2024 Bomb Hole Cup Banked Slalom at Brighton
The Bomb Hole Podcast held another one of their “snowboarder renowned” 2-day Bomb Hole Cup’s last weekend (April 6-7) at Brighton Resort in UT. If you are unfamiliar, the Bomb Hole Cup consists of a Banked Slalom Race on day 1 and a Park Showdown on day 2 (although this article will only cover day 1 sadly due to admin. constraints☹️). Vendors & sponsors attend the event, adding hype and giving out plenty of free swag. This year’s sponsors included: Bubs Naturals, Sun Bum, Blackstrap, Yeti, Capita, Dragon, Nitro, Volcom, Union, Joey's Footbeds, and Red Bull.
Alright, let’s get into it! Hype and stoke began for this event the night before as riders, competitors, moral support partners, administrators, and vendors alike all met at the Milo Sport snowboard shop in SLC to grab race numbers, timing devices, parking codes, and their first round of free swag. This year, several snowboard brand reps were present at Milo’s, showing off next year’s product line as a fun treat for those attending. Yes, Ride, Public, and Capita were present, to name a few.
Saturday morning, snowboarders began snaking up Big Cottonwood Canyon for the race. On the way up, they found fresh snow, not a plow in sight, and a local moose at Lake Blanche Trailhead to witness it all. The tight and icy switch-back turns near Lake Blanche Trailhead proved to be difficult for a 2WD van and a 4WD truck from Arkansas. This vehicle pair quickly stalled traffic via their makeshift (yet unintended) roadblock. Luckily the Van had brought chains and was soon moving again. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the truck. Nearby drivers soon banded together and pushed the truck up the road to a safer position off on the side. Traffic was moving!
However, it was a short victory as just a quarter mile up the road, a large bus was pulled over and stuck as well, spilling passengers onto the road who proceeded to be picked up 1 and 2 at a time by benevolent drivers. (The moral of this segment is that traction matters, especially in spring when the snow plows have gone into their summer hibernation modes😉).
Tires for winter driving that we have tried and would recommend:
Goodyear Wrangler Ultraterrain AT (Three-Peak Snowflake rating)
A few more snowy miles up, and finally, we are at the resort! Tents are up, the smell of wax is in the air, snow is falling, and the course is buried. Chris Grenier (Bomb Hole Podcast host) sends out a social media call for competitors to come heel-slide snow off of the course.
As soon as the lifts open, an army of shredders ride up and slide in to answer the call. Due to the bit of chaos instigated by Mother Nature, the morning riders meeting was pushed back to 10 am, and warm-up laps down the course were minimal. Immediately following the riders meeting, in which Chris Grenier electrified the competitors with Run Through a Wall smelling salts and elegant words such as, “You’ve worked all season for this! You’ve earned it! Time to turn in your final paper and most importantly have fun!”, the race began!
The race was split into two courses (1 & 2), with each riding class evenly split between the courses. Riding classes were determined by the rider’s age, skill, and/or professional status. I had the pleasure of racing down course 1 with the other Prime Time Men. Course 1 began with a mandatory flat box feature and then transitioned into tight slalom turns. The turns at the top of the course were packed tightly vertically yet spread wide across the hill horizontally and thus weren’t overwhelmingly fast at the start. The second half of the course spread out to a more grand slalom style, which added a nice level of speed to the course, ending in a straight run-out to the finish line.
Once run 1 was out of the way, riders were free to mingle, smash the falling powder, or check out the vendors, demos, and other resort amenities.
I myself did a bit of everything, hitting at least 4 runs down Milly Bowl. hunting pow stashes, drops, and side hits. I then checked out the vendors and got a free Nalgene bottle and collagen peptides from Bubs Naturals. I also got a koozie from the Utah Avalanche Center, tons of stickers, and a few free Red Bulls.
With fresh collagen peptides and caffeine in my veins, I was ready for run two. The course was icier, bumpier, and more hard-packed, making edge hold a little tricker on the turns. This seemed to impact most riders as the unofficial consensus was that people were happier with their times on their first runs, yet everyone (myself included) was still stoked to have a second run down the course! With the race now winding down, there was time for a few more pow laps before the final events.
After the race, Volcom sponsored the 90’s Small Air Contest. Everyone was welcome to join and the small air session was a hit!
Kids to adult participants were stoked to try throwback and random tricks while the crowd reveled in the excitement. The Volcom Stone mascot, affectionately referred to as “Stoneman,” was one of the best parts of the contest as riders ollied over him and board-tapped his foam head.
Next was the Splitboard Race for the “earn-your-turns” cardio enthusiasts among us. No heart attacks were induced, so a win for everyone! Lastly was the awards ceremony for the racers with the fastest times and 90’s Small Air contestants with the most style. When all was said and done we had a few parking lot hot dogs and cruised home down the now plowed roads to rest and recover.
The Bomb Hole Cup is quickly becoming a beloved event by the snowboard community. The Banked Slalom Race is an extremely welcoming event and focuses on the most important thing mentioned by Chris at the start to just have fun!
This is a great opportunity to meet and connect with other riders and businesses in the community while creating a bonding energy that keeps snowboard culture alive and well.
Whether you are older and solo, younger and learning, or middle-aged with a few kids, I encourage all who are thinking about attending the Bomb Hole Cup to go ahead and sign up for next year! This is a fantastic event that you won’t want to miss!
