So here we are, Feb 1, 2009, in UTAH! This has been a very sunny and park skiing oriented season for me thus far. We are definitely behind last years snow fall, but I cant complain as the park at Park City Mountain Resort is banger right now. If you love all aspects of skiing, you are never bored with the conditions, yadadamean? fo sho. I just got back to the beautiful Salt Lake City Valley and the wonderful Wasatch mountains after a long week in Vegas at SIA. This was my first time at SIA and it was a trip for sure. I went down with one of my roommates, Chris Vogt, who was snowboarding in the DNA evolution tour finals. We arrived at the Mandalay Bay Resort Casino monday night at about 7 p.m. After a quick meeting for DNA we proceeded to wander around, taking in all the sites. What is the first thing you do when you get to Vegas? Nickel Slots! Chris had cashed in all his change from his car and his change cup, a whopping $11 in nickels! Funny thing is, at the Mandalay Bay the slots do not take change, only bills. Too bad we didnt know this prior to bringing pounds of nickels. After some unsuccessful gambling by Chris, we proceeded to wander around the strip. At the end of the night we realized that we had no place to stay that night, hopped in my car, drove to a nice, quiet neighborhood, and set up camp in the Subaru. If you were wondering, Las Vegas is FREEZING at night! I would NOT suggest ever sleeping in your car wearing your hoodie... Day 2 went a little better. We woke up real early and ate some Macdonalds breakfast (never again) and cruised back to the Madalay Bay. The convention center that SIA is held in is HUGE! It is crazy how much stuff there is in there, you can get lost for hours. Chris and I wandered around for a while, checking the scene, then found our way to the DNA set up. I was not participating in the rail jam but was able to session the set up during the 2 days of practice. Chris' parents got to vegas that day so we had a place to stay! Day 3 was similar to day 2, cruised around, hit the rails and hung out. Day 4 I got to judge the finals of the rail jam, Chris Laker took it for the skiers, he was throwing down all day. Sam Hurst had a very close 2nd place. Watch out for both these kids. Day 4 we made it back into the show for one last round. I ended up buying a Gopro helmet cam! We left that day after some fun. Josh Bishop joined us as his car was stranded in good ol Beaver, Ut! SIA was fun but I am so happy to be back in Utah. I have skied PC the last 2 days and have been having loads of fun. Here is an edit I made from today. Hope all you are al having as awesome of a winter as I am!http://newschoolers.com/web/content/videos/id/242351/ <------ incase the embed doesn't work