Hey Canyons how are you?

Monday... Monday's always seem to be good. I don't know what it is about snowboarding on a Monday that makes it so great, but it is. Maybe it's the fact that while everyone else is making the weary trudge into work, you get to go up and goof off with some friends on the mountain. The Canyons had fresh snow and we had an amazingly good time.

The backcountry is extremely dangerous right now. Arriving at the top of a few different lifts allowed us to see more than a handful of avalanche paths. I have never seen so many slides from a single vantage point. If you were thinking about going out there this weekend call this number: Avalanche Center 888-999-4019. It may just change your mind.


This is Steve trying to add an extra filter. He is always so health conscious.

A successful day.

Dear Saturday

Dear Saturday,
If you are going to be deep and full of bottomless turns, I would appreciate it if you didn't invite all of SLC up to Snowbird. Could you please put something better on TV than all the C.S.I. re-runs? Better cartoons for the kids? Maybe you could call Friday and see if there could be an increase in late parties so no one gets out of bed until noon. All these things would be much appreciated. I mean don't get me wrong today was amazing, but please make it so there is more riding and less lines. Oh, and less of this sketchy guy in the Jeep sliding all over the road in front of me. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Andy

Finally some pow

Standing on top of a line always has that mix of Christmas morning anticipation and a nervous excitement for what you are about to be fortunate enough to ride. It snowed. It snowed a few feet and you didn't have a meeting you had to be to, no class to worry about skipping, and no other commitment that kept you off the hill on a day when it was this good. You were able to blow it all off and just go.

Today was that day for me. Fresh snow, good friends, and I had no commitments to keep me from this blessed piece of the planet. I got to point it through this chute (above) and for me pointing it out of a line is twice the fun of any jump I have ever hit. It is just snowboarding. Nobody is trying to show off doing the next big trick. It is just real, having fun on the mountain.

One thing I love about the mountains is when you are in them you are able to connect with anyone on some strange level. Up there it doesn't matter what you do for a living, how much money you have, what crazy past you lived, or even if you're a Ph.D. Everyone in that moment is there for the same thing, no labels. Just riders.

A look back up. Upper cirque, I came out of Diagonal chute.

Here comes the boat.

Wasatch: The official production podcast

2-01 Reestablishment - Wasatch: The Official Production Podcast from Parker Alec Cross on Vimeo.

This is a podcast a buddy of mine puts together. Check it out.

Return to rail gardens

Super powers. We all wish we had them. Which would you choose? I thought about flying for a bit, but I think after a while it would take the fun out of things. Climbing wouldn't really work for me anymore, What kind of adventures could you have? Especially if no one else could fly. Super strength? Nah, Why would I want to pick up a car? I can't think of a time having to move a car would have come in handy. I can't even think of a time when I wanted to move a car. For the most part I feel plenty strong.

I think the best would be to heal fast, like when you were a kid playing guns and you get shot and have to wait like 30 seconds before you can play again. Then things would still have that scare factor that make them fun, because it still hurts but you get better quicker.

Tonight we gathered to the rail gardens for some snowboarding fun, the idea was to get as many shots as we could in 60 minutes. Problem was that I wasn't landing anything. I haven't hit a handrail in a long time. I ended up with only a couple shots. Oh well, we all have our days.

The reason I bring up the wishful thought of my chosen super power is because I wake up most mornings after snowboarding sore no matter what stretches I do. It lets me know I had fun, but sometimes I get sick of being reminded.

Let me clarify that I am not complaining, simply thinking that it would be nice. As I sit here writing my left butt cheek feels like I got a solid kick from Beckham and I don't remember where this came from. Thanks for nothing Beckham.


The gang after all was said and done.

Parker with all his super nice camera stuff.

Iced over

For some reason I never remember to bring my camera with me when I snowboard. Once we get some actual snow I think I may make a better effort. I decided I really like this spot for photos (if you didn't already know) so here are a few more of Deer Creek.

Slam DUNK

Tonight I realized I have missed doing night sessions. Pulling out the generator and lights, getting the cameras rolling, and a good group of guys all out for having some fun creates a really great vibe. We hit this basketball hoop for a bit and the first few hits were pretty funny. I took a couple spills but ended up landing something at least. It was fun riding with a different crew of guys.

I need to stop blogging after midnight... I think I make less sense.

Ninja.

I was running around taking pictures of the sunset in some random park right next to a main road. I was so stoked on the sunset I didn't think about how weird I must have looked. So I took a picture

Backcountry Fail

Well... Today didn't turn out out I had anticipated. My plan was to head up and ride the bird in the morning and then go up and start building a jump for tomorrow across the canyon from Alta resort. I met up with Jeff and Kelly Jorgensen to ride and everything was going great. There were cookies and vitamin waters on the tram deck, we cruised around just hitting little side hits and finding little stashes of pow in the trees. Awesome.

I left to get to hiking just before 2 p.m. and it started out great. That is until I realized we have as much snow as we normally do in early December. I had a spot all picked out in my head and I hiked over to it and thought it looked great. Then I walked down into the landing... I was punching through to rock pretty easily so I decided to go look around some more but didn't find anything. I even started to build but it didn't really work out. So I headed down. This is what happened when I went to cruise down. I thought to my self, "yeah, I will film myself getting some slashes in the pow." When I hopped to drop in I hadn't done up my bindings tight at all and I just dug my nose in and fell on my face. Sorry for the swears but it was too funny not to post. I was all alone up in the mountains and this is what I did.



I am loving these sunsets.

Night Riding at Sundance

Tonight the great and wonderful Montandons invited me up to Sundance to do some night skiing. This was my first time up to Sundance to ride and it is a pretty fun place. I had a blast and the views are amazing even at night. Thanks Eric and Whit.



Eric was working the lift so we hung out at the lift shack for a bit with him.

Another day at Snowbird

The day started off wrapped in cloud with some pretty solid wind gusts. The mountain was amazingly empty for a holiday weekend and we almost walked onto the tram the whole day with no wait.

The wind had picked up all the fresh snow and dumped it all in the westerly faces which made for some deep turns and fun lines.

Uriel getting in a solid heel-side slash

Jonas is so fun to ride with, it's a party the whole day. Today he was rapping and cracking jokes all morning about this Aztec cereal his Grandpa gave him for breakfast. I don't know what was in that stuff but it must be crazy good, he was bouncing off the walls.

The views from Snowbird are one of a kind.

Uriel and I squashed into the tram.