Snowboarding Season 2004/2005
I ended up snowboarding 15 times this season and traveled to about 5 different cities including 8 different mountains. Let us count the times...
Mammoth
November 12-15, 2004 (Board Trip 1 & 2)
Yay, my first time snowboarding in Mammoth, CA!
Brian and I drove up Friday and stayed for 3 nights in the village. Wow, the village is a really nice place to stay - highly recommended to everyone who has the opportunity. Don't forget Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory a hop skip and a jump away.
While there we also bumped into Eric, Jorge, Polo, and Dzuy and hung out with them for a little bit.
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Utah
November 26 - 29, 2004 (Board Trip 3 & 4)
For all those that are tired of the crowds at Big Bear or the drive to Mammoth - then you must check out Utah. An easy 1.5 hour flight to Salt Lake City and a 30 - 60 minute drive to the resorts (depending on which mountain you choose).
Brian and I went to Brighton and Snowbird - they were both really nice mountains.
For some reason, we didn't take that many pictures on this trip - probably because it was snowing so much. We did however get the traditional summit picture, but this time we had to etch in 'Utah' since the map was so covered with snow. The snow was awesome and as you can tell in some of the pictures it was really coming down while we were boarding.
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Tahoe
December 5 - 6, 2004 (Board Trip 5)
Got my season pass for Sierra/Northstar and I'm set for the season =P.
Went up to Sierra with Brian and Grant Friday morning and stayed over night in a cabin with my roommate Jeff and a few of his coworkers. Jeff and his friends didn't get there till late so the three of us decided to hit up the casinos. We only stayed for one night because I unfortunately had work the next day back in the city.
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whistler
December 28, 2004 - January 1, 2005 (Boarding Trip 6, 7, & 8)
Wow... there is so much to say about this trip!!
12/28: First of all - Brian and I caught a 7am flight to Vancouver, Canada on Tuesday morning, but after about 2 - 3 hours in the air we discover the plane is landing in Portland, Oregon because there is something wrong with the plane. We were stuck in the airport for nearly 12 hours and our flight got cancelled. Luckily though, Portland has free internet and both Brian and I had our laptops with us so things could've been worse. So going on with the story, if Brian's laptop hadn't froze while playing Warcraft this story would be even longer, but somehow we were able to catch the last two seats on a flight to Vancouver. We finally got to Canada but still had to take a bus to Whistler. Go figure the bus we get on breaks down too and we had to stop to switch buses. Then at about 2am we finally get to Whistler and our reservations got mixed up so we had no room for the night. Although things would start off bad, it would somehow end up better. By the end of all this... Brian and I both got free airline tickets each to wherever Alaska Airlines or Horizon flies (anyone down for a trip to Cancun or Alaska?), food vouchers, and a slightly better room than we had originally booked.
So... as for Whistler itself - very beautiful place, highly recommended. Lucky for us we woke up to snow the next morning. I found out later that this season at Whistler wasn't so good and pretty much the week we went was one of their few good times for the season. We went boarding for 3 days and it wasn't till later that we discovered some really really nice runs. These runs are so long too that it makes Mammoth's runs seem so short. The village is really pretty and very entertaining. Brian and I took our traditional summit pictures, but the first day we took a picture at 'Little Peak' which then we looked over and realized we weren't at the highest point so that explains the other summit picture. =)
New Year's Eve: Whistler has this thing called 'First Night' as their New Year's Eve celebration. It's kind of cool, they have all these activities and small concerts going on - the only thing is that it's an alcohol free event. We did get to see some professional skiers and boarders doing some jumps, which was a really cool experience.
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Mt. high
January 5, 2005 (Board Trip 9)
This is my first and possibly my last time ever boarding at Mt. High. It was nice going on a Wednesday - thinking it would be empty, but to much of our surprise there was actually quite a bit of people there. We ended up boarding for an hour or so and then redeemed our tickets for a voucher. Apparently, you can turn return your ticket within the first hour if you're unhappy with the conditions for whatever reason and so that's what we did =).
Mammoth
January 13 - 16, 2005 (Board Trip 10 & 11)
Sorry no pictures from this Mammoth trip.
I went up with Brian and his friends. Stayed in a cabin near the slopes and packed about 20 people in.
The snow this weekend was really really good!! On Friday when Brian and I went, Cornice had about a 6 foot cliff at the top. Intimidated as I was, I had no choice but to make the jump. Once I did though, we kept going back at least 5 more times.
Tahoe
January 28 - 30, 2005 (Board Trip 12 & 13)
No pictures for this trip
Went up with Grant and a bunch of his friends. Stayed at a cabin very close to the casinos.
Now... you might think Grant and I are a little nuts, but it's only because we are hardcore boarders ;) that we got all suited up to go boarding but after saying bye to everyone, eating lunch, hitting traffic on the way to Sierra, and getting all our gear on - we didn't hit the slopes till about 1:30pm and only stayed for about an hour and a half. Each time we kept telling ourselves that we had gone too far to turn back =P. Thank goodness for the season pass ;)
Tahoe
February 25 & 26, 2005 (Board Trip 14 & 15)
No pictures for this trip
Friday - board at Northstar with Event Staff
Saturday - board at Kirkwood with Event Staff
Most people would probably drive the 3 hours to Tahoe and stay over night in order to go boarding again the next day, but... once again I found another hardcore boarder and we ended up driving back Friday and right back to Tahoe the next day! I must say though, it wasn't so bad coming back Saturday considering I made it back to Dublin in 2.5 hours =P.
