My holiday vacation was one for the ages. Breckenridge, Michigan, Tahoe and Utah all rolled into two weeks. Topping it all off was a day spent at Snowbasin in Ogden, Utah, location of Dew Tour Stop #2 this year.
Snowbasin has never hosted a freeride event of this nature and is relatively unfamiliar to our niche of the industry. It won’t be for long. This hidden gem is a locals paradise complete with two gondolas, incredible terrain and a lodge that rivals the Taj Mahal in luxury.
The good people at Snowbasin were kind enough to get Jess and I sorted with lift tickets this past weekend and we met up with Salomon’s Jenny Naftulin to do a quick tour of the mountain and all it has to offer as Snow Park Tech rolled into town and began pushing snow for the pipe and slope course.
Early morning, we sussed out Snow King and needled our way through some trees and then made our way over to Strawberry and went on a bushwhacking adventure that turned out to be one of the most fun runs of all time complete with knee-deep snow, steep pitches and more than one tip-over in the snow.
After a full morning of shred, we turned to the lodge for some grub. Now, this is not your average ski resort lodge. The owner of Sun Valley in Idaho is also the lucky owner of Snowbasin and fashioned the Utah resort’s lodge after teh Idaho legend. Chandeliers, fancy carpet, swank furniture and a low-key attitude make the Snowbasin lodge one of the nicest and most comfortable around. The cafeteria has a salad bar, pizza bar and anything else you could possibly want. Or, check out the restaurant and the chef’s fondue specialty.
Salads on the deck wolfed down, we met up with Steve and Chris from Snowbasin and got a run down of the work SPT has ahead of them in getting the Dew Tour course ready. The pipe is getting built lookers left of the main base gondola on the School Hill trail. The slope course is being put a bit lookers right on Showboat and both end at the base where the festival tent village will be erected in the Day Old Lodge parking lot.
All in all, it looks like it’s shaping up to be another great event and the folks at Snowbasin are stoked to have the action sports snow industry infiltrate for a week.
For those of you wondering, here is a schedule of events — complete with women’s ski pipe this stop!
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2010
8:30 AM – 11:30 AM: Slope practice
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM: Mens and womens pipe practice
FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2010
8:30 AM- 11:15 AM: Men’s superpipe practice
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM: Superpipe prelims
2:30 PM – 4:30 PM: Slope practice
3:00 PM – 4:15: Women’s pipe practive
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM: Women’s pipe prelims
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2010
8:00 AM- 10:05 AM: Men’s and women’s superpipe practice
10:00 AM – 2:15 PM: Slope practice
10:20 AM – 10:50 AM: Women’s pipe finals
11:10 AM – 12:20 PM: Men’s pipe finals
2:30 PM – 4:30 PM: Slope prelims
SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2010
8:00 AM – 9:15 AM: Slope practice
9:30 AM – 10:30 AM: Slope finals