue. Overall, I'm pleased with the goggles and recommend them. The best part is snowmobile equipment dealers are dumping product now, so you can get screaming deals like I did, if you shop around. For those liking bigger lenses on goggles, there's an Aviator 2.0 model that has the same functionality and costs maybe $20 more. For the engineers, you can get the free 509 app and modulate the individual settings and truly customize them. Second photo shows the view, looking at the top of the goggle where the micro fan is.

I’ll ask the other Utah residents to chip in, but in my limited riding this year, I enjoyed both Snowbasin and Solitude. Park City and the Canyons are places I’m still exploring so I have limited experience there. Image below is from Snowbasin a few weeks ago. To the left of that run is a “bowl” which I found to be more akin to an enormous wide and long halfpipe. I will say that in general, I’ve found guests at Utah areas talkative and outgoing. My advice on Colorado and Utah is to not overlook some of the smaller resorts. Several have snowcat trips. Still tons of places here I have not gone.