Laps at Brighton Brought to you by UTA!
Trekking to the Bus Stop
Back last summer, when the day job was demanding some twitter time (which it does in fits and spurts) I happened to win a little something from the UTA!
A group day pass.
The day pass is a pretty sweet little piece of paper, since it allows a group of four to ride anything that UTA drives for a whole day. I had hatched several big plans for epic mountain bike link-ups but never could make them happen, but the expiration date was drawing near so I had to just make it happen. So I decided to do a little link-up by taking the ski bus to Brighton, skinning some laps there, and then riding TRAX to meet The Girl and some friends at the Front for a session on the boulders. Along the way I gave a few people a lift with my pass.
So yesterday I got up, mixed up some fuel, and caught the 960 ski bus up Big Cottonwood Canyon. I’ve gotta point out that lots of people try to get on the ski bus to go places that are not ski places… like work lots of stops to tell confused people that they are confused.
Fuels for the trip (not pictured: An Apple)
Once I got up to Brighton, here is what went down:
3400' in 2:30
For reference that’s roughly what I did in 3:30 on Tuesday!
After UTA dropped me at Bri the legs took me here!
I’m always amazed at how easy it is to move on my Dynafit/Volkl setup! Partway up the second lap I saw Tom again, he stopped to chat, and mentioned that he was going to be climbing at Momentum so he was cutting down his laps to make sure he had arms left for the evening. Inspired by that thought and a project I really wanted to send I skipped my third lap and packed it in while I could still move.
My other mode of transport after the Ski Bus
Then I caught the 960 down to the 7200 S Trax stop. I made some kids day first. I saw some middle schoolers pull out cash their moms had forked over for the bus ride down and told them I’d use my group pass to cover their ticket down. They were super stoked! I’m pretty sure that they hoofed it straight to the gas station to turn their newfound cash into slushies before their ride showed up. Took me back…
Looking back at the mountains from Trax. Always slightly surreal.
Made it to SLC starving. So I hit Ekimai for some more fuel before heading to the gym with The Girl where she nailed a reachy-for-6’3″-me V3 and I finally got my V4 roof project to go. Over hung stuff has never been my forte so this is a big breakthrough for me, and The Girl is really progressing fast. Always forget to take pictures in the gym… but here’s dinner:
V4 sendege powered by ekimai thai!
A big thanks to Brighton for being a great resort all around. Most of Utah’s resorts are on public land, but they act like they own the place (I’m glaring at you Alta and Snowbird) but Brighton has raised the bar. They’ve posted a VERY VERY generous uphill skiing policy, so thanks guys.
