Visiting Utah: Spring Might Be the Best Time to Come

Our annual ski rental and snowboard rental are now winding down as spring makes its arrival. Many of the out-of-town visitors that came to Utah to hit the slopes have returned home. New crowds will be back to chase Utah’s red rocks come summer. During the spring though, it is pretty quiet around here. It might be the best time for you to come for a visit.

Utah has two heavy tourist seasons: winter and summer. Winter is all about the snow while summer is a fantastic time to enjoy the mountains in a different way. As you might expect, resort rates are highest during these two seasons. You get better pricing in the spring because winter enthusiasts have gone home and the summer crowd hasn’t arrived yet.

Better Rates and Free Nights

So, what kinds of deals can you get in Utah this time of year? We can’t give you any hard and fast numbers because the resorts all do their own thing. But it is not unusual to see discount rates on all sorts of hotel rooms and home rentals. Some of the resorts even offer free nights when you extend your stay for a certain amount of time.

If you’ve ever wanted to visit Utah but can’t justify spending on winter and summer accommodations, check things out this spring. You just might find that a trip to Utah is more affordable than you thought.

The Crowds Are Smaller, Too

Being in the kayak, paddle board, and bike rental business, we have the opportunity to greet guests from all over the country. They come to Utah in the spring in order to enjoy the beautiful natural environment in a different kind of way. It turns out that a lot of them come during the spring because they don’t like crowds.

No doubt that things can get hectic here during winter and summer. In peak tourist seasons, there are people everywhere. So maybe you aren’t a large crowd kind of person. Perhaps you prefer a more laid-back experience that includes room to stretch out and relax. Once again, spring may be your ticket to enjoying the Beehive State.

You might want to check out the Visit Utah website to see what they have going on. You can find fantastic articles on everything from mountain biking to fishing. The site offers information on planning your trip, creating an itinerary, and making your visit to our state safe. And of course, the site lists tons of things to do in all four seasons.

Spring Skiing Is Possible

Spring’s arrival in Utah doesn’t necessarily mean an immediate end to skiing. Some of our resorts are open well into April. If memory serves, the longest ski season in Utah history actually went into July. We can’t make any promises, of course, but we’ll continue offering ski rentals and snowboard rentals for as long as the white stuff is on the slopes.

If you are considering a visit to Utah in the spring, why not spend some time skiing and the rest of your time exploring other things to do in the area. There are all sorts of great activities in and around Salt Lake City and across the Wasatch Front. We have great parks and hiking trails. We have a great arts culture. Utah is even one of the best places in the country to enjoy a night of stargazing.

Spring is a time of transition. It is a time when Utah transitions from winter wonderland to a majestic summer escape. It just might be the perfect time for you to visit.

As a company specializing in ski and snowboard rental, we hear from a lot of people who say they hate the two sports. We need to wonder how many of them have actually tried one or the other. We get the fact that snowboarding tends to appeal to a more limited audience. But skiing? How would you know you hated it without trying it first?

If you’ve decided that skiing isn’t for you despite never having strapped a pair of skies to your feet, allow us to issue you a challenge. Here it is – give skiing a fair shake before deciding you hate it. Maybe your current dislike for the sport is only rooted in a lack of knowledge or a single bad experience from the past.

Take Some Lessons

There are couple of things you need to do to give skiing a fair shake. First is taking some lessons. By this we don’t mean a single 30-minute lessen before you take to the slopes for the first time. Rather, we are talking about a series of class-style lessons designed to teach you everything from the basics to the finer points.

Skiing is as natural to some people as doing ski tunes is to us. But it doesn’t come naturally to others. That does not mean people in the second group cannot enjoy the sport. Some of them can, and actually do, after taking formal lessons that taught them how to ski.

Invest In a Seasonal Rental

Next up is investing in a seasonal ski rental. Why? Because it is hard to get a good feel for skiing with just one or two days on the slopes. The first couple of times you go skiing, your main focus is staying upright. It’s hard to enjoy the sport when you’re working so hard to not fall down.

A seasonal ski rental offers the motivation you need to hit the slopes on a regular basis. After all, you don’t want to waste your money. Getting the most for what you spent is all about skiing as often as you can during the season. And if you do it often enough, you will get a more realistic impression of the sport. Then you will be better able to decide whether it is right for you or not.

Go Skiing with Friends

Skiing alone is better than not skiing at all. But we can think of no better experience than hitting the slopes with a group of friends. So if you really want to give skiing a fair shake this winter, get together with friends you normally enjoy hanging out with. Go do it together.

If some of your friends are already experienced skiers, they might be willing to help you out. Maybe they can teach you some pointers. If you are all learning together though, that’s not a bad deal either. There’s something to be said about the camaraderie of conquering the slopes as a group.

A Full Season Should Do It

What we are saying here is that you really need a full season under your belt to get a good feel for how skiing suits you. A single trip to the slopes doesn’t offer enough time or experience to make an informed decision.

Do you hate skiing? Have you ever tried it? It is hard to know whether skiing is a good sport for you without giving it a fair shake. So how about it? Spend at least one winter on the slopes before deciding one way or the other. You just might decide you love it after all.

Ski and snowboard tunes are part and parcel with running a ski shop. We offer the service to local Salt Lake City skiers as well as visitors from out of town. If you are new to the sport, perhaps you’re not clear about what tuning is. This post will explain it. The most important thing to know is that skis and snowboards need to be tuned whenever the edges start showing noticeable wear.

The simplest way to explain snowboard and ski tuning is to say that the practice returns the edges back to factory condition. Tuning involves modifying the flat surface of a ski or snowboard as well as sharpening the side edges. Some skiers and snowboarders prefer to detune the front and back edges at the same time.

Flat, Smooth, and Sharp

Tuning’s primary goal is to create flat, smooth, and sharp surfaces. Why? Because you need your snowboard or skis to dig in and hold the snow for maximum control. When skis and snowboards are out of tune, it is much harder to remain in control on the way down the hill.

A ski shop will generally start the tuning process by addressing the flat (bottom) surface that rides on the snow. Technically, not every bottom surface will be perfectly flat. How flat it needs to be depends on the type of equipment you’re using and your preferences for using it.

When it comes to skis, racers tend to prefer a nearly flat bottom surface with a slight bevel at the edges. Park skiers tend to do best with a slightly beveled bottom surface. In every case, the bottom surface needs to be smooth and clean.

Side edges are also beveled based on the rider’s preferences. But they also need to be smooth and sharp, especially when you’re talking about snowboards. The edge is everything to an accomplished snowboarder. So you don’t want any burrs, chips, etc.

Tuning with Specialized Equipment

It is entirely possible to tune a pair of skis or snowboard with nothing but hand tools. But doing so is a lot of work. Ski shops tend to have specialized equipment that handles most of the heavy work. Skis and snowboards are machine-tuned initially, then fine-tuned by hand.

One of the main advantages of machine tuning is consistency. With hand tuning, every tuning job is going to be slightly different. Having your skis hand-tuned multiple times during a single season could mean slightly different experiences each time. But with machine tuning, your seasonal experience is consistent.

With all this said, there are hard-core skiers who prefer to handle tuning at home. They only bring their skis to the ski shop at the start of the season. After that, they are content to take care of things with their own hand tools.

Frequency Depends on Usage

Every pair of skis or snowboard should be tuned at least once at the start of the season. Subsequent tuning depends heavily on usage. If you only ski two or three times per season, you can probably get away with a single tuning. But if you ski every week, you will need to tune more frequently.

There are those skiers and snowboarders who insist on weekly tuning. They are the same ones who are on the slopes several times per week. Their counterparts who hit the slopes once every 7 to 10 days may be content to tune every couple of weeks. The bottom line is this: if the edges of your skis or snowboard are not clean, smooth, and sharp, it’s time to tune.

We have had the opportunity to speak with plenty of people who have come to our shop looking for snowboard rental only to second guess their decision to get into the sport. We get it. New snowboarders often feel apprehensive about tackling a sport they have never tried before. Hopefully, we can offer a little bit of encouragement that helps them follow through with their plans.

Here at Canyon Sports, we don’t just sell and service skis and snowboards. We are actually skiers and snowboarders ourselves. To the extent we can, we are happy to offer whatever wisdom we possess along with our own personal experiences. With that in mind, we think there are some key things every new snowboarder should know.

1. It’s Not Harder, Just Different

We can’t tell you the number of times we’ve arranged snowboard rental for beginners convinced that the sport is harder than skiing. We are not quite sure why this thinking prevails, but it does. The thing is that snowboarding isn’t any harder than skiing. It is just different.

Being two different sports means that skiing and snowboarding require different skill sets. They utilize different techniques and methodologies. Even the equipment is demonstrably different. So saying one is easier than the other does a disservice to both. One particular skier might find snowboarding harder, but that does not mean snowboarding is harder across the board.

2. Trying Before You Buy Is Okay

Next up, we think it’s important that every new snowboarder know that trying things out before they buy is okay. That is one of the reasons we offer snowboard rental here in Utah. We want beginners to get a good feel for the sport before they spend their hard earned money on new equipment. We would hate for them to buy a new board that ultimately doesn’t work for them.

3. Lessons Really Are Helpful

There is something about both skiing and snowboarding that leads people to think they should be able to do it without taking lessons. Do not misunderstand. It is possible to learn how to snowboard without formal instruction. But truth be told, lessons really do help.

Snowboarding is like any other sport in the sense that succeeding requires a certain amount of knowledge. Why acquire that knowledge through the school of hard knocks when you can learn it from someone who already knows how to snowboard? Taking lessons doesn’t make you weak. Quite to the contrary, lessons will make you a stronger snowboarder.

4. Size Does Matter

When we outfit a customer with a seasonal snowboard rental, one of the things we pay attention to is the person’s height and weight. Why? Because size matters. The width and length of a snowboard needs to be commensurate with the user’s height and weight. Having a board that is not the right size makes learning even basic skills more difficult.

We think it is very important to fit each snowboarder with an appropriately sized board. When a beginner’s board fits, they have an easier time mastering the skills necessary to become an expert. That is ultimately what we want for any snowboarding beginner.

5. Practicing Falling Is Necessary

Finally, one of the first things new snowboarders learn in formal lessons is how to fall. It sounds contrary to the goal of remaining upright. Still, it is necessary. Every snowboarder falls regardless of skill level. Learning how to do it properly prevents unnecessary injuries and equipment damage.

If you are a beginner, a seasonal snowboard rental represents your opportunity to try out a fantastic sport loved by millions. We wish you well on the slopes.