My 2018-19 snowboard season was epic. We had record snowpack and I was snowboarding until July 7th. I got over 200 days on snow and this video is My 200th Day Snowboarding Main Chute, Alta. Follow us by subscribing on YouTube to get all our new videos & tips. Flowing Freeride will teach how to pick the right snowboard gear best for you and drills to improve your skills. You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you sign up that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for snowboard safety on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; Building Rhythm, Advanced Snowboarding Getting Air, Snowboard Bumpy Terrain, Snake Course, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, Advance Snowboard Lesson: Dropping Cliffs, Snowboarding Off Piste, Snowboarding Chutes, Active Passive Absorption, Funnel Turns For Navigating Obstacles & Snowboarding Moguls.
The season started on October 10, 2018. Some resorts like Brighton opened up in October. I hiked almost everyday until my resort Park City opened around ThanksGiving and I had over 30 days of snowboarding by then. With the snow conditions this good the whole mountain was able to open early. This gave a lot of terrain to spread out. I didn’t have to worry as much about rogue skiers and boarders. I love the trees because they don’t move. Some of them have been in the same spot for hundreds of years. Floridians don’t and tourists have been known to crash into others. Glades are a safer choice for me because I know how to ride them. If you don’t you should watch Snowboard Lesson Navigating Trees & Obstacles.
Park City Resort closed early April but the Epic Pass allows you to snowboard other resorts and Vail stayed open for 3 more weeks and Abasin was open till July. I had some mates invite me out there and I rode Beaver Creek, Vail, Abasin and Breckenridge with my pass. I left a board out there and that gave me an excuse to go back out there. I stayed out there until the end of May and then made another trip out there in June. I made some good connections out there in Colorado and would love to move out there. Colorado has the better bigger mountains but Utah has better snow and more of it. When the resort’s base elevation is higher the snow doesn’t melt as fast.
When I was in Utah I would hike Alta. Alta has good steep terrain that is great for snowboarders. Alta is a skier only mountain watch Free Alta to learn more about why that is. My mate Johnstone would always comment on my social media #FreeAlta and we had planned on snowboarding Alta together. We lost a couple of Snowboard Legends Mike Johnstone and George Medina last year. They were on the front lines to Free Taos to allow snowboarding. They were successful in 2009 they were able to buy a ticket and snowboard Taos. It’s too bad that Alta has to keep the attitude that skiers are better than snowboarders. The resort wouldn’t allow children or women on the slopes when they first opened and they like discriminating.
Snowboarding in the summer is brilliant. The days are much longer and sometimes I would snowboard late in the evening. I drove up to Alta after work to get my snowboard fix. When I realized I could get over 200 days on snow I made it a goal to snowboard everyday. Hiking is great exercise and I would get to snowboard down. The conditions weren’t the greatest but being able to snowboard Alta in July was a nice treat.
On day 200 I decided to hike all the way up Baldy. It took over 3 hours to hike up. I would usually hike to the top of Collins lift or Wildcat because a lot of the time I had other things I needed to do. I met some other hikers along the way and that made the hike more enjoyable. We all got to the top of Baldy and we could see the tram at Snowbird running. It stayed open until July 4th that season. We took a few minutes to rest and to enjoy the views. Main Chute was still filled in with decent conditions. I took video and you can see how beautiful the scenery was. The ride down Main Chute was amazing! After exiting the chute I had another ten minutes of snowboarding to get to the base.
If you go out hiking in your area try to find slopes that have good vertical. I can park my car at Alta, walk 30 meters and be on snow. Alta makes snow and that gives a deeper base making the snow last longer. You cannot hike on private property. Alta is forest service land and when they close anyone can use the land to recreate. You can sign up for the full course to gain access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com and take a look at our YouTube Page for more free content and learn to snowboard right! Online snowboard resources like videos on our YouTube Channel and articles like these can help you a ton. Professional snowboard lessons help even more. My name is Blake Tholen Clark Contact Me if you want to book a lesson or have any questions about Snowboarding.