By Ted Borland
Pretty awesome opening day at Brighton for me today.  You can’t always count on the weather to let us open as early as Nov 11th, but this year was definitely different.  I woke up late but still managed to make it up to Brighton just in time for the lift lines to die down a little bit.  Seemed like everyone was there today; all the homies, the locals, park rats, the powder hounds, and everyone your used to seeing up there.

Our first run up we watched all the kids jibbin’ and bonkin’ around in one of the most fun looking opening day mini parks ever. You could watch kids trying all the latest moves and at the same watch everyone else slamming every way possible while they tried to get their balance back after months off the board. Pretty good entertainment from the lift but we knew where the good stuff’s at. We immediately dipped through the tree runs for whatever fresh snow we could find and made our way to Snake Creek.

As we ride up the chair we saw that the groomed trails were mostly empty. Turns out when people hike Brighton before it opens, nobody touches snake creek. The trees had plenty of fresh powder and people were definitely getting some. We took a solid number of hot laps on snake slashin’ and tranny findin’ until our legs were burnin’ and the runs with the most snow got tracked, and then decided it was time to head back to the main area. Most of the kids never left the park the whole day, and for pretty good reason.

The runs leading to the park were filled with side hits and little gaps everywhere you looked. Even the halfpipe was working today, all 8 feet of it. The dirt halfpipe foundations always make for good preseason jumps. Then you get down to the jib zone, where the park features were perfect for opening day. Two lanes of jibs gave everyone plenty of options and the park crew stayed on top of things all day keeping everything in good shape. We took a few runs through there and decided to call it a day so we could save what was left of our energy to get back up there again the next few days. A quick trip to Molca Salsa on the way back home, and that completed an excellent opening day at Brighton. Thanks to Jared, Mouse, the park crew, Mother Nature, and everyone else that helped make it happen!